Cystitis
Health Benefits

  1. Home
  2. Pets
  3. Cystitis
  4. Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple Cider Vinegar Treatment for Cats with Cystitis

The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
Sort by Default New Loved

93 User Reviews

5 star (77) 
  83%
4 star (3) 
  3%
3 star (5) 
  5%
1 star (6) 
  6%
(2) 
  2%
Write a review
Posted by Angela (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) on 05/07/2009
 ★★★★★

Hello, my cat Spillo is 9 years old and has suffered for 8 years from serious cystitis. He has had too many blockages to even count. I have spent approximately $15,000.00 over these past 8 years due to the cystitis/blockages. He will act strange every couple of months, doing the licking and back and forth to the litter box. Because he has such a horrible track record with blockages, I have no other choice but to bring him to emergency or the regular vet every time he acts this way. At times it is just imflammation of the bladder, other times it has been bladder infections, and of course the other times it is blockage. The symtoms are the same for all of these so I always have to treat it as a blockage and take him to the vet. I was told last month that due to the number of times he has been put under, his kidneys are starting to weaken. They suggested that I make a decision to put him down. Well, that advice tore me into tiny bits. He is only 9 years old!! At the end of March I found this website and have been giving him 1cc of acv diluted with distilled water for a total of 20cc's of fluid TWICE a day. (Most vets can give you a 20cc syringe). The end of March is when he was unblocked and was pretty lifeless for a few days after the procedure. The first time I gave him the 1cc of acv with the distilled water he vomitted and then perked up immediately. Now every time I give him the acv mixture he asks for food and is so much more energetic. I don't know if he is producing less crystals. I will have to give an update after a couple of months. All I know is that he seems to be doing much better. I hope that this truly is the answer and that he will never block or have an episode of cystitis again. Only time will tell. I will be sure to give an update!

FYI his daily routine is as follows:
Morning-1cc of acv mixed with 19cc's of distilled water for a total of 20cc's of fluid given orally.

Afternoon-1cc of acv mixed with 19cc's of distilled water for a total of 20cc's of fluid given orally.

Evening-40cc's of Distilled water given orally. 2cc's of liquid glucosamine given orally.

I am now in the process of switching him to a raw food diet. Everybody please cross your fingers for me.

Replied by Angela
(Calgary, Alberta)
10/23/2009

Hello, I just wanted to finally give everybody an update on Spillo. Ever since we have been giving him the acv, he hasn't had one episode of cystitis or anymore blockages. The last blockage was the end of March 2009.....so he has been in the clear for almost 7 months. I did go to a cat specialist and he gave us some very important information. He said that the apple cider vinegar is great because it makes the urine more acidic which is good in preventing the formation of certain kinds of crystals. He said too much can form a different form of crystals, so it should be used in moderation. In addition to this, he said that the kidneys don't completely love acv. Hydration/flushing of the system with water(distilled given orally or iv fluids under the skin) is extremely important. Having this new information, we have decreased his daily intake of acv to only 1cc. It still gets mixed with distilled water and the rest of the diet is the exact same. Technically there could never be a cure for Spillo, but having this diet kind of puts it into remission. We can't believe how well he is doing! It truly has been a miracle for us. I will give another update in the future.

Replied by Kathy
(Wincanton, Uk)
10/26/2009

Hi - please can you elaborate on your raw food diet. what do you feed your cat. My cat is prone to being overweight and suffers from cystitis> I am going to try the ACV immediately but also wondered about the raw diet. The vet has him on a special very expensive urinary diet at the moment which is all very well, but it contains additives etc which I dont like - thanks for any help

Replied by Angela
(Calgary, Canada)
11/03/2009

Hello, in all honesty I tried the raw diet for a while and Spillo ate it off and on. I lazily gave it a rest and put him back on specialty moist food. He is doing well on it but I must admit I feel guily for not feeding him raw. I would say to go to a pet specialty store that sells raw and they should be able to answer your questions about how much to feed your cat and recommend a raw brand. I have even been told by our German Shepherd's breeder from the Czech Republic that we should just give spillo a chicken wing or some other raw meat. He said the cats he grew up with in the Czech Republic ate raw meat and lived to a ripe old age with no disease. You can also look online at some cat raw food recipes and this should give you some good ideas. I hope this helps.

