Tips for Kidney & Urinary Tract Health

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. Hello, hello, hello. Hi everyone. So we are covering a little bit of kidney urinary health today. Today upon request, we got an email from Sky B and it is all about Loving the podcast. Was wondering if you could do an episode on urinary health for pups that struggle with urinary issues. Crystals and UTIs. I'm starting a new journey of holistic health for my pug and and would love as much information as I can get. Thank you so much for all of your knowledge that you share. Sky. I just did a review of the Modern Dog Parent Handbook by Bryce and Kenzie. The BK Pets A holistic approach to Raw feeding, mental enrichment and keeping your dog happy and healthy. That's a great place to start. I would purchase that book. I would also purchase the book the Forever Dog by Rodney Habib and Dr. Karen Becker. They also have a new book coming out, the Forever Dog Life. It's gonna give you a lot of information to check out and use with your dog. I also have my book coming out, the Herbal Dog. It's not coming out till next February. However I do have a publication date ladies and gentlemen, very excited about that. But it is available for pre sale right now at Inner Traditions publishing and also barnesandnoble.com and in the UK it's available on Amazon uk.com and then rumor has it it's on Amazon in Canada or about to be and then I will let you know guys when it is up on Amazon for pre sale here in the United States all sales go to my first day of sales. So pre sales are absolutely great. It helps me plan gonna have a book tour and a holistic dog store tour. So if any of you you have holistic dog stores let me know. Email the podcast, I'll put you on my list. I'm doing some planning. If you have a favorite bookstore in your city, let me know. The more information I have I am going to be sending out a survey to find out where people are at and next February I hit the road. I'm also looking for a few sponsors for my tour so if you are able to do that, let's me know. So lots of plans, lots of plans. One thing I did want to tell you is that Sean of Earth Buddy who used to be a sponsor Here at the podcast I Love Sean. Sean is the owner of earthbuddy.com he has extended his discount for us herbal buddy 20 all capital letters herbal buddy 20 for 20% off his entire website till the I believe July. So herbal buddy 20 show him some love. Go check out his products. He has some wonderful, wonderful, wonderful products. And just love, love Earth Buddy. Hope they are a podcast sponsor again in the future. I love to rotate podcast sponsors and show you guys different people in the all natural dog community that like to support the podcast here. Okay. So one other thing is our other sponsor which is adored beast. Apothecary.com I carry adored Beast on my store or you can go to their website Herbs Rock all capital letters gives you I believe a 15% discount on adored Beast. I love Adored Beast. I love, love, love their go to product. I can't stop talking about it. It's helped me so much over the past few months. Love all their probiotics that they come out with. I was just working on my oral health course and I was putting in there how you can use Love Bugs. They're probiotic on your dog's teeth to help get rid of plaque and keep biofilms from forming and keep your dog's mouth healthy. You can use it at night when you brush your dog's teeth and how to use it. So they just have wonderful like they have mushroom tinctures, they have Guts Soothe which I really love that product for acute use on upset tummies. Also for the dogs who are dry, more on the dry side. It does add moisture to the body, the gut soothe product. And then they have a product that is called Healthy Gut which is a digestive enzyme. Big fan of that product. Check out their whole line. Adored Beast Apothecary. Okay, so we're going to talk about kidneys today. And you know I was finishing up the manuscript for my book recently for my publisher. We are in the edit edits right now in the book which I'm breathing, I'm breathing. I hope they don't cut too much. Whatever they do cut, I'm going to put on my book's website herbal theherbaldog.com the website's going to serve as a great resource for everything in that book. So I'm just trying to breathe and work through the process. I was writing about kidney disease and how well kidneys in general and how people will have urinary tract infections and then they'll just treat the symptoms and act like it's all fixed and nothing, nothing happened. But there's a reason why your dog is getting a urinary tract infection. Now, if you have a boy dog who's humping toys and he gets a uti, that's pretty clear that is coming from the outside in. That happens to a lot of dogs, boy dogs who hump their toys. But if there is no toy humping involved or no diapers involved, that's another