How Dr. Liz Bales is turning her passion into purpose
Dr. Liz Bales is many things, a veterinarian, an inventor, and a CEO. She’s the founder of Doc and Phoebe’s Cat Company, which has been in the spotlight recently for her invention, the Hunting Feeder, a science-based feeder designed to fulfill cats’ need to hunt, catch and play.
The Hunting Feeder has disrupted the way we feed cats. Hunting for small portions of food around the house is now the recommended way to feed your cat by the American Association of Feline Practitioners.
We caught up with Dr. Liz to find out more:
Why do cat owners need Hunting Feeders?
Cats are hunters. Mealtime for cats is more than just calories. Cats need to hunt, catch and play with multiple small meals a day, mostly at dawn and dusk. The Hunting Feeder allows cats to recreate their natural hunting behavior with the dry food and treats that your cat already loves.
How does it work?
It is very easy to use, you scoop a perfectly portioned meal into each of the three Doc & Phoebe’s mice and hide them around the house before you go to work, and again before you go to bed. Think of it as a game of hide and seek. Cats hunt for their food, the way nature intended.
Why is hunting important for cats?
For a cat, hunting is not optional. In nature, a cat spends 80% of its waking hours hunting for food. A mouse has 30-35 calories and the edible contents of a mouse are about the size of a ping-pong ball. That means one cat needs to eat 8-12 mice a day! To sustain this need, nature gives cats an incredibly strong innate need to hunt.
Most cats in the US live exclusively indoors, with no way to perform the hunt, catch, play, eat cycle. Instead, we serve our cats heaping portions from bowls. Sadly, 60% of cats in the US are overweight or obese. We are overfeeding their bodies and starving their predatory souls. The consequences are serious, especially the risk for Type 2 diabetes.
What kind of work goes into creating and patenting an invention?
The original drawing took only a few minutes, early on, I had a clear image of what the feeder should be. But, getting that drawing developed into the first product took about two years of prototyping, testing and refinement. Along the way, there is a huge amount of money and work that goes into the design of the box, the website, product photography, videos, trade shows, educational materials and legal work. I really had no idea what I was getting in to, but the passion to change the outcome of the lives of cats has driven me to keep going.
What are cat owners saying about your product?
Our company gets great feedback from our customers and I love hearing what they have to say. Cat parents tell us that they are seeing real changes in their cats, and that makes them very happy. Overweight cats are losing weight, with ease, when they hunt for their food. Inter-cat aggression is going away when cats no longer have to share a food bowl and can hunt for their food alone - like they would in nature. Instead of cleaning up daily vomit, cat parents are now seeing their cats thrive on multiple small meals.
My favorite story was from a writer at BuzzFeed who called me a genius! The writer had a cat that was urinating outside of the litter box. She took her to the vet for a full workup, which was normal. The vet told her to use the Hunting Feeder and she did. Soon, the cat went back to urinating in the litter box.
What is so special about the Hunting Feeder?
The Hunting Feeder is based on 20 years of veterinary behavior research. It has a taught, fabric skin which mimics the skin of prey, so that cats can use their teeth and claws in the hunt. It is shaped like the typical prey of a cat, to roll in a predictable arch, not in an erratic pattern like a ball does. It is a system, which communicates to humans in straight forward language that their cat has behavioral feeding needs that are different than a human. Cats love to hunt - hiding the mice makes the system fun! To a cat, it feels right, rolls right, and has the right amount of food. Simply put, cats love it!
Advice for my younger self:
Life is an iterative process. Don’t expect to start at the finish line. When you start anything new, you know nothing. This is scary, but it’s true, and it’s normal. In this moment, you have choices. You can choose to be paralyzed by fear and self-doubt that turns into a feeling of worthlessness, or you can choose to experience this feeling as excitement and openness that drives you forward to learn and achieve with confidence. Moreover, the real fun is in the learning and doing, not in mastery.
What’s the biggest problem facing veterinarians today?
Something has changed in our profession and it is very concerning to me. When I was a veterinary student, over 20 years ago, I was told that Americans considered Veterinary Medicine to be the #1 most noble profession in our nation. I felt that way too. Think all the vet students felt that way. We had to have excellent grades and test scores, work experience with animals and glowing recommendations. We gave up our 20’s spending overnights on call at the hospital and studying the latest research around the clock so that we could become the most educated doctors.
Today, the sacrifices required to become a veterinarian are unchanged. But, the public opinion has shifted. We no longer have the title of the most noble profession in America. In a world dominated by social media, the common reprieve is that veterinarians are “just in it for the money.” And “if we love animals we would do it for free.” Our hard earned knowledge is dismissed as financially motivated. Yet, in the face of this, we are expected to be available 24 hours a day for care and consultation.
It’s time to open the conversation. I know one thing for sure. We are all on the same side. Veterinarians and pet parents all want the best for animals. We want to work together with kindness and compassion to heal animals. It’s time to heal the divide.
Follow Dr. Liz on social @Dr.LizBales