Replied by Angela
(Calgary, Alberta)
04/12/2010

I promised to write back and let everybody know how Spillo is doing after a year since his last blockage. Everyday he has been taking raw apple cider vinegar and hasn't had an episode of cystitis, no bloackages, no urinary track infections. He only takes 1cc of ACV daily with distilled water and he also has 2cc's of liquid glucosamine. It really does work.

Replied by Igor
(Camp Wood, Texas)
09/27/2010

Our cat Stiggy will eat only one kind of dry food and refuses all other food, fish, meat, human, food, milk products, you name it. A real finky eater if there ever was one. His partner Inspector Lynley eats everything, mice, birds. And such, a real pig. How do we get Stiggy to eat wet food?

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Ruth (England, UK) on 04/22/2009
 ★★★★★

1 am and my female cat rushing around like a loon, trying to pee anyware and yelling in pain. 1 capful of acv to 3 parts water, spoon fed (which i never imagined I would be able to do) Sat cross legged on the floor and put cat on lap under arm, held under chin with left hand and spooned one teaspoon in with right hand. 5 minutes later, cat asleep. Just going to do another dose now.

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Gemma (Manchester, UK) on 04/05/2009
 ★★★★★

My 2 year old cat Belle had a bout of cystitis just over 6 months ago. 2 days ago, I noticed the same signs - constantly visiting the litter tray, straining and producing just a few drops of urine ever 5 minutes. Daunted by another trip to the vets I thought there must be a natural way of dealing with the problem so search the net and came across this site. Having read all the testimonies about Apple Cider Vinegar and its ability to treat feline cystitis I rushed out to the shop and returned with a bottle. I mixed 1/4 a teaspoon with water and spooned it down Belle's throat. She didn't like it at all - can't say I would if I was made to swallow vingar but 1 day later and she's so much more settled rather than constantly wandering around and visiting the litter tray. I gave her another dose this morning at 9am and so far, she's yet to go to the litter tray - fingers crossed when she does, it will be normal!! So far, I'm a believer in ACV!

Replied by Janet
(Manchester, United Kingdom)
09/07/2009

In response to your posting just to let you know that if your cat refuses to take ACV straight down his throat I find it a lot easier to rub pieces of cooked chicken strips in the vinegar on one side. I also crush a Cantharis tablet in the food too as this is also good for the bladder, I found them in the health food shop. The chicken pieces I buy frozen from a well known frozen food store and just take a few out to defrost overnight. Hope this helps.

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Nikki (Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom) on 03/14/2009
 ★★★★★

A big thanks for the tips on this site. Our usually perky cat Scratcher became very poorly with the symptoms of feline cystitis , at a weekend when all the vets were on out of hours calls only. He was squatting in his tray literally every 5 mins, crying in pain. I found this site and went out immediately to get some acv. We diluted about a capful with water in a 10ml syringe and tried to get him to swallow but he never has liked being manhandled so that was a real struggle. I dropped a capful onto his scruff and rubbed it in, then later when he'd calmed down gave him half a capful neat in a portion of his favourite roast chicken. Every dish he had after that I also mixed a few drops of neat ACV in, which he didnt seem to notice so much. Within 24 hours his symptoms had much improved, he was still licking his parts a lot after using the tray but the pain semed to have eased considerably. I also started to give him watered down cat milk to encourage him to drink more, and got some feline glucosamine tablets (cystease) which he had one a day mixed into his milk. Day by day his symptoms became less and less and I am pleased to say within 2 weeks he is back to normal, peeing well and back to his happy self. We continue to put a few drops of ACV in each food serving and I think I will carry on doing this for the foreseeable future. A big thanks to everyone for their posts and tips, it really did help and Im so glad I found this site.

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Marnie (Omaha, NE) on 02/24/2009

My cat has been suffering since December with his first UTI which required surgery just to unblock. He has been through several doses of antibiotics and anti spasm meds. Just when he seems to be getting better he takes two steps back. We are at our wits end with peeing outside of the litter box. We have got to find a cure for this soon. I believe the testimonies I have read here and want to be that lucky for our and our cat's sakes. The problem is I gave some dilute acv in a syringe last night and he hated it. I tried putting some in his wet food and in the bottom of a tuna can to entice him. He won't touch it. I hope he'll get hungry enough to finally eat today but I am hoping for a mixture that would be a little easier to get him to take.