thing that causes UTIs from the, you know, exit the exits of our dogs, you know, from the outside in, bacteria coming in. That is, you know, a lot of times a one and done. But other than that, we need to understand the kidneys in general and the uterus and the bladder. And it's just really important to understand the anatomy of your dogs before you start trying to troubleshoot everything that's going on. You know, because kidney disease is a big deal. We've got gravel and stones, we've got UTIs, we've got bladder infections, kidney infections. Kidney infections are much more serious. You definitely want to use the antibiotics if your dog has a kidney infection. That is a very life threatening situation for people and dogs. And getting to know your dog's blood levels and getting them checked is a big deal. So you want to know how to check your dog's levels. It's an important part of kidney monitoring. Looking at the kidney holistically definitely involves like recognizing these subtle signs of weakness. I was writing about this in my book too, but along with diet and natural herbal supplementations or supplementation, I think that looking at the entire picture is a really good way to prevent the early onset of an imbalance or disease. So let's look at the kidney function for, from an allopathic view. So like the kidneys work with the bladder and they control urine flow and output. And a lot of times when people are having bladder issues with their dogs, they are forgetting to even consider the kidneys. And the kidneys maintain proper fluid levels throughout the entitled renal system, which is the kidney system. They also secrete hormones that regulate blood pressure and they communicate with bone marrow when red blood cells are low. So the kidneys filter the blood and they preserve and process chemicals like amino acids, blood platelets, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, glucose, all those good things. And when kidney function declines, it leads to slower filtration and it can lead to high sodium levels and high blood pressure. And kidney stones and these types of malfunctions are what I would call beginning of kidney disease. And so you want to rule out kidney disease when your dog has any type of bladder issue. You might Also, notice excessive drinking or urinating. Now, if your dogs are on herbs, more urination is a normal process because a lot of herbs are diuretic. Always remember that. So don't freak out. But when it comes with excessive drinking and urinating, that is a sign. And then there's more advanced system. I'm sorry, symptoms of urinary and kidney issues. And that is, you know, lethargy, nausea, vomiting, poor appetite, losing weight, constipation, and, you know, if kidney disease is left untreated, it can go into kidney failure. Now, looking at the kidneys holistically, the kidneys balance the moisture element of the body. Okay? They ensure the organs are bathed in blood, and they help prevent dryness. But when dryness is allowed to proliferate, your dog can get dehydrated. We can have weakening cells and organ tension, and we don't want that. So without moisture, your dog's body can't cool itself. So heat builds, and that can lead to protein wasting, and that's why you want to test the urine. And this type of dryness is seen in, like, arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions. Painful joints, tight ligaments. We'll definitely see that in spring, which I'm recording this right now, in spring. Kidneys strengthen the skeletal system, and that includes the bone marrow and the spinal column. So a lot of times the kidneys are, you know, kidney function is related to a healthy spine, especially in the area of the third lumbar vertebrae. And any tightness of muscles or decreased energy flow in that area affects the kidneys. I learned that from Dr. Peter Debias. So thank you, Peter, for that. Looking at holistic function, I think, and looking at the entire picture helps provide a way to see those subtle symptoms of kidney weakness before the kidneys become impaired. So if your dog has urinary issues, you want to look for the kidney weakness issues or kidney weakness signs as well. Okay. There are some obvious symptoms, like peeing too much, you know, incontinence and urinary tract infections. Yes, urinary tract infections are a sign. So remember, the urinary system is not separate from the kidneys. Even though we treat it like it is, it's not. But there's more subtle indications. Okay. And these seem, you know, unrelated, but they are. It's pointing to an unbalanced renal system, and that's what we don't want. So arthritis is one of them. Dental disease and decay, especially in young dogs, chronic ear infections. Being fearful, fearful is a huge initial step in an unbalanced Renal system, excessive saliva or dry mouth. Groaning when laying down, swelling in the lymph nodes, that's a little