Navigating Canine Incontinence: Tips, Tricks, and Natural Solutions | Short

Hi, this is Rita Hogan and welcome to the Dogs are Individuals podcast. I'm a clinical canine herbalist and I've been practicing for over 20 years. This podcast is all about your dog through an herbal lens. So let's get to it and dive right in.

Hey everyone, this is Rita Hogan. Hello, hello, hello. I hope you are having a good week. We just got done with Labor Day. So how are you? Really? How are you? Right into the podcast. Let me know how you're doing and I get a lot of great feedback at the podcast. Contact nineerbliss.com and I appreciate you guys letting me know how much you love the podcast. Can you do me a favor and share it? Share the podcast? I would love that. So share it with anyone that you know might love the podcast. Any dog loving fool. Like all of us, right? We are all dog loving fools. We love those little hairy creatures. I also have, have turned into a crazy cat lady. So, yeah, I have. I, I admit it. I got two little cats named Oscar and Carl, which I'm sure I've talked about before. And last night, Oscar gets this flea combing every night and he's a big, huge rag doll Siamese mix and comes for his combing and lays on you. My partner's sitting there combing Oscar and he literally feels like an angora rabbit. And she has to get up and she hands him to me and I'm holding him. I held him for, I don't know, for about 35 minutes. And he was just sleeping and he had his little paws on my face and he's just sleeping and he's huge and he's got his little back legs wide open to his tummy. You can see his tummy, it's all fur. But oh my God, what a beautiful moment. I was just loving it. Dogs were all asleep. But yeah, these cats just love to be flea combed. And they go outside on leashes. So like on harnesses in our yard because they can't be trusted even though we have a privacy fence, they jump right, you know, they'll jump right over any weakness. So they go out in harnesses and we watch them. And Oskie, who is the big fluffy one, he can be without a harness if he's being watched because he doesn't really run away when you're watching him. But if you turn your back for a minute, he may run. We always end up getting him back, but I don't like that type of like, you know, adrenaline. Oh, God. Where's the cats? We have a lot of coyotes around here and we lost a cat to a coyote a few years back. But yes, I have turned into a crazy cat lady. Jay and Adrian of the2crazycatladies.com would be extremely proud of me. But yeah, turn it into one of those. I do want to thank my sponsor, real mushrooms. Realmushrooms.com so I had an interesting conversation with a vet the other day about using mushrooms. And we were talking and I was explaining to her about how I use mushrooms and mushroom tinctures. And so I use mushroom powders if I want the nutrition to go through the gut. And a lot of times you might have absorption issues with like a lot of cancer. So I use a mix between powders and tinctures because tinctures are absorbed into the bloodstream. But I want the, you know, physical level material doses of mushroom powders, like grams multiple times per day depending on the situation. I want those too. So I use a mix of those. I use those on that herbal support protocols for cancer. I use them with my partner, who. My late partner. She died in 2000. Late 2019. No, November. November 19, 2019. And I saw a huge difference between not using powder and I use real mushrooms powder and just using tincture and vice versa. So I like to use them together if it's appropriate. I also like to use like really good mycelium in certain mushrooms, like lion's mane. And I like reishi. I really love maitake. There's just so many mushrooms out there now, which is just a blessing to all of us. So I use a blend of that when I like shiitake. Mycelium is very good when you blend it with reishi and also the fruiting body of shiitake. So it just depends. And so my thing for all of you guys is just don't let someone put you in a box or paint a box at how mushrooms should be used because it really is case by case and they all have their value. So. But thank you, thank you, thank you to realmushrooms.com because they really have been such a support to me and they support my work at Nerdy Herby work, you know, and we all need some support, but they have been there from the beginning of this podcast. We are almost to our hundredth episode, so we're going to have a little celebration and a giveaway when that happens. So keep on trucking. What are we talking about today? So this is one of our shorts and it's a little bite sized morsel. And I had someone write into the podcast about their dog Being incontinent. And so I asked a bunch of questions and I don't normally do that, but incontinence is always hard to deal with. I mean, for questions in the podcast and turns out their dog had. Their dog is on some really nasty kibble. And not a high end kibble. There is a kibble hierarchy. Check out my podcast about that. But I'm talking nasty. And it's marketed as quality kibble. It's got a fancy name and a nice bag, but when you turn around and look at the ingredients, they are nasty. Blasty. So I was going to make a specific tincture for this dog, but one we need to address diet. And so I thought I'd go over some specific things that you need to deal with before, like if your dog is incontinent. Right. Because usually one of these things will actually deal with that incontinence and you won't have to use any type of herbs or medications. So check these out beforehand. And it's also going to support your dog in so many other ways. So the first way that you want to deal with incontinence is, well, exercise. I know, I know, right? Exercise is very important. You know, you want to give your dog age appropriate exercise and I would do, you know, 30 minutes twice a day or even an hour twice a day with age appropriate exercise. It goes such a long way at limiting leaks and incontinence in the house. So you don't