EC: A number of readers on the site had positive results when they applied apple cider vinegar to the scruff:

06/03/2008: Rathmussen from Montreal, Canada writes: "I took the tip from someone on this site to put ACV on the scruff of my cat to help with a respiratory infection, and not only did it help her condition a bit, her whole coat has become magically lush. I don't know if it was spread everywhere from us petting her or brushing her with a baby brush, or if it was absorbed through her skin and spread from there, but wow. She was always a scruffy runt, but now she's downright regal looking!" https://www.earthclinic.com/pets/acv_for_cats.html

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Lynne uk (Conwy, Wales U.K) on 02/03/2009
 ★★★★★

Apple Cider Remedy- I am writing this to say a big thankyou.

My 13 year old Persian cross cat Willow has had a few bouts of Cystitis over the years-stress from fireworks the vet thought the first time re Guy Fawkes night for us here in the U.K and then twice for what reason we never found out! Obviously there are vet bills to handle but most upsetting is the struggle to get regular tablets down her throat and at time when she obviously doesn't want to be bothered-she gets upset and so do I. Yesterday, Monday, Willow started to show signs of cystitis again, constantly dashing to the cat-litter tray, overgrooming herself "down there", general agitation-couldn't settle to nap and not too interested in eating also she threw-up a couple of times as well, all not good. As we are having a problem getting out and about due to the snow that we are having here at the moment I popped on to the internet and googled Home Remedy for cystitis in cats, to see how I could maybe alleviate her symptons until we could get her to the vet as at that time we had 4 inches of snow and minus temps & I simply did not fancy taking an unwell cat out into the night in that kind of weather. Anyway up popped this wonderful site and I thought I would try the Apple Cider Vinegar treatment-it works!! 1/4 teaspoon of the Apple Cider Vinegar together with 1 teaspoon of water drawn up into a pastic 6ml syringe(already had in house c/o vet from previous medicine for our cats, although I would have spooned it down her slowly if I didn't have the syringe) and gently and slowly squirted it down her throat followed by a plain water dose of the same size dose, 6ml, to help it on its way and to help remove any aftertaste in her mouth for her, at 6pm yesterday and then 10pm and this morning the litter tray dashes have stopped, she is grooming properly, eating normally and purring again-amazing and wonderful stuff. I have given her the same Vinegar-mixture dose at 8am this morning and will do so again at 3pm and again at 10pm evenly spaced and keep her in out of the cold and keep an eye on her obviously but I am genuinely amazed. Usually she would have been passing blood and crying in pain well before now and certainly not as she is now. I will keep this going for a week as I would have done the vets medication. Thankyou so,so much.

Lots of love from Lynne & Willow. xx

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Sheree (Durham, NC - US) on 01/27/2009
 ★★★★★

Years ago I had heard of mixing apple cider vinegar, natural apple juice and honey for my cat with cystitis. I can assure you it worked extremely well by administering via syringe into the mouth, and saved us from extremely high vet bills, pilling, and diarrhea.

I found this site (earthclinic.com) which mentions the ACV dilution method, but was wondering if anyone has heard of the combination I mentioned above. The combination (all natural) is palatable as the vinegar isn't as primary ingredient and it was palatable to my kitties whenever they would show signs of cystitis by urinating outside the litter box, blood in urine, etc. I know for a fact it works, it's just been years since I've had to use it and can't find the exact mixture of the three ingredients. Has anyone heard of this combination before, and if so, what the amounts of each ingredient should be? I'll keep searching, but meanwhile, I can try the ACV diluted with water. Thank you! SAR in NC

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Donna (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) on 01/24/2009
 ★★★★★

omg, this has been the best site. my julian has had steryle cystitis for 2 yrs. with no releif. then i found stones in his urine. i called my vet who has seen him for 8 yrs. he says for 50$ we can make sure its crystals. hello, i can see the crystals. i got on this site and am so greatful. he has had blood in his urine for 2 yrs. with no relief. poor kitty. i started him on the acv and it made him throw up alot. so i switched him to canned food and found acv tablets that i crush in his food. IT WORKED!!! i just followed him to his box and it was yellow. yaah. i cant believe it worked so fast. he has suffered for 2 yrs. so a vet can make money??? SHAME ON THEM! i hope another person doesnt waste money on the vet. they have to know about the acv. anyway, thank u for healing my cat