more advanced. But swellings in general, edema, water retention, excessive rolling on the back, sensitivity to noise, stiffness in the joints, spinal conditions, and weakness in the back or the hind legs. Those are all subtle symptoms of something is happening in the renal system. So we want to make sure that we are looking for those symptoms and then we want to look at what we're doing to our dog. Okay. We want to reassess and see what is important and what's not important. So minimal vaccination is important. The only vaccination that's required by law in the United States is rabies. Every three years for the most part. And you can prepare your dog for that. I think we have a podcast on that. If we don't, I'll make one. Do they really need the pharmaceuticals that you're giving them? Make sure reassess, do some homework. Less is more. Is there an natural alternative to those pharmaceuticals? Do your homework. Talk to your holistic vet. Flea and tick medications. Let's reassess those. In a few months, I'll be coming out with a tick course. In a couple weeks, I'll be coming out with my updated flea course and I will also be coming out with my oral health course. So check those out. If you're listening to this down the line from when it was published, I'm sure all those courses are out by now. So check them out@canineherbalism.com there's lots of natural alternatives to flea and tick medications. Heartworm medications, definitely alternatives to those. Depending on where you are, you want to assess risk. I love Amber Naturals hwf. If dogs get heartworm, you can talk to your holistic vet about that. That remedy works really well. I like the testing method for heartworm. You test every four months or three months if you're in a high vector area. And then you would treat if your dog was positive. I love giving the heartworm nosode as a preventative and also you can give ivermectin if that suits you, but. But definitely give it along with milk thistle seed. Autoimmune disease. That's, you know, it predisposes dogs to urinary issues and renal system issues. Genetics, you know, what happened to the parents? What's going on with the parents? What did they have? Poor diet, definitely. You cannot out supplement a bad diet. As Dr. Katie Woodley says. And definitely that is the truth. Ruth, poor diet is a huge factor. In contributing to kidney disease. Let's check. See how many drying things you're eating. Make sure that you are hydrating all freeze dried food and dehydrated food correctly and sufficiently. I like to hydrate those things overnight and then I add a little warm water in the morning. Diet is the key when it comes to healthy kidneys. Fresh food, fresh food, minimally processed diet. If you are doing kibble, we want to add moisture to the bowl. Okay. In many ways. That's why check out the Modern Dog Parent Handbook by Bryce and Kenzie and the Forever dog life by Dr. Karen Becker and Rodney Habib. Also one of our sponsors, Green Juju.com, they sponsor our short episodes of this podcast. They are a wonderful way to upgrade the dog bowl. If you feed kibble, kibble is dry and it depletes the body of water. So it's also full of ingredients that aren't bioavailable. And I meet people where they're at. So if you're feeding kibble, I'm not shaming you. We just wanna, you wanna educate yourself and move up the kibble hierarchy. Get to a medium, medium, limited ingredient kibble. Well, you may be going from a high ingredient kibble to a medium ingredient kibble and then to a minimal ingredient kibble and then maybe to an air dried. There is a hierarchy, check that out. The issue is, is that a dog's body spends an inordinate amount of time digesting kibble up to 13 to 14 hours. So that's going to tax the liver. It causes early aging in many, many dogs. Yes, there are those dogs that can eat McDonald's every single day and not age at all and live until they're 20. Yes there are. And just like there are people that can, you know, Hagger down six packs a day when finish it off with a fifth of gin and eat McDonald's and do whatever they want to their body and for some reason they live until they're 96. But are they thriving? Most likely not. But it isn't the norm. A fresh food diet helps the kidneys really maintain optimal blood volume, which rids the body of toxins. Some key elements of kidney friendly diet include like balanced calcium and phosphorus ratios and clean proteins, preferably from pasture raised animals. And foods rich in chlorophyll like organic spinach, chlorella, dried nettles or phytoplankton is excellent. Herbs can support your dog's kidneys and entire renal system, urinary bladder and they can definitely help support elimination and Slow the progression of any type of kidney imbalance. So the first herb that I like for kidney issues is parsley. Parsley's warming. You use the leaf. It works with the liver and the adrenals. It helps