Urinary Tract Issues In Dogs And Cats

Cranberry Care is a solution to urinary tract concerns with dogs and cats on a plant-based diet

Struvite Crystals

Updated on March 2025 by Just Be Kind Dog Food Arielle

Cranberry Care Provides The Perfect Cruelty Free Solution To Sooth Any Urinary Tract Issues In Dogs And Cats Eating A Plant-Based Diet

All breeds of dogs (but especially small female dogs), and cats having a dry food diet all have a tendency to develop urinary tract complications regardless of the diet fed.

Plant-based diets do tend to be alkalinising in both the digestive and urinary tract compared to meat-based diets, so dogs or cats eating plant-based foods only could develop urinary tract concerns (as happened to Kissie), or we have cats that have recurrent episodes of FLUTD (feline lower urinary tract disease).

Thankfully this is all preventable by adding in a number of soothing ingredients that lower the pH to prevent an infection or the development of struvite crystals, as well as having non-inflammatory calming effects on the painful bladder wall when our dogs or cats develop a cystitis.

These are the ingredients in our Cranberry Care Tasty Supplement -

Red Pure Cranberry Powder
Organic Micronised Maize
Marshmallow Root Powder
Methionine 2.5g
L-Tryptophan 355mg
Glucosamine 500mg
Hyaluronic Acid 100mg

We advise mixing the Cranberry Care powder with plant-based yoghurt such as coconut yoghurt for added taste and ease. For added health benefit, it can also be mixed with Omega 3 Daily to offer a superior anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effect on the bladder wall in both dogs and cats.

By using this Cranberry Care supplement, you do not have to worry about constantly checking your dog's urine pH with a stick in their urine (stressful for you and for them!)....and it is difficult to check your cat's urine but it is possible with the use of Katkor beads that do not absorb the liquid. Not all cats like having these in their litter tray and they also so not like being watched so this can be difficult to collect urine samples from your cat.

What else do we advise for cats that are prone to urinary tract infections?

Try to feed a primarily wet food diet and not just dry biscuits as cats do not always drink enough water to keep their bladders flushed. We are SO excited about having 5 delicious tasty topper recipes that you are able to make at home to add to the Ami biscuits and can have the addition of our Cranberry Care Supplement for your cats (RECIPES COMING SOON!!)

Not all cats like to drink from water bowls with still water, some have a preference for running water from taps. It is SO important to provide fresh water in the form that they will drink, so if you do not want your cat constantly in your sink or licking from the taps on your kitchen surfaces, then it is easily resolved by buying a cat water fountain to pander to their preference as shown in the image below:

Do not forget that cats who are only used to going outdoors to urinate, will struggle to be able to find a patch of ground to scratch when we have snow or very icy weather and these cats will hold in their urine which again makes them far more prone to urinary tract infections.

Cat in the snow unable to urinate as ground is frozen

The solution if the ground is frozen to prevent a recurrence of cystitis in your cat, would be to have litter trays in the house filled with earth from outside (collected before the ground freezes). This is a solution for your cat particular to going outdoors.

I always tend to say to people that if cats could go to the toilet as we do in a small room on their own out of sight of anybody with the door shut, they would absolutely choose this! Any cat that feels stressed possibly due to having the litter tray in a busy section of the house where they do not feel they have their privacy will hold in their urine which makes them more susceptible to urinary tract infections and crystal formation.

Always have litter trays in areas of your house where it is quiet and undisturbed. Try to have closed litter trays as shown in the image above.

Multi-cat households where the cats live indoors MUST offer one litter tray per cat and then one extra one on top of that as cats do NOT like to use the litter tray of another cat. They are so sensitive to this due to their instinctive territorial natures as solitary hunters, and it is very common to have urinary tract issues in houses with more than one cat due to this.

What about urinary tract issues in our dogs?

As mentioned at the start of this article, any dog breed eating any dog food diet can be prone to developing urinary tract infections, but we do tend to see it more commonly in small dogs and in females. Having an alkalinising plant-based diet can also predispose some dogs, which is why it is SO important to choose a dog food with the addition of Methionine. It is a Sulphur amino acid that is commonly found in meat and is added as a supplement to plant-based dog foods. We have included it in our Cranberry Care Supplement along with acidifying red cranberry powder and soothing marshmallow root powder.

We would also recommend mixing it with plant-based yoghurt to give daily to dog should they be prone to developing struvite crystals or have alkaline urine, and we would also recommend a tinned food diet such as Give A Dog A Bean which adds in extra moisture for dogs that do not drink a lot.

Little Bella the Schnauzer below has recurrent issues with bladder infections and more recently a bladder stone that she passed made of struvite. The Cranberry Care is ideal to now keep her urine pH at the correct level to prevent any recurrence of both the alkaline urine as well as the struvite crystals that can develop when dogs are treated with antibiotics for an infection.