Did you know there are some cats that are more prone to urinary tract issues than others? These include the cat breeds such as Persians, Himalayas and the Russion Blue Siamese to name a few. Of course with any cat you are going to notice a problem more if you have an indoor cat. Pet's living in stressful conditions, that are overweight, male cats, pets living a sedentary lifestyle, and cats under the age of twelve can be more prone to UTIs than other pets.
When people get thirsty, their brain tells them to drink more water to quench this thirst, or they might find themselves craving salty foods such as pretzels, potato chips or other salty food that tend to make them thirsty. This works the same for a dog as it does for a humans.
However a cat does not think of thirst in the same way as a dog or a human does. If we add something to get them to be thirsty, they would just concentrate their urine more, which means that the urine will have a stronger odor or deeper color, but it would not make them drink more.
Cats really rely on the moisture they get from food, but we want less concentrated urine and for them to urinate more to avoid these UTIs. So for cats, the best way to do this is to feed them canned cat food and even add warm water to that. Or choose a cat food in gravy. Your can even use dry food and moisten it with warm water to get more moisture in their diet.
I did not know that cats do not like still water. If your put water in a bowl, that's not something they love. They like things that are running water. If you leave the sink faucet on just a little they will often go to that more than they will a bowl of still water. I got a water fountain for my cat and she drinks much more water than before.
I've always been told that if I have a urinary tract infection to drink cranberry juice. Well that's the same for our pets, both cats and dogs. Cranberry helps to normalize the pH, so if there was an e.Coli infection, which is most common for bladder infections in pets, the e.Coli would attach to the cranberry and be excreted out of their system with their urine.
Using D-Mannos helps to get bacteria out of the body. It fights infections by preventing the bacteria from adhering to the bladder lining, allowing it to be voided with their urine and flushed out of your pet's system naturally. Other ingredients such a glucosamine protect the inner lining of the bladder for ease of excretion so it's not painful for your pet to urinate. There is also an herb called marshmellow root to smooth, lubricate and form a protective barrier between mucus membranes which contribute to irritation.
As pet parent it is our goal to keep the bladder healthy and prevent these infections before they start.
You're probably wondering which of these ingredients will be best improve your pet's bladder health; how much D-Mannos or marshmallow root do I need? Decisions decisions. Let me help make that easy for you. There is a multimodal supplement that is all natural and formulated for dogs and cats that includes all these ingredients, a combination that has a synergistic approach to maintaining pet health.
- taken from a talk by Brooke Sloate, Director of Product Development, pawTree, LLC.
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