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Clifford (Hollywood, Florida) on 12/27/2008
 ★★★★★

This is the the most powerful website for people to find help that I have ever seen. Our cat Chino was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection (blood in the urine). Cysts and Urinary Blockage and was getting worse every day. We spent thousands at the vet and they told us that he needed to take 10 more medications and have surgery for more money and that there is no cure for his disease. Finally I said "NO" there has to be another way.

I was familiar with the use of ACV on people but never knew it could be used on animals. Thanks to earthclinic after about 2 doses of ACV in his food and water all the blood in his urine disappeared!! He is healed and now once again a happy cat thanks to this community of online help and wellness. We cannot thank you enough...

Cliff

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Asma (Hyderabad, India) on 10/15/2008
 ★★★★★

My cat (Leo) was diagnosed with feline cystitis last year. This weekend he started showing signs of it again and stopped urinating. Luckily I found this website and went out the same night and bought some ACV. Also switched him to canned food. The effect was miraculous! He started urinating normally within 12 hours (or less) and is almost back to his normal active self. I still can't believe how well it worked. My question is: How long do I continue giving it to him? I've reduced the dose from 1 tsp to 1/2 tsp per day (mixed in his food). Does anyone know the long term effects of ACV? Is it safe? Please do let me know if you have any information on this. Thanks a lot for this website and all of your posts!!

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Annie (York, UK) on 08/25/2008
 ★★★★★

I was searching the internet for a home-made remedy for feline cystitis/urinary infection when I came across this site.I am so glad I did! This was the second time my cat had contracted such an infection and I knew I was going to be faced with a hefty vets bill again. So many of you had recommended using ACV that I thought it had to be worth a try. My cat had been weeing constantly and with pain, there was blood in her urine, she was listless and had no appetite. I put 1/4 of a teaspoon of ACV into her drinking bowl with 1 cup of water and used a syringe which held approximately 2 tablespoons full to get it into her mouth. 12 hours later and she is a different cat! There is no blood in her urine and she is back to her normal healthy self. I can't thank you enough for your recommendation of the ACV. I intend to always keep a bottle to hand now and will certainly be telling all my cat-lover friends about its miraculous properties. Thank you!

Replied by Suzie
(Albany, Oregon)
01/14/2009

The apple cider vinegar idea is great, but if your cat is as picky as mine, you'll never even force it in him. So I mixed 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup chicken broth with a capful of acv and it was much easier going down. For both of us lol.

Not sure how it's gonna work yet, since I just managed to con him into drinking it a short while ago.

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Jay (Florissant, Missouri) on 08/05/2008
 ★★★★★

I used apple cider vinegar to cure my cat's urinary blockage after a 1500 dollar visit to the vet the first time this occured. A neighbor suggested trying a home remedy. I found this web site and learned about apple cider vinegar to cure cat's of urinary blockage.I had a syringe from the vet for giving my cat water to help him swallow his medicine I used this 6 militer syringe to give my cat ACV BY MIXING IT WITH ONE CUP OF WATER AND GIVING HIM 1FULL syringe in the morning and 1 at night the 1st 3 days then 1/2 a teespoon of ACV to his water dish which holds 2 cups.

I am pleased to report that MAX my male cat is doing fine and is urinating normally now will keep him on this for the rest of his life. my thanks to Earth clinic

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Deb (Rockport, Texas) on 06/02/2008
 ★★★★★

I was very happy to find something that would help my 5 year old rotty that has been suffering from cystitis for a year now. I had nothing to lose by trying apple cider vinegar, since nothing else was working. Wow within 2 days she no longer was frequently peeing and when she did there was no more blood. I used a half slice of bread and put about 2tsp or so of it then put some peanutbutter over that. I give it to her twice a day she thinks she's getting a treat lol. thanks earthclinic


Previous Page 1... 3 4 5 6

Please note that we use cookies necessary for the functioning of our website, cookies that optimize the performance. To learn more about our cookies, how we use them and their benefits, please read our Privacy Policy