Holistic Heart Health for Dogs & Cats

Examining The Dynamic Function Of The Heart & How To Support It Naturally

When we talk about heart health, most people immediately picture a pump. A mechanical device that pushes blood through pipes. Stronger pump, better health. We have been taught to think of the heart as a pressure generator, something that either works or fails based on how forcefully it contracts. But biology has always been more elegant than machinery.

As research continues to evolve, we are being invited to rethink long-held assumptions about how the heart works. Emerging models suggest that blood flow is influenced not only by pressure, but by vascular dynamics, rhythm, and coherent movement throughout the circulatory system.

Rather than a pump, It is a highly specialized, electrically driven, mineral-dependent, metabolically demanding organ that functions through rhythm, timing, and energy flow.

When we zoom out and look at the heart through a physiological and terrain-based lens, a very dynamic picture emerges.

The Heart's Function & Tissue Make Up

At its most basic level, the heart’s role is circulation. It ensures oxygen, nutrients, hormones, immune cells, and metabolic byproducts are moved efficiently throughout the body. But the way it accomplishes this is not brute force.

The heart is made of cardiac muscle, a unique tissue that sits somewhere between skeletal and smooth muscle. It contracts involuntarily like smooth muscle, but it is striated and highly organized like skeletal muscle. What makes cardiac muscle truly special is that it is electrically excitable and intrinsically rhythmic. The heart generates its own electrical impulses and coordinates contraction through finely tuned ion gradients and cellular signaling.

Cardiac cells are densely packed with mitochondria. The heart has one of the highest mitochondrial concentrations of any tissue in the body because it never rests. Every beat requires ATP, and ATP production depends on minerals, oxygen, and intact metabolic pathways.

Each heartbeat is the result of electrical depolarization, mineral movement, mitochondrial energy production, and precise timing between chambers. When any one of these layers is compromised, function changes long before structural disease is visible on imaging.

The Heart as an Electrical and Energetic Organ

Every heartbeat begins with an electrical impulse, rather than a mechanical squeeze. The Sino-Atrial node, often called the SA node, serves as the heart’s natural pacemaker. In both animals and humans, this small cluster of specialized cells initiates each heartbeat by generating rhythmic electrical signals that set the pace for the entire heart.

From the SA node, electrical signals travel through specialized conduction pathways, and cardiac cells respond by allowing ions to move across cell membranes. This electrical activity depends on something many of us first learned about in high school biology: the sodium-potassium pump.

The Sodium-Potassium Pump

The sodium-potassium pump is a structure embedded in the cell membrane that constantly moves sodium out of the cell and potassium into the cell. It uses energy in the form of ATP to do this work. By keeping sodium mostly outside the cell and potassium mostly inside, the pump creates an electrical imbalance. That imbalance is what allows heart cells to generate and respond to electrical signals in the first place.

Essential Minerals: Sodium, Potassium, & Magnesium

Sodium is responsible for starting each heartbeat at the cellular level. When an electrical signal reaches a heart cell, sodium channels open and sodium rushes into the cell. This sudden shift in charge is called depolarization. Depolarization is the spark that tells the cell it is time to act.

Once that spark occurs, calcium takes over. Calcium entering the heart cell triggers the muscle fibers to shorten and contract. This contraction is what creates the physical squeeze that moves blood through the heart and into circulation. Without calcium, the electrical signal would never turn into movement.

After the heart contracts, it must reset before it can beat again. Potassium plays the key role here. Potassium moves out of the cell, restoring the original electrical balance in a process called repolarization. This reset allows the heart muscle to relax, refill with blood, and prepare for the next beat. If potassium levels are too high or too low, this timing becomes unstable and rhythm problems can develop.

Magnesium acts as the regulator of the entire system. It supports the sodium-potassium pump, helps control how quickly calcium enters the cell, and prevents excessive stimulation. Magnesium keeps electrical signaling smooth, coordinated, and efficient. Without enough magnesium, the heart can become electrically irritable, overly stimulated, or inefficient with its energy use.

Trace Minerals: Selenium, Zinc, Copper, Boron

Selenium supports antioxidant systems that protect heart tissue from oxidative damage.

Zinc plays roles in cellular repair and immune balance.

Copper is involved in connective tissue integrity and energy-producing enzymes, and imbalances can affect the strength and resilience of cardiac tissue over time. Iron supports oxygen transport, which matters deeply for a muscle that never stops working.

Boron is a trace mineral that deserves special mention. In the mineral research and clinical observations of Richard Olree DC, boron is often referred to as the heart mineral. He described boron as one of the most overlooked yet biologically important minerals, noting that it is the second most common mineral in the human body by distribution, yet rarely discussed in conventional nutrition or cardiology.

