In today’s world, your pet faces more pollution and contaminants in his environment than pets ever did in the past.
From plastics and pesticides to fabric protectants and chlorinated water, he encounters a high load of chemicals and toxic substances his body has to process and get rid of to stay healthy.
Two major organs take the lead in this important job – his liver and his kidneys. While the liver handles solid wastes, the kidneys deal more with liquid wastes.
Your pet’s kidneys are part of his urinary tract. Every day, they filter liters of blood, removing toxins and wastes and sending them to the bladder, where they mix with water and are eliminated in his urine.
With the extra strain placed on your pet’s urinary system by modern living, he can benefit from some extra support. Fortunately, there are several everyday things you can do at home to help him maintain optimal urinary health.
Before we take a look at them, however, it’s important to start with a warning.
None of the steps I'm about to share with you replace professional care if your pet is currently experiencing a urinary tract or bladder problem. Bark & Whiskers® Bladder Support is not intended to replace medical treatment.
It's important that you know the symptoms that might mean your pet needs immediate professional help…
Don't Ignore These Signs – See Your Vet Now
Urinary tract and bladder complaints are among the more common reasons pet parents take their cat or dog to see the vet.
In dogs, females tend to develop urinary issues more often than the males. For example, by some estimates, up to 20% of spayed dogs develop urine leakage at some point.
That tendency is the opposite in cats, where males tend to have more issues than females.
While many urinary complaints are simple to resolve, some are a major warning bell that your pet is in trouble.
Urinary abnormalities can signal a major health problem.
If you notice any of the following, get your pet to the vet immediately:
- Your cat is urinating in places other than her litter box.
- Your cat is making more frequent trips to the litter box.
- Your dog is suddenly urinating around the house.
- There's visible blood in your pet's urine or litter box, or urine is dark or cloudy.
- Your pet is unable to pass urine, or passes very little.
- Your pet is straining to urinate or crying out in pain.
- Your pet is constantly licking his urinary openings.
- Your pet has suddenly lost bladder control and is dribbling urine.
- Your pet is vomiting, appears lethargic and doesn't want to eat.
- Your pet is drinking more water than usual
These are all signs that may indicate a potentially serious issue with your pet's bladder, kidneys or lower urinary tract.
It's crucial to get your pet, along with a urine sample, to your vet as soon as possible. Don't second-guess or wait… your pet's life could be at risk.
Could Your Pet Use Some Extra Support for Her Urinary Tract Health?
Assuming your pet is free of any of the signals listed above, there are a number of things you can do to help her maintain a healthy bladder and urinary tract.
While all pets rely on a healthy urinary tract for normal detoxification and benefit from proactive measures to support their health, some animals tend to benefit from extra support. These pets include:
- Certain cat breeds, including Persians, Himalayans, Russian Blue Siamese, Birman and the Egyptian Mau.
- Cats who live indoors.
- Pets in stressful living conditions.
- Overweight pets.
- Male cats.
- Pets living a sedentary lifestyle.
- Spayed or neutered pets.
- Older dogs who are female.
These animals either have genetic tendencies toward bladder and urinary issues, or their environment places added stress on their systems. Either way, they deserve extra attention.
By taking simple, daily steps to support his urinary health, you can help your pet get what he needs to maintain healthy detoxification.
The first step involves your pet’s diet…
A Little-Known Dietary Factor That Can Affect Your Pet's Urinary Health
Many pet owners don't realize that there’s a connection between diet, urine pH and urinary health.
As you may already know, when scientists measure pH levels, they’re assessing whether a liquid is acid or alkaline.
What you might not know is that this measure of pH is actually quite important when it comes to your pet’s urinary health.
Every animal species that produces urine has an ideal pH range their urine should fall in. Some are more acidic and some more alkaline.
To get an understanding of how this works, take a look at the pH scale diagram below.
As you can see, 7 is at the center and is the neutral point in the acid-alkaline scale. A pH score greater than 7 is alkaline, while a score less than 7 is acidic. As the score gets further from the center, it’s considered more alkaline or acidic.
Because they’re natural carnivores, cats and dogs should have a slightly acidic urine pH, optimally between 6 and 6.5. Helping your pet maintain a pH within this range helps maintain her urinary health.
Not surprisingly, diet has a significant influence on the pH of your pet's urine.