balance sodium levels. It's high in vitamins and minerals and trace minerals. Use organic parsley. It's an anti inflammatory. It helps tone the kidneys. It helps with definitely burning urine. Dogs that cry out if they urinate, urinary tract infections and low urine volume. So you can use fresh or dried parsley three to four times a week as an infusion. Basically, brew it until it's green. Don't worry about the amount. Just throw a little bit in the water brewer until it's green. You can even do a tablespoon or a couple tablespoons for eight to 12 ounces of water. Again, steep it till it's green, about 30 minutes. Strain, let it cool. Give your dog one teaspoon for every 10 pounds of body weight, and you can do that over the food. Another one I like is blessed thistle. Not milk thistle, but blessed thistle, sinisus benedictus. It's cooling. Use the flower and the leaf, and blessed thistle helps support the elimination through the kidneys. It's a better option if your dog is more warm and has a harder time regulating their body temperature. It's indicated for dogs with decreased circulation, low appetite and renal stagnation. So I love blessed thistle. I like to work it in and out of the diet. You can use it twice daily or as a tincture. Give one drop for every 10 pounds of weight. Another good one is goldenrod solidago candidensis. It's warming. It's good for the flower and leaf. A lot of dogs that are more on the cool side tend to get renal stagnation. Stagnation in general, definitely infections. They're more prone to infections for sure. But goldenrod addresses chronic weakness in the kidney system. The renal system, definitely in those beginning stages of kidney disease. It's wonderful. It's indicated for dogs with crusty skin, weakness in the back and hind legs, chronic allergies and bladder infections. It's definitely a restorative herb because it tones and balances the kidneys. And even though it's a little warming, it's wonderful for dried out kidneys. Okay, lots of dryness in the system. You can use it fresh or dried twice daily as a tincture or an infusion over the food. Same thing, you know, one tablespoon for eight ounces of water is good. Let it steep for about 30 minutes. If you use it as a tincture, give two drops for every 10 pounds of body weight for an infusion. Again, steep for about 30. You can do like up to 45 minutes, even an hour if you want. Strain it, let it cool. Give one teaspoon for every ten pounds now. Kidney Champion urinary Champion nettles Urtica diocea orens. It is cooling to warming. It's kind of balanced, I would say. You know, it can lean warm. For some dogs that are more on the warm to hot side, you can use the leaves. You can also use the seeds. Those are a little more warming but very good for acute issues or in really, really low dosages. Nettles bring down inflammation for sure. They have an affinity towards the kidneys long term. They can be a little drying, so you might have to moisten them up if your dog gets more dry using them. I would add marshmallow root if they're doing well on the nettles. They're indicated for dogs prone to allergies, arthritis, hypothyroidism, uric acid buildup. They're great as a dried herb infusion. They're very high in chlorophyll. They are naturally alkaline, alkalizing. For general kidney support, you can use a tincture or an infusion twice daily. Tincture. Two drops for every 10 pounds of weight for an infusion. Steep for like I would say 30 minutes and then of course, let cool. One teaspoon for every ten pounds. You can give it with or without food. If you're using the seeds, I would use a tincture definitely. The seeds are great for kidney disease and even kidney failure. Use the seeds. They definitely have regenerative properties. They help restore kidney function. I've used them for my mom. I use a tincture twice daily. Basically 1 drop for extra small dogs, 2 drops for small dogs, 3 drops for medium, 4 drops for large and 5 drops for giant dogs. Or you can put decrease that by half if you want to. Nettles are safe for long term use, but again, they can be a little drying, so you might need to add marshmallow root and that. Speaking of marshmallow root, marshmallow root is awesome for urinary issues. Althea officinalis is its Latin name. It's cooling. Use the root. It's soothing. It increases elimination through the kidneys. It balances out the kidneys and the urinary system. It helps dogs who urinate too much or too little. Like again, it's balancing. It helps with dryness. Arthritic conditions, constipation, signs of heat. Use it twice daily. You can use it as a glycerin extract. You can use it as a tincture, a dried root powder. You can use it as an infusion of it. You can even put a bunch of it in a lot of water and let it sit overnight and use it over a period of three days as a glycerate. Give five drops of of the extract per 10 pounds of weight for