Joining us on BestDogLife is Tim Mitchum. He is the President of WINPRO, a company that develops blood protein supplements for dogs. The supplements are designed to address some of the most common canine health problems. Here are some insights into this unique supplement based on a Q&A with Tim.
You can watch the interview with Tim or read the question and answer session below. If you’re interested in trying the blood protein supplement you can get a 15% discount by applying the code “bestdoglife” to your order at checkout.
1) In very simple terms, can you please explain animal blood proteins?
It’s kind of a complex science, but it’s very simple in what they do. So animal blood proteins are really proteins from the blood that are mother natures weapon against inflammation. So their only job is to reduce inflammation at the source of the problem. And so what happens when you do that is the dog’s body is allowed to heal itself naturally because excessive and chronic inflammation is really the cause of the majority of health issues and not only in humans, but dogs for sure.
2) What issues in dogs do these blood protein supplements address and where have they been most effective?
So we follow the science and there are five areas where we get good results. That includes gut health, mobility in terms of joint health, allergies, an anxiety product. Then we also have a recovery product that is more for high performance in the dog world. This is where the dogs are running very hard. All of those are all inflammation related issues. The mobility is something where people see the results right away. That is a very popular product because you’ll see a dog, get their power back or stop limping or have more energy on the runs very quickly. The gut health product restores the gut to normal, which solves a lot of problems. Allergies is pretty obvious issue the supplement takes care of both seasonal and ongoing issues. The anxiety product is really a great product, whether it’s for event-based or ongoing separation anxiety. And especially during this time of this recording with what’s going on in the world with people being at home more or people being at home and then the leaving to go back to work. It really has caused a lot of, you know, kind of anxious moments for, you know, our furry friends that we’re hanging out with all day.
3) What inspired you to get involved with blood protein supplements?
I never even thought for a second. I would be selling something in the dog world. I’m a dog guy. I obviously love dogs. I never even considered, I just didn’t even consider it. I’ve always been in direct marketing information marketing in the online space. Can I tell you the origin story, the company? So the origin story of the company is that this science is back from the eighties and nineties. In 1980, up at Iowa State University they were having a terrible problem more with the mortality rate when they were weaning piglets. And so they tried nutrition, they tried environmental factors and they couldn’t solve that problem. And so the smart scientist guy there was working on this blood protein blend and he decided, let’s sprinkle this on the food and see what happens. And the mortality rate went from 20% to like less than one percent. And what they found out is that the stress of that situation was causing so much inflammation that it was creating the mortality. So that science went through all forms of livestock and feed species and ended up in the performance horse racing world. And the founder of this company is working for a company that wanted to develop a supplement for performance race horses. And in that world, those are probably the hardest pushed animals. Like it’s just unbelievable. And the stress that they have is massive, so inflammation was a really, really big issue. The product they developed worked so well. The owner was literally terrified of horses. However, he had five dogs at home. He would say he was a kennel guy stuck in the stables. And, so he decided to just kind of make the leap and bring this product to the dog world. He said, he just thought the health benefits would be worth the risk because, you know, as a dog owner, if you can improve their quality of life a little bit at every stage, it’s a really big deal. And so he brought this supplement to the dog world and he was struggling to kind of get it going. He wasn’t finding traction.
So I was brought in by a group of investors that are part of the supplement company and I’m like, I don’t know. You know, I don’t know anything about this kind of stuff, but I had a dog that was struggling to get up and down the stairs and she hadn’t jumped on the couch for three or four years. And I married into a long haired dog too. I love her to death, but I totally married into her. So just kind of on a whim, I just started giving her the mobility treats and within 15 days she was jumping all over the house, on the couch, on the bed. And what the big aha moment for me was, cause you can talk about the science, you can talk about everything, but the aha moment was she could always do it if she wanted to she was just choosing not to, because it wasn’t worth the pain that was associated with doing that activity. No different if we have a sore back and we need to move a box, we’ll just wait until the next day until our back isn’t sore. Well, if our back is never always sore, then we just leave that box there. And a whole new pattern is created. So she could structurally jump up and down. She just chose not to. And over time that became a chronic behavior. I call it a chronic behavior. Cause it never changed. Once you take that soreness away, she got her puppy legs back, but in reality she just got her legs back even at her age So I decided well, I don’t know anything about this stuff, but I know it would be really fun to sell and talk to people about if they have problems to see if I can help them, because it can be a transformative solution for a lot of people that have struggled to find one.
