January 28, 2025 – The database of insurance claims for kidney issues including urinary tract infections, incontinence, cystitis (inflammation of the bladder), urinary obstruction, and crystalluria (crystals in the urine) will likely show a correlation with very high to extremely high hardness in drinking water from domestic wells (including tap water). The USGS map to the left shows depicted in red dots, areas of water hardness with the top 10 metro areas in the United States that consistently rank highest in hardness (calcium and magnesium): Las Vegas, Nevada, San Antonio, Texas, Indianapolis, Indiana, Kansas City, Missouri, Phoenix, Arizona, Riverside, California, Austin, Texas, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Tampa, Florida, and Salt Lake City, Utah. But what brave insurance company would share such statistical analyses to their insured?
The closest I have found was back in 2016 that an insurance company named Trupanion Insurance published an article linking urinary health issues to higher levels of water hardness. Never heard of Trupanion Insurance? Well, the company provides medical insurance for pets. This company bravely stepped out with its claim data while medical insurance companies for humans have not ventured to do the same. We wrote about this fascinating report and data back in 2016 but the link that we provided in our article is no longer active. However, we did find on the Trupanion website, the 2016 press release on the original research data. What is interesting is the common trend that new medical innovations including data correlation typically begin from animal studies and in this case, the correlation of kidney issues in our pets to quality of water they consume is not an exception with such a trend.
In-depth Look at 2016 Original Research Data on Pet Insurance Claims
Based on over 5.5 million data points on over 400 breeds of cats and dogs collected by Trupanion since 2000, there appears to be a correlation of higher incidence of urinary health claims within regions of hard water. Male cats living in extremely hard water regions are three times more likely to have urinary complications when compared to male cats living in less hard water regions, according to Trupanion’s claim data. Our nearby Tampa, Florida region is one of seven U.S. metropolitan areas identified by Trupanion with the highest insurance claim payout for male cats suffering from urinary complications. Trupanion indicated that in Tampa, Florida, a city categorized as having “extremely hard” water , the company paid more than 10 times as many crystalluria (crystals found in urine) claims in male cats compared to male cats living in areas with softer water. Other areas with “extremely hard” water identified in the Trupanion research included Miami, Chicago, Minneapolis, Detroit, and Cincinnati.
The source of Tampa’s tap water is primarily the Hillsborough River and the hardness can vary. It is also the incoming water source for the bottling plant located in Tampa before it is filtered and purified to a high level (including removal of hardness minerals). The high purity of the resulting base water is needed before Rob infuses DiTetra Gas to make Watt-Ahh.
Other interesting statistics on the claims that Trupanion received from pet owners include:
1) Cats are 40% more likely to suffer from urinary conditions than dogs.
2) Owners of female dogs are 2.5 times more likely to submit a claim for urinary conditions than owners of male dogs.
3) Male cats living in areas given an “extremely hard water” were three times more likely to have urinary complications compared to male cats living in areas with lower water hardness levels water.
4) Back in 2016, treatment costs ranged on average between $77 and $1,222 annually to diagnose and treat urinary tract infections. In more recent years, we all have experienced escalating vet bills.
Although the 2016 Trupanion press release did not specifically recommend giving pets bottled water, it seems only logical as a preventative to substitute well water (or tap water) with purified water. No wonder we have many customers who share their Watt-Ahh with their beloved pets.
More Anecdotal Stories on Kidney Health and Watt-Ahh
PuddyKat was an senior Tuxedo cat owned by our neighbors. She suffered from renal failure and our neighbors left her for three months and the caregiver gave her dried food and tap water to drink. After the first month, Rob Gourley intervened and gave emergency “Watt-Ahh” care to PuddyKat. She was weakened and near death by either the lack of water or good quality water needed to digest her dried food and for hydration. It is an amazing recovery story with Rob’s daily care over a two-month time period. When our neighbors returned home, they could not believe the changes in PuddyKat who could jump onto furniture again and go outside to enjoy the sunshine and eat tender grass blades. PuddyKat lived a happier life for another six months thereafter. For the completed rescue story of PuddyKat, go to this link.
For human kidney function, we have two stories over the last 60 days when only one case of Watt-Ahh consumed by both human customers improved their kidney function test results respectively. One of these customers is driving down from Alabama with her truck to load up with over a pallet of Watt-Ahh. The wife of the second customer located in Ft. Myers, FL. requested automatic deliveries of Watt-Ahh.
For the entire 2025 Series on Be the Ahh! Pets, go to this link.
Sharing AHA! Discoveries
Do you have a “AHA!” Discovery to share for a longer and healthier life (and also for your pets) or a cleaner environment? Or, do you have a discovery story to share on a different topic?