Some older animals that have been house-trained for years, begin to have "accidents" in the house. They may dribble a bit occasionally or wake with some urine around them where they were sleeping. Others may only leak a bit when excited.

The first thing that needs to be done is to take the animal to a veterinarian and have them check for a kidney or bladder infection. Skeletal misalignments can also cause incontinence. Once these things a ruled out, consider if your friend may be deliberately urinating in the house to get your attention. This would not be the case if your cat or dog is just dribbling a bit, but if there are other behavioral changes, you may want to contact an animal communicator to understand the issue causing the behavior.

Once acute physical causes or behavior issues have been ruled out, you can probably assume that the cause is physical in nature due to the age of the animal. Older female dogs sometimes leak due to having been spayed. Males can have troubles due to an enlarged prostate. Cats can have bladder control problems due to repeat infections in the past and catheterizations. Another consideration is if the animal is confused or has trouble getting to the litterbox or outdoors in time. More boxes in the house and keeping a close eye on your dog’s need to go out can help.

To support an older animal’s system it is vital to have them on a natural diet. Synthetic additions of preservatives or flavor enhancers in commercial foods may be contributing to an irritated urinary system. Allergies to the additives may also be part of the problem. Dry food should never be fed.

Avoid yeast and milk products in the diet as well as organ meats like liver.

A teaspoon of honey in a cup of barley water will soothe the bladder and a teaspoon of wheat germ oil added to the food may help as well. Apple cider vinegar is a urinary tract antiseptic and will add needed potassium. Some vegetables that can be used in the natural diet include carrots, parsley, asparagus, squash, broccoli, zucchini, dandelion, yams and green beans. Tamari can be added to supplement amino acids.

Other supplements that will assist the health of your animal’s urinary tract include using a B supplement in place of any yeast supplements and adding vitamin C to bowel tolerance. Calcium and magnesium should be included. Vitamins A and D, as found in cod liver oil. These will help with bladder function and heal internal organs and membranes. Vitamin E in double doses will reduce bladder scars and assist in internal healing. Zinc improves bladder function also and evening primrose oil is a hormone balancer.

In female animals that have been spayed, hormones may be deficient and the following herbs can assist. Licorice root, wild yam and dong quai are natural estrogens. A few drops of the tincture can be added to the animals food and increased gradually each week until the incontinence stops. Gradually wean the animal back to none. This course should take at least a month. Corn silk is also recommended to assist in incontinence cases.

In order to have the animal empty its bladder completely when urinating, use oatstraw, marshmallow, parsley, plantain, nettles or dandelion leaves.

Flower essences may also be used. To help older animals’ urinary systems, Helleborus and Redwood are recommended. To ease problems due to spaying, mallow should be tried.