Since dogs and cats are designed to eat meat – which has an acidic pH – feeding them a species-appropriate diet high in meat promotes a urine pH in that ideal range.
However, when cats and dogs eat a typical commercial grain-based diet, their urine pH can rise into the alkaline range. This is also true for many popular commercial “grain-free” diets based on other carbohydrates, such as potatoes, peas or lentils.
Feeding your pet a fresh, species-appropriate diet can go a long way to protecting her urinary system from unnecessary stress. Even a slight shift from the ideal pH can affect her urinary health.
On top of the effects it can have on urine pH, there's another major issue with commercial pet foods…
If Your Cat’s Diet is Missing This, It Can Cause Extra Strain on His Urinary System
Compared to other animals, cats have a low thirst drive.
A healthy cat won't lap up water like dogs or other animals. In fact, he’s often more interested in just watching or playing with it…
This is because nature designed cats to get most of the water they need from their food.
Cats in the wild hunt and eat prey, which contains about 75% water. Their bodies are excellent at absorbing the water from their prey so their need to drink is comparatively low.
Lions, for example, can go up to four days without drinking water, although they will drink if it’s available. The same is true for cougars, who can go several days without drinking, if necessary.
While your cat may do you the favor of hunting small prey in your neighborhood and leaving the trophies on your patio, he mostly depends on you for his food and water.
If you feed him canned cat food, he’s getting about the same 75% moisture content as what cats naturally eat in the wild.
But dry food contains only about one tenth of the ideal moisture content – far from what your cat needs.
If you feed your cat dry food, you need to pay close attention to how much he drinks. Since your cat is getting less water from his food, he needs to drink more to make up the difference. And because of his natural design, he's not always likely to do so.
Your cat needs water in order to make urine, which flushes toxins from his body. Without adequate water intake, his body can’t produce healthy amounts of urine, making it harder for him to maintain healthy detoxification.
Making sure he gets enough water is crucial to his urinary health and his overall health.
A study conducted by a pet food company in 1999 discovered that the urinary health of cats who ate a canned food diet was considerably better than that of cats who ate a dry food diet.
Sadly, this study and others showing similar results haven't been enough to influence the feeding recommendations of many traditional veterinarians.
In light of these findings, I recommend you take a serious look at other feeding options if you're still feeding your cat a dry food diet.
My top recommendation for overall pet health is to feed a diet of fresh, species-appropriate raw food. But any increase in the amount of moisture in your pet's food is a step in the right direction for supporting urinary health.
Everyday Steps You Can Take to Help Your Dog Enjoy Optimal Urinary Health
Now that we’ve covered a major factor in feline urinary health, let’s talk about a couple of canine-specific issues.
If you're a dog parent, I also recommend feeding a fresh, species-specific raw diet to promote healthy urine pH and help provide your dog with an optimal moisture intake.
Just as with cats, if you choose to feed your dog a dry food diet, be sure to provide her with the extra fresh drinking water she needs to help maintain urinary health.
Here are a couple of everyday steps you can take to help your pup maintain optimal urinary and bladder health, and support healthy detoxification:
- Keep your dog well-groomed and bathed.
Trim away long hair from around your dog's genitals to help keep the area clean, and bathe her regularly.
By keeping your dog's genital area clean, you help prevent grease and dirt buildup that has the potential to create problems for her bladder and urinary tract health.
- Allow your dog to urinate frequently.
Give her breaks as often as possible so urine doesn't sit in her bladder for long periods. If it is not convenient to allow her outside every three hours or so, consider installing a pet door.
Just as with cats, plentiful moisture intake and frequent urination are nature's way of cleansing the bladder and urinary tract.
And here are some tips that apply to both cats and dogs…
- Don't allow your pet to drink potentially hazardous water.
Tap water is often contaminated with fluoride, pesticides, heavy metals and other pollutants – and it always contains chlorine.
All of these contaminants load her body with more toxins and pose risks not only to her urinary health, but also to her overall health. Whenever possible, give her clean filtered water to drink.
- If your pet is currently eating commercial dry food, consider transitioning her to a moist or raw diet.
A fresh, whole food, meat-based diet promotes a normal healthy urine pH, as well as general overall health.
Keep in mind that carbohydrates, especially grains, are alkalizing to your pet's urine and may cause an undesirable shift in pH. As much as possible, choose options that minimize carbohydrates in your pet’s diet.
