Long before OxyPet became a pet wellness brand, Kerry Waters was already giving oxygenated water to her Chihuahua, Duchess.
Kerry, from Sidcup in Kent, is an accredited breathwork instructor as well as a meditation and mindfulness teacher, and her professional interest in breathing, oxygen and how the body uses it meant the concept immediately made sense to her.
She first discovered oxygenated water through OxyPet co-founder Lindsey John Taylor, whom she knew personally through their shared interest in breathwork.
At the time, OxyPet had not yet been created.
Instead, Kerry began drinking an oxygenated water product called Kure herself – and decided to give it to Duchess too.
Years later, when Lindsey developed OxyPet specifically for animals, Kerry says she was already completely convinced by the principle behind it.
Using oxygenated water before OxyPet existed
Duchess is now a ten-year-old Chihuahua and has been drinking oxygenated water for several years.
Kerry said: “I met Lindsey and we quickly established that we both had a background in breathwork.
“We got talking about breathwork and my interest in that, and then we got on to oxygen.
“He told me about Kure, so I started using Kure myself personally and then for Duchess.”
When OxyPet was later developed with animals specifically in mind, there was little convincing required.
Kerry added: “As soon as they developed OxyPet, I was on board.”
Why Kerry’s breathwork background mattered
Kerry’s interest in OxyPet goes beyond simply liking the product.
She is an accredited breathwork instructor and has worked with people using breathing techniques for around four years, having previously qualified as a meditation and mindfulness teacher.
She describes herself as a “science geek” with a particular interest in how the body works and how breathing can influence physiological processes.
That background gave her a different perspective when she first heard about oxygen-enriched water.
Kerry explained that in breathwork, simply taking in more oxygen is not necessarily the objective in a healthy person, because blood oxygen saturation is already normally high.
Instead, she says a key part of breathwork is how breathing patterns influence carbon dioxide tolerance and the body’s ability to use and distribute oxygen effectively.
She said: “What breathwork does is allow you to deliver the oxygen around the body more effectively.
“And that for me is kind of like what OxyPet is doing through water.
“Animals can’t control their breathing so that they can achieve an outcome where they’re more effective in delivering oxygen to the cells in their body through their blood.
“But OxyPet gives them the opportunity to do that by maximising the oxygen that’s in the water.”
That is Kerry’s interpretation based on her breathwork background rather than a veterinary claim about treating disease, but it explains why the concept appealed to her from the start.
She summarised the connection simply: “Through both breathwork and through oxygenated water, you can improve the delivery of oxygen to your cells in the body. That is a link.”
Supporting Duchess’s everyday wellbeing
Kerry initially wanted Duchess to have good-quality water as part of a wider approach to supporting her health.
Chihuahuas are not brachycephalic dogs, but Kerry says Duchess has experienced occasional respiratory-type symptoms, including congestion and the distinctive “honking” noise some small dogs can make.
Duchess can also be delicate and prone to becoming run down, so Kerry introduced oxygenated water around the same period that she moved her onto a raw diet.
Kerry said: “It was really all with a view to trying to improve her general health.”
The changes she remembers most clearly were in Duchess’s energy and coat.
She said: “The two things that I noticed the most from her being on the water were vitality – her energy levels were definitely up – and the glossiness of her coat.
“Really, really glossy.”
Kerry says she noticed the increased vitality particularly quickly, within a matter of weeks, with changes to Duchess’s coat becoming noticeable around the same period.
“I understand the science”
Many OxyPet customers first try oxygen-enriched hydration without having any background in oxygen or respiratory physiology.
Kerry’s experience was different.
Because of her professional interest in breathwork and the body, she says she needed less convincing than most.
“I understand the science,” she said.
“I probably needed to be convinced less than maybe other people.
“I totally understand the cynicism and the questions because, as a society, we take a pill to fix things.
“We’ve been programmed to think that the way to fix an illness, a condition or improve your health is to take a pill, when actually we have a lot of the tools inside our body already.”
For Kerry, breathing is one example of something incredibly simple that can have a surprisingly significant relationship with how the body functions.
That is also why she has always been attracted to the simplicity behind OxyPet.
There is no complicated routine for Duchess. It simply replaces the water she would otherwise be drinking.
A long-term part of Duchess’s routine
OxyPet is an oxygen-enriched hydration product made using Cornish spring water infused with patented nano-bubble oxygen technology.
For Kerry, it has now become a normal part of life with Duchess rather than something she thinks of as a short-term intervention.
She also has a cat, Tootsie, and adds a small amount of OxyPet to his food because he is less inclined to drink water directly.
And Kerry admits Duchess is not always the only one drinking it.
“I often find myself swigging out of it as well,” she said.
“I drink it too.”
For someone who was using oxygenated water with her dog before OxyPet even existed, that long-term commitment comes from a simple place.
Kerry understands breathing, she understands the importance she places on hydration and oxygen in her own work, and she believes the same principle has supported Duchess throughout much of her life.
As she puts it: “I’ve been a big advocate for many years.”
