Nancy Seymour and her dog, Casey, the inspiration behind Casey Petraceuticals.
photo: Nancy Seymour

FOR THE DOGS
Nancy Seymour’s quest to keep our furry friends healthy

by Kurt Dusterberg

Nancy Seymour has spent a lifetime doting on dogs.

She came by her affection as a child, when family pets were part of her upbringing. Her father had presented her mother with a cocker spaniel as a wedding gift. Today, Seymour makes a quick count from memory, and decides that Alley and Caley, her current “girls,” make it a dozen.

But Seymour’s life changed a few years ago with her dog, Casey. The 10-year-old cocker spaniel was diagnosed with Cushing’s Disease, a condition that leads to a long list of serious physical problems, eventually affecting longevity. After three years of pursuing medical treatments, Seymour was heartbroken.

“I tried acupuncture and a variety of things for years,” she says.

“She had trembling hind legs, she had incontinence, her hair was falling out, she had two tumors on her belly,” Seymour adds. “Ninety-nine percent of vets would have put her down.”

When her veterinarian explained that inflammation likely played a role in Casey’s fading health, Seymour took action. She had always maintained a keen interest in nutrition and knew something about health issues, thanks to her business selling holistic and herbal products.

“I just decided that nutrition was going to be the key,” she says.

Seymour did some research on all foods, spices and herbs that counter inflammation, boost the immune system, and are high in antioxidants. With her research in hand, Seymour set out to the grocery store.
“I went to Harris Teeter, Kroger, BJ’s, and some other local stores and started gathering ingredients,” she says. “I had no idea of the ratios or what to do. Based on my research, I just put it together with a basic supplement.”

The results were — quite literally — eye-opening. By the third day, Seymour says, Casey’s eyes had cleared and her hind legs had stopped trembling. In a matter of weeks, her hair began growing back. Two tumors on her stomach were gone. For five more months, Casey enjoyed a renewed quality of life before she passed away at age 13.

A wider mission
As she nurtured her cocker spaniel back to health, word began to spread about Seymour’s powder mixture.

“People were calling me, wanting to try the product,” she says. “They were desperate because their dogs were ill. I was doing the Ziploc bag thing, just sharing what I had.”

Sharing her supplement was intended as a gesture of goodwill by Seymour, not a foray into a new business operation. After a career as a corporate trainer for the insurance and banking industries in Texas, she had grown comfortable with her life in North Raleigh, dabbling as a real estate agent and selling her nutritional products. Yet the requests for the anti-inflammation mixture kept coming from pet owners. Soon, Seymour began viewing her little baggies filled with nutrients as more of a responsibility than a helping hand.

“I wasn’t thinking about starting a company. That was the last thing on my mind,” she insists.

“Then I decided, morally, how could I not share what I had learned in this process? Many people have their Caseys out there, and I could make a contribution. And what are we here for if not to give back?”

Seymour knew she couldn’t continue packaging the formula at her kitchen sink. Plus, she was relying on guesswork — a few shakes of ginger powder, a sprinkle of ground flax meal. That’s when she hired a food scientist and a veterinarian to develop the right formulation to work with the canine system.

With the introduction of the modified formula, Seymour launched a new company, Casey Petraceuticals. The core product, Casey Pets Essential Supplement, is a combination of 31 human-grade ingredients, ranging from the familiar (cumin powder) to the new-age (dandelion root powder) to the difficult-to-pronounce (lactobacillus acidophilus powder). The blend of herbs, antioxidants, natural vitamins and minerals, and omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are aimed at fighting inflammation and increasing nutritional absorption. The product, along with anti-inflammatory lotions for both pets and people, are available on the company’s Web site at www.caseypets.com.

Growing support
Seymour has turned over the reins of blending ingredients to the McClancy Seasoning Co. in Fort Mill, S.C. For the first order, she asked for 500 pounds. By the time she needed a second batch produced, she requested 1,000 pounds.

For now, word of mouth is driving sales of the formula. Seymour has several hundred repeat clients and needs only an office manager to fill orders placed online. But all of that might change.

Three primary investors came on board last year and have taken the initial steps to broaden the company’s reach outside the Triangle. Casey Petraceuticals now is armed with marketing brochures touting everything from scientific ratings to testimonials with before-and-after pet photos.