want to like aggravate their incontinence. So you want to find that sweet spot in how much exercise they need. But it cannot be over. It just can't be overemphasized. Right? Your dogs need good quality, age appropriate exercise. And bring your dogs in nature. Right? Do some forest bathing. Fortunately, I can do some forest bathing on my property. But like get out into nature, get out in the park, walk amongst the trees, sit in the grass as long as it has weeds. You know, sit in the grass, take your shoes and socks off, let your dog lay down by you, do a little earthing, little grounding, and get out there and smell the beautiful negative ions that nature gives off. That helps with stress and anxiety, which can be another contributor to incontinence. So incontinence can also be from diet deficiency. So lack of minerals. The kidney needs minerals to function properly. And lack of minerals. One of my favorite products out there is a company called Beam Minerals Minerals. B E A M. B as in boy E A M as in Mary Beam Minerals. And I'm hoping to get those Those products in my store soon, I need to reach out to them. But I really love bean minerals and I definitely would suggest if your dog has incontinence, to get a blood panel, which I am going to be working with in the next few months. I'll have an array of testing that you can get on my site. I'm super excited about that. Testing is important. Test for vitamin deficiencies. You know, test for vitamin deficiencies, mineral and amino acid deficiencies. It's definitely something that needs to happen because again, in order for the kidney, the bladder and your dog's musculoskeletal system, their nervous system, their lymphatic system, all need significant, you know, mineral storage. Trace mineral, not significant in the trace mineral department, but we definitely need minerals. And bee minerals is a good trace mineral supplement. So make sure you're dealing with that first. Then the big, you know, the elephant in the room or the Great Dane in the room. Diet. Diet is super important for incontinence. You know, look at your dog's food, what they're feeding. My, you know, my shtick is an energetically appropriate diet. Check out my canine energetics course site, canineherbalism.com Most of the time, going from kibble to raw or home cooked will do the trick. And sometimes if your dog is using like a bottom of the barrel with like corn gluten meal and soy and nasty, blasty ingredients like that, you can go up the kibble hierarchy for a limited ingredient kibble and the incontinence will stop. So just. You want to look at where the food is made, where it's sourced, what the ingredients are, and look at the company as a whole. Don't believe the beautiful, you know, bright, shiny bag that I did 25 years ago. I don't. Not good with timelines, but it was at least 22 years ago with my dog Finbar. You know, the. What was it? Purina one with yogurt. It was such a pretty bag. And I remember the little cuts of chicken and vegetables cascading down the. Down the bag. It kind of was mesmerizing, but it was crap. And my little pugaroo had pneumonia all the time and we switched to food and there goes the pneumonia, never, ever to return. So, yeah, don't believe what's on the front of the bag. Turn it around. Read the ingredients. Be patient, you know, be patient. Use some coping mechanisms for incontinence, like, you know, like wicking diapers. That means that they're not letting the pee get to your dog. Once they pee it, wicks it away and kind of keeps it from leaking. Diapy wraps for boys. And just, you know, even an ex pen while you're dealing with it, like, that's like a big pen that you put, like somewhere in your house and you put your dog in the middle on a waterproof surface so that you can deal with it and you can know if they're peeing or not peeing. So, but you have to be patient. This stuff doesn't happen right away and it doesn't go away right away, but it definitely can go away quickly. Okay, it definitely can go away quickly for sure. And then one of my favorite vets out there in the, I would say the educational world is Dr. Peter Dubias. I'm going to see him at Dr. Judy Morgan's event in Florida on October. I think it's the 12th and the 13th or the 11th and the 12th. You can find out more about that at judymorgan.com or drjudymorgan.com but Peter Dias always mentioned that, you know, you want to find a good chiropractic chiropractor for your dog and get a back examination when you are doing incontinence work. And that's very, very important. And especially if there's any heat along the spine and there's, you know, he believes there's lots of tightness there and definitely inflamed muscles. And if your dog is sensitive to the touch along the, like the lumbar spine, you want to make sure that you see a chiropractor. Okay? So those are some little tips that you can use for helping with incontinence. And this is called a short for a reason. So I'm out. Thanks for listening to this episode of Dogs Are Individuals.

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The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for veterinary care. This Podcast this podcast doesn't constitute a provider patient relationship. As always, talk to your doctor, veterinarian, or healthcare provider first before starting anything new. And that includes herbs. I'm not a doctor and I don't treat disease or prescribe anything. I'm a traditional herbalist providing herbal support education only. Regarding any products I may suggest the statements made regarding these products have not been available evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The efficacy of these products has not been confirmed by FDA approved research. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. All information presented here on the podcast is not meant as a substitute or alternative to information from your vet. Please consult your veterinary professional about potential interactions or other possible complications before using any production.