If you are feeding your cat dry food, try adding a small amount of warm water to provide extra moisture.
- Pick up uneaten portions of moist or raw meals immediately, so your pet won't consume spoiled or contaminated food.
You can store those leftovers covered in the fridge for up to four days.
Taking just these few simple steps can help keep your pet’s urinary tract running smooth and healthy.
Help Maintain Your Pet’s Bladder and Urinary Tract Health with These Two Powerful Natural Supports
Over the past few decades, cranberry extract has become increasingly popular for supporting urinary tract health in humans.
In supplements, it’s often combined with D-mannose, a simple sugar found naturally in many different fruits and vegetables, including cranberries, apples, peaches and broccoli.
I recommend cranberry extract and D-mannose for the cats and dogs in my veterinary practice that I think would benefit from extra urinary tract support. The combination has a synergistic effect that helps maintain healthy function of the urinary system, including the kidneys and bladder.
Cranberries contain special chemical compounds called proanthocyanidins. These polyphenols are what give many fruits and flowers their blue, purple or red colors.
But they do more than just add color to plants. They are also beneficial for maintaining the health of your pet’s bladder and urinary tract, thanks in part to their antioxidant power.
Studies have also found that D-mannose is helpful in supporting normal healthy urinary function. D-mannose is similar in structure to glucose, but unlike glucose, D-mannose must be converted from its original state into fructose and then into glucose. This means it’s lower on the glycemic index.
When the polyphenol benefits of cranberry are paired with the health promoting aspects of D-mannose, the combination provides exceptional support for maintaining your pet’s urinary health.
Introducing Bark & Whiskers® Bladder Support –Practical Daily Support for Your Pet’s Urinary Health
Just like the pet owners I see in my clinic every day, I know pet parents everywhere are eager to help their pets stay healthy in today’s toxic environment.
By actively supporting your pet’s urinary health, you give him a leg up on maintaining healthy detoxification.
With that goal in mind, we’ve formulated what I consider a superior blend for bladder and urinary tract support for both cats and dogs.
Bark & Whiskers® Bladder Support contains both Organic Cranberry Fruit Powder and D-Mannose, along with seven other herbs and supplements.
We chose these ingredients for their ability to support all aspects of a pet’s urinary system, from the kidneys out to the litter box:
- Buchu Leaf
An evergreen shrub native to South Africa, Buchu’s aromatic leaves contain diosphenol, a plant chemical that may promote normal, healthy kidney and urinary function.
- Glucosamine Sulfate and N-Acetyl-D-Glucosamine
Glucosamine occurs naturally in your pet's body and is found in connective tissue. It's one of the building blocks of the protective lining of the bladder.
- MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane)
MSM is an important source of bioavailable sulfur, a natural antioxidant found in fruits and vegetables. Sulfur is stored in nearly every cell in your pet's body and plays an important role in building healthy DNA and many free radical-fighting antioxidants.
- Marshmallow Root
A flowering herb that grows up to four feet tall, marshmallow root is rich in mucilage and supports normal kidney detoxification and urinary function.
- Organic Bearberry (Uva ursi) Leaf
Also known as Uva ursi and Kinnikinnick, this small shrub with orange-red berries grows in the northern regions of North America, Asia and Europe. Bearberry contains antioxidant polyphenols that promote optimal urinary tract health.
- Organic Nettle Leaf
While you wouldn’t want to handle nettles if you found them growing beside a stream – as they sting – they are great for supporting your pet’s urinary tract. Their leaves also help maintain a normal inflammatory response.
Combined in a beef liver flavored powder, these ingredients provide broad-spectrum support for your pet’s urinary system.
Help Your Pet Stay Healthy in Today’s Toxic Environment – Support Optimal Urinary Health with Bark & Whiskers® Bladder Support
Now it's easier than ever to provide your pet with the support she needs for optimal urinary health.
Bark & Whiskers® Bladder Support isn’t just for pets who are prone to urinary issues, like older male cats and spayed dogs.
Healthy kidney and bladder function are crucial for the health of any animal, and in today’s contaminated world, every pet can use all the extra support she can get.
This original blend of nine powerful herbs and supplements supplies a wide array of polyphenols and other active ingredients that support urinary wellness.
Help your pet maintain healthy detox function by supporting her kidneys, bladder and urinary tract, and order Bark & Whiskers® Bladder Support today.