Marty and Laura tackle a huge subject with kidney diseases, symptoms and treatments. From diabetes to poison to communicable diseases, kidney health is critical to your pet.

“A lot of people take kidneys for granted,” Marty says, “because they heard you can donate a kidney, so you must not really need to have two kidneys. You really do need the reserve of an extra kidney in case something goes wrong with one or both. Just like almost all of our organs, they're duplicated, so we should have two and they should both work effectively. So we need to take good care of our kidneys and that of our dogs.

“The most common (symptoms) are changes in water consumption and changes in urination. Now, other things that frequently cause that are going to be diabetes, which happens in dogs and cats, Cushing's disease, which happens in dogs, which is an adrenal gland dysfunction, and other things like pyometra, high calcium that can be related to different forms of cancer. So there can be other things that we're looking for.

“But we're going to start looking at kidneys, diabetes and Cushings disease in the dog most commonly. And so you're basically going to go in, tell the vet that your dog is drinking too much, urinating too much. We're going to get blood work and urinalysis as our basic starting point. But that's not the only place we're going to go. We're going to start with those two things because if the dog is still able to concentrate their urine, well then that tells us something different than if the dog’s urine was really dilute and the BUN and creatinine start to go up.”

The Marty & Laura Show is produced by Pure Dog Talk Inc., with sound design and editing by Premium Audio Services.

Marty and Laura bust out on myths around “natural” products for our pets, whether they are useful, safe or actually hazardous.

“All the eucalyptus and citronella and lavender and whatever it is that you want to spray on your dog is not going to actually successfully prevent external parasites,” Laura asked.

“They may help a little bit,” Marty said, “but don't forget just because it says natural doesn't mean safe because there's a lot of things that are natural that aren't safe. Chocolate’s natural, it's not safe for your dog. There are lots of things that we can put on our dogs or in our dogs that simply aren't safe.

“Somewhere in the early ‘90s, ivermectin came to market as Heart Guard and it's still on the market as Heart Guard and then there are some other newer ones that have come along that are in similar drug classes. Ivermectin was a mold found in the soil in Japan… So I think that's pretty natural. It's a mold from the soil. It's not like somebody made this up in a laboratory. Now, of course they've synthesized it, but essentially that's what it is. So, if you're looking for something natural, ivermectin is great.

“The diseases that fleas carry, that ticks carry, heartworm, intestinal parasites, all of those are really bad diseases. If you're looking at, well, you know, could I be OK if my dog got heartworm disease? Well, most dogs live through heartworm disease, but it's thousands and thousands of dollars and it's really hard in the dog.”

The Marty & Laura Show is produced by Pure Dog Talk Inc., with sound design and editing by Premium Audio Services.

Marty and Laura drop their recs for all the best toys for your pets, from cat trees to “indestructible” dog chews. Plus, Marty delivers a round up on cat food and why cats eat what they do.

“There's some nuances to cat food that are different than dog food. Cats apparently like things that are pointy and sharp in their mouths. Apparently cats like to eat little mice that have little sharp body parts, and so they like these little sharp kind of kibbles, so a lot of the foods are pointy or sharp or not necessarily just a round kibble.

“Cats are obligate carnivores. So dogs can be an herbivore or a carnivore. Dogs can get by on a no meat diet. For those of you who are having cats out there that want to be vegan, cats cannot live a vegan lifestyle. Certain amino acids that they have to get from meat.

“To effectively scratch, a cat needs to fully extend its front legs and its back legs. So however long your cat is from its tippy toes fully standing to its other tippy toes is at least how tall the cat tree has to be. The other thing about cat trees is that they need to be really hefty. Because when your cat comes running across the room and hits the cat tree, if it falls over, that's the last time the cat's ever going to go on the cat tree. If you ever thought you were going to keep your curtains in your furniture safe for the cat, you just blew it.

“I'm not sure for some dogs that there's anything indestructible. There are lots of things labeled that way, but you never want to assume that and leave your dog alone with that indestructible toy until you've proven to yourself in the dog that it truly is indestructible.”

Recommendations:

https://www.purina.com/dogs/shop/dentalife-plus-immune-support-large-dog-chew

https://www.kongcompany.com/

https://jollypets.com/products/teaser-ball-dog-toy

https://mountainvalleyantlers.com/

The Marty & Laura Show is produced by Pure Dog Talk Inc., with sound design and editing by Premium Audio Services.