Boron plays a role in calcium and magnesium metabolism, supports cell membrane integrity, influences electrical signaling, and appears to help stabilize tissues that rely heavily on rhythm and elasticity, including the heart and blood vessels. In this way, boron acts less like a stimulant and more like a coordinator, quietly helping other minerals do their jobs more effectively. When boron is deficient, mineral relationships become less stable, and tissues that depend on precise timing and resilience, such as the heart, may be more vulnerable to stress over time.

Normal Heart Rates Across Species

One of the easiest ways to appreciate how dynamic the heart is comes from simply observing heart rate.

In dogs, normal resting heart rate generally ranges from about 60 to 120 beats per minute. Large, athletic dogs often sit toward the lower end of that range, while smaller dogs trend higher. Puppies and excited dogs can climb well above these numbers without pathology.

Cats typically have resting heart rates between 140 and 220 beats per minute. Their hearts are fast, responsive, and exquisitely sensitive to stress, environment, and handling.

Humans fall much lower, with resting heart rates usually between 60 and 100 beats per minute, and well-conditioned individuals often lower still.

These differences are not random. They reflect metabolic rate, mitochondrial demand, nervous system tone, and mineral availability. A healthy heart adapts. It speeds up when needed, slows down at rest, and maintains rhythm even under stress. A heart that cannot adapt is a heart already under strain.

Indications Of Cardiac Imbalance

Heart issues rarely appear out of nowhere. They are the downstream expression of long-standing imbalance. When mitochondrial function declines, when mineral balance is off, or when oxidative stress rises, the heart does not suddenly fail. It adapts, compensates, and shifts its rhythm. Only later do we see murmurs, arrhythmias, enlargement, or failure.

Electrical disturbances may show up as arrhythmias or changes in heart rate variability. Heart rate variability, often shortened to HRV, refers to the small, natural changes in time between heartbeats.

Structural changes may present as valve degeneration (heart murmur) or chamber enlargement. Energetic failure may appear as exercise intolerance, fatigue, or poor recovery.

In dogs and cats, this may look like coughing, weakness, fainting episodes, or subtle behavioral changes. In humans, palpitations, shortness of breath, dizziness, or disrupted sleep often precede formal diagnosis.

What matters most is recognizing that these are not isolated heart problems. They are whole-body terrain issues involving mineral balance, mitochondrial health, and nervous system tone.

Inflammation also plays a role, particularly when driven by long-term pharmaceutical use or diets high in ultra-processed foods.

Environmental toxins add another layer of stress, including chronic exposure to toxic cleaning products, lawn care chemicals, and other everyday compounds that quietly tax the cardiovascular system over time.

When these factors overlap, the heart is often responding to a broader physiological burden rather than failing on its own.

Supporting Pet Heart Health Naturally

True heart support starts with foundations.

Species-appropriate nutrition supplies amino acids, fats, and minerals in bioavailable forms.

Proper hydration supports blood volume and electrolyte balance.

Regular movement maintains circulation and nervous system regulation.

Light exposure and circadian rhythm influence autonomic tone, metabolic signaling, and cardiac resilience.

Some dogs genuinely love bananas, which can be an easy, food-based way to contribute potassium when appropriate for the individual dog.

Supplementation may include magnesium in appropriate forms such as bisglycinate, malate, or taurate, alongside potassium-rich whole foods.

Mineral repletion should always be guided by the dog’s size, diet, and overall health picture rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, and some families may choose to explore fulvic and humic acids as a way to support broader mineral availability.

Support may also include nutrients that support mitochondrial function, such as B vitamins, CoQ10, L-carnitine, and ribose, which help heart cells produce and use energy efficiently.

Gentle botanical or energetic support can be layered in when indicated, particularly for dogs under chronic stress or recovering from illness.

In Conclusion

When we stop treating the heart like a mechanical pump and start honoring it as a living, responsive organ, our approach to care changes, and we understand why supporting cardiac health involves far more than a single nutrient solution approach.

Heart health becomes less about fear and more about resilience. Less about chasing numbers and more about supporting systems. Less about control and more about coherence.

A healthy heart is one that beats in rhythm with the body, supported by minerals, fueled by energy, guided by the nervous system, and grounded in a healthy terrain.

And that is where true cardiac wellness begins.

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Sources and Further Reading:

Bers, D. M. Cardiac excitation–contraction coupling. Nature.

Seelig, M. S. Magnesium deficiency in the pathogenesis of disease. CRC Press.

DiNicolantonio, J. J., O’Keefe, J. H., and Wilson, W. Magnesium and cardiovascular disease. Open Heart.

Wallace, D. C. Mitochondria and the heart. Circulation Research.

Richard Olree, DC. Mineral relationships and biological systems. Educational lectures and mineral research writings. https://hillmanhealthfood.com/pages/about-dr-olree