But Seymour isn’t merely seeing dollar signs in her eyes. She is building her business by reaching out to dogs in need and is particularly fond of working with rescue groups. Her formula can help quickly restore animals to the adoptive stage, which helps defray the cost of veterinary bills.

“We’re not asking for a handout. We want to be a partner with people to help pets,” she says.
“We’ll go anywhere we can to fundraise so they don’t have to stock it.”

It’s all about the dogs
The future of Casey Petraceuticals excites Seymour. She has heard enough turnaround stories from pet owners to know that she is on to something. For now, she is focused on getting the product into small pet stores and seeing how consumers respond to radio spots. But long-term goals include selling Casey Pets Essential Supplement on QVC, which she says already is monitoring the company’s progress.

In the meantime, Seymour plans to do what she has always done: enjoy her dogs.

“My two girls are total family,” she says. “They’re always loving, they’re always accepting. If you’re happy, they pick that up. To many of us, it’s a spiritual boon.”

Seymour has just one remaining relative, a sister in Texas. That’s why she’s especially grateful for the love of Alley and Caley. And with 74 million dogs in the U.S., she knows that there are countless other pet owners who want to make the most of those relationships. And she just might be able to help them.

“I know what it’s like to love a pet and I know what it’s like to lose a pet, so if I can make that difference and extend their lives,” she says as her voice cracks.

Alley jumps off the couch and comes to check on Seymour, who clearly is touched by her dog’s concern.
“I had an inordinate amount of love for Casey, and I would stop at nothing to save her,” she says.
“With that same passion and perseverance, I’m going to make this work.”

Kurt Dusterberg is a freelance writer based in Apex.

RIDING RALEIGH'S SUCCESS
Growth means both opportunities and challenges

by Nancy McFarlane

Raleigh has grown tremendously over the past two decades. As a resident of North Raleigh since 1984, I have witnessed firsthand the opportunities and challenges this growth has brought. Latest estimates project Raleigh’s population to increase from 348,000 in 2008 to about 580,000 by 2030. Maintaining our quality of life in the midst of this growth is our biggest challenge.

Growth has brought us plenty of new businesses, shops and restaurants, which have translated into jobs and increased retail and office space. It’s wonderful that we still can walk into stores and see faces we recognize or talk to people we know. We have been able to maintain our sense of community in the middle of rapid economic development, and that is positive. But there are downsides that can overwhelm Raleigh unless we plan carefully for the future.

Traffic is one of the major problems facing us, and it is especially evident in North Raleigh. Unlike the downtown grid pattern, North Raleigh tends toward cul-de-sacs, which is how roadways developed as subdivisions were built. Consequently, traffic in this part of the city flows onto overburdened collector streets.

New businesses that are opening on Falls Of Neuse Road and other collectors contribute not only to the economy but also to congestion. Overall, Raleigh needs more and better public transportation and well-planned improvements to its basic road infrastructure.

Stormwater runoff is another issue. The Raleigh City Council is in the process of tightening stormwater regulations so that runoff from construction sites does not erode creek beds, contaminate neighborhood lakes or create destructive rivers of mud.

Dean Naujoks launched the Muddy Water Watch program to stop damage to the local watershed and to raise public awareness of the issue. This statewide initiative created an informed citizen patrol that helps keep mud and sediment out of the area’s rivers and streams by working with local inspectors and developers to oversee enforcement of sediment and erosion-control regulations. Since the program’s inception last summer, volunteers have reported and stopped numerous violations, cleaning up streets and rivers throughout the Triangle.

The opposite water problem is severe drought. The Water Conservation Council, a group of community representatives working to inform the public of the importance of water conservation, is among several organizations that are taking a proactive approach. We now have permanent water conservation measures in the city’s water plans as a result.

As we shape Raleigh’s future growth as a well-planned, sustainable city, neighborhood interests should be heard and considered along with developers’ plans. I encourage input from citizens about their ideas for meeting Raleigh’s crucial growth issues.

Nancy McFarlane, a pharmacist and president of MedPro Rx Inc., is a member of the Raleigh City Council and serves on the city’s Comprehensive Planning Committee.