4) Can you tell us a bit about the findings from the published studies using animal blood proteins in dogs?
There have been studies throughout all multiple species, tons of studies about inflammation. There is one that was really kind of pivotal moving to the dog world. An analysis at Texas A & M on horses, race horses and all of those proved out basically that the blood proteins reduce inflammation and there’s different markers that prove that out.
It also proved out not only on a blood panel, but also in like movement range of motion and that kind of stuff specifically in dogs, which is kind of interesting, which this is a really cool side effect of our products. Once you reduce inflammation, the supplement helps especially in the gut, the dog is actually able to absorb more nutrients out of the dog food. So if you’re giving a good dog food, but your dog is having some inflammation to get out of the gut, the lining of the gut wall won’t be absorbing all of that good nutrition that the dog food is providing to them, which has been proven in a couple of studies on the digestibility around the dogs.
That is a cool study because you can see a dog that goes from not getting upstairs to running upstairs. You can see that. But when you think about absorbing nutrients, you’re spending great money on dog food, but if you’re not getting all the nutrients out of it, that you can, it’s just not as beneficial. So I think that that’s a really great benefit from our product, especially on the gut health side of it.
5) Are most veterinarians supporters of the use of blood protein supplements?
We are picking up more and more every day. The vets that look into our products –they love it. It is difficult to reach all the different vets. Many are also very used to certain products they use and aren’t always investigating new ones. One area that has shown a lot of interest is mobile vets. They are looking for different products and ones that treat dogs holistically. So they love our products and the science is absolutely right up their alley. Our challenge is just kind of been getting into the offices, but we really haven’t focused on it because we can sell direct to the consumer the majority of the time.
6) Your supplements are approved by the National Animal Supplement Council (NASC) what does that mean to your average dog owner?
The NSC, the National Animal Supplement Council was really formed as an extension of the FDA to fill this gap of the unregulated space of animal supplements. And so it became this regulatory group that makes sure that anything that has an NASC seal or is approved by the NASC has gone through approvals around what is on the packaging. They make sure the products are legitimate, ethical and correct. We are currently the only dog supplement that is approved by the NSC to use the word inflammation on our package, because the science proves out that it reduces inflammation. That’s a really big deal because it is an independent entity verifying our product. In order to get that seal of approval you have to be able to back it up.
7) I’ve read that the blood protein supplements are “up to 6 times more powerful than common nutritional supplements” – can you explain what that means?
So it sounds incredible and it might be almost too incredible to say, right. And so I’ve actually pulled that off of our website, just because, and I’ll tell you exactly where I get that from. So, because it’s a hundred percent true, but it’s almost, if you can’t, if you can’t prove it like in a study, then you probably shouldn’t be able to say it. So that is why I pulled it down, but here’s where that comes from our products, because the blood proteins worked biologically, you should see results within 10 days. Some people see results within days. We have people that give our anxiety product hours before thunderstorms, but within 10 days, you for sure should see some kind of improvement to know that it’s going to be a good solution for you. On average, a nutritional supplement will be 60 to 90 days. If they say that you need to consume this supplement in order to see any results. So that’s where that kind of number comes from. And you’ll be able to see in 10 days, whether or not there’s going to be results with our product versus 60 or 90 days. So technically in my opinion, we could say that all day long, but in the legal marketing world, we have decided to be a bit more cautious.
8) Do your supplements work for all dogs or are particular breeds better candidates?
You know, it always works as it’s supposed to do, which is to reduce inflammation at the source of the problem. So if it’s a joint problem and there’s excessive inflammation there, it will reduce inflammation at that problem. We have an immunity product that restores the gut to normal to kind of just keep, you know, a preventative. There is no dog breed or size where the product doesn’t work. The science is just so simple around what the blood proteins do.
9) So for a young dog that is high energy and has no health problems – are the blood proteins a good fit for that type of dog?