tincture, two drops for every 10 pounds for dried root, give an eighth of a teaspoon for every 10 pounds of weight. And definitely helps bring down inflammation and slow kidney disease progression. And it also helps protect kidney cells. So that's a little bit of kidney loving for all the dogs out there. Some other remedies that I like for the kidney is heather phytoembryonic therapy. I love that. You can also use rehmania, which is a traditional Chinese medicine herb. And then there's cordyceps mushroom. Wonderful. That is very warming to hot mushroom, depending on where your dog is on the spectrum. Again, if you don't know what I'm talking about, take my energetics course. But cordyceps is really great for the kidneys and the adrenal glands. Reishi mushroom, another good kidney remedy. It is slightly warming. I use real mushrooms for reishi or as a tincture. I would use feral fungi tincture for pure reishi. I'm just thinking, yeah, that's a good place to start. You know, you don't want to, I don't want to give you too much information. There'll be more information on the kidneys in my book and I'll have more explanations of different types of herbs and what they do for the kidneys in my book. I'm excited about that, but it's going to be a while. We'll have a lot of podcasts between now and then. So I hope that this gives you a good idea of what to do for urinary tract infections and renal system imbalances. I can say my go to for an active urinary tract infection is one I use. Like, if I don't know anything about the dog and I'm just telling someone, hey, use this. And I've used this before myself while I've been traveling and had to order something. Me having a urinary tract infection, my dog having urinary tract infection from stress or and I used to have a pug that used to hump his toys. I've used Petwell being urinary Gold. It works very well. I usually double the dose on the recommendation for an active urinary tract infection and then I combine that with silver hydrosol, a dropper three times a day for like a small to medium dog. And it's usually the only time I use it when we have urinary tract infections, but I always make sure I use the hydrosol. Adored Beast sells the hydrosol, so I always keep one of those with me. That is a really good go to for a urinary tract infection. And again, I would have your dogs urine tested afterwards to see what's going on there. We might need to target some specific bacteria. I use phytoembryonic therapies for that. And that's about it. So big thanks to realmushrooms.com thank you, thank you, thank you. You guys are awesome. They have supported our podcast for a while, the Canine Herbalist Podcast, and they're just really awesome in that they do so much research and scientific activity and researching different types of mushrooms. They recently took on Herbalist medical herbalist Lee Carroll, who in my mind is absolutely phenomenal. He's definitely the person I would seek out if I was ill. I have a lot of trust in him. He's a very scientific mind, as you know. I am not. But I appreciate him so much and I love science for sure. I just like to blend traditional herbalism with science. I find that gives me the best worldview as far as plants are concerned. But Lee Carroll is a part of Real Mushrooms now and we'll be having some great mushroom research come out there. And there's lots of really great mushroom researchers throughout the world. So some just awesome stuff coming out with mushrooms. Love them. I definitely love the real mushrooms powders. They're hot water extracted. They're extracted according to the individual mushroom, which I appreciate because mushrooms are individuals for sure. So check them out. Realmushrooms.com I sell some of their products in my store and you can find them on their website. They have a pet line and also a human line. I use both for my pets, so check them out again. Realmushrooms.com thanks for listening to this episode of Dogs are Individuals. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review in your podcast app. And don't forget, sharing is caring. So if you love Dogs Are Individuals podcast, share it with your friends and family who love dogs. This will help me so much. And remember, as a listener, I appreciate you much. Thanks to Resonant Media, my podcast production team. This podcast is produced by Drake Peterson and edited by Mike Fry. Any questions, email the show, go to k9herbalist.com, click podcast contact in the menu and then fill out that form and I'll answer any questions here online. Okay, so thank you so much for listening to this episode of Dogs Are Individuals Podcast and I'm going to talk to you in our next episode. The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for veterinary care. 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 products have not been 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 product.