So what I would do, so typically what happens in our customer journey is they buy to solve a problem. Whether it’s mobility or allergies, they see the results. And then they’re like, okay, I want to preventative products for, you know, just overall health. And that is our immunity product. And I would put any dog on that product, just because all it does is just keep the gut at normal function, which is perfect. You know, we hear all these terms about, Oh, it needs to boost and supercharge. Well, in reality, normal is absolutely perfect when it comes to a body. So with all the stuff, especially a young dog gets into, it’s just a good kind of preventive and they think it’s a treat. And they absolutely love it, they think it’s a treat. So we just give one of these in the morning or one in the afternoon, just depending on what their treat pattern is two in the morning, it just doesn’t matter. They end up loving it.
10) How long does it take to see the positive effects of the blood protein supplements?
There is no, like load up or build up. You don’t have to use them for weeks. Blood proteins are biological in nature, meaning that they work immediately with the system. So typically you’ll see results in 10 to 15 days. I always say 10 days, but within 15 days, 10 to 15 days, you’ll see some kind of results, I think if you go to our website, you’ll see in reviews, people using the terms like, Oh, within a week, or, you know, within a couple of days, like over and over again, we always recommend if you haven’t, you know, use the full 30 days, just go through it. And we always take care of the customer regardless. So it’s not like you’re ever going to be concerned if it doesn’t work that you’re not going to get your money back or we won’t take care of you. Cause we just always do. But it’s, it’s rare that if there’s a problem to solve, that we don’t provide relief in some manner for that issue.
11) Are there any side effects that dog owners should be concerned about?
No, the products are completely safe. It is all natural. There is no significant source of fat or calories, which is important because you know, you can’t overdose or over feed your dog with our products either. So it’s really an absolutely safe product all around. And I get emails all the time. My dog just ate the whole bag. What do I do? Well, you just wait cause nothing, nothing harmful is going to happen. The only side effect and I’ve, I get this email a couple of times of once a week, maybe once every couple of weeks is that they ran out of the supplement and the problem returned. That really is the only side effect is that whatever problem the supplement solved, it will return, if you stop using it for sure.
12) Is there a success story you could share with us of a dog responding to the supplement?
I was thinking about this and it’s kinda funny because I feel like there’s a new one every week. So it’s really hard to pick, but so I just thought, you know what, I’m just going to go to the website and just see what a recent one was. These are there for anybody to see. This is from Margaret. So it’s, it’s a picture of her little Chihuahua actually, which is kind of ironic since I had the same type dog, she started the mobility chew about a week ago, not expecting too much. Her boy is a little bit older and he suddenly started having problems with back legs that said it was his knees after searching for a product she decided on WinPro. And she says, after using the product “well, I’m so happy. I could cry. Actually I have cried. He has improved 90%. Doesn’t lay in bed all day. He does run to the door. When you hear someone now back to almost normal. I can’t thank you enough. You gave my little boy back, he’s happier too.”
Those results are typical. I know you’re supposed to say not typical, but those results are typical with, with us. And then just next to that on an allergy product. This is from Jeremy G. “I got these for my two year old rescue mix. She was shedding. What seemed to be an abnormal amount, has a, short coat putting clumps of hair out every day, unmanageable, just brushing itching, licking somewhere, which concerned me. Within a week of her shedding within a week of using WinPro, all of her shedding all but stopped. Her coat, which was also healthy to begin with has improved, softer, and smoother. She still has some hotspots of itching and licking that I hope will improve over time, but without a doubt, I’m convinced the supplements have helped immensely.”
We could go on and on and on about that. And then I also, I got an email. I’m just gonna share this one if that’s okay. Real quick because it kind of goes back to what we just talked about and if anybody in your audience needs me to, to afford any of these things, I’m happy to help. This is from Linda and she said, “Hey, I was interested in the science behind the supplement. And I gave it a try. I had various glucosamine and chondroitin supplements with no improvement. After a couple of weeks of using your product, my dog had the spring back in her step. There’s a point in the beginning of the year when I forgot to order more. Then my vet convinced me to go back on glucosamine, but the limp came back as well as the slow gait. There was no improvement until I got her back on the mobility chew. I’ll never try anything else.” She said, thanks for your product. My dogs are so happy, blah, blah, blah. But, those are kind of pretty, pretty typical, you know, weekly for sure stories that we get. And there is a lot of these stories that we don’t hear about when people are just really happy. That’s really fun to see that’s what makes this product fun to sell. It just helps the lives of the dogs and then improves the lives of the relationship with the owner. So that’s, what’s really cool. We say that our goal is just to keep dogs healthy, active, and with you for as long as possible.
