Bladder Infection - Cats - Editor's Choice

Fast forward about 1 year. I had just gotten a new kitten, and he came from the rescue with a bag of dry kitten food. Kitty does fine with the dry food, although I have been switching him to wet. Sonny had been eating dry kitten food instead of his wet food. Something I probably should have anticipated. Another urinary blockage!! No urine output at all. It was very scary. This time I decided to give it 12 hours, ACV every 2 hours, lots of wet food, and if not better, I would call the vet. No need! Within 6- 8 hours or so, he was going like a champ!

My best advice is to get rid of your dry cat food. It's terrible for kitty. They need water.. Even the worst wet cat food is 10x better than the most expensive dry food. If you feed wet food exclusively, hopefully you won't need the ACV, but if you do, it should do the trick! After diluting with water 1:1, I use a dropper to get it into the corner of his mouth. He hates the taste, and foams at the mouth. It's not pretty, but it works. And he gets treats after, so he gets over it. 😀

Here is what I did:

1. Mixed equal portions of raw apple cider vinegar (with the mother) and filtered drinking water 50:50 mix. (All of our cats drink the same water we drink which is from a 10 stage filter we bought at whole foods for $100).

2. Used a 1.0mL syringe and gave her 1mL over a 15 minute period. I wouldn't give it to her all at once because it was strong! I gave about 1/3 then waited a few minutes. I gave her the second 1/3 then waited a few minutes. Then I gave her the last 1/3.

3. One hour later she was symptom free but I repeated the 1mL dose again to make sure she would be fine through the night.

When I woke the next morning she was cuddled next to me and purring like she always does in the mornings. She has not displayed ANY signs of illness since then. I went ahead and gave her another 1mL of the 50:50 mix and she threw up. I feel bad but I know now her body has enough apple cider vinegar in her system. I will switch her to the maintenance dose recommended in this article. I am planning to give this to her the rest of her life.

3 weeks ago I took her to the vet for the exact same symptoms and I didn't know what was going on (this was the first time it happened). I thought she was blocked and freaked out. The vet was able to gently push on her bladder and get her to urinate. That was a good sign because it meant she wasn't blocked. They analyzed her urine under a microscope and saw: bacteria, white blood cells, and red blood cells. The bacteria meant she had a UTI which explains the presence of the white blood cells. He gave her antibiotics Clavamox for 2 weeks. She took her last dose earlier this week. That's how I knew she had another UTI. She has no other medical history besides this.

The vet also explained that UTI's are common in older female cats because of their anatomy. Their genitals are close in proximity and if it doesn't stay clean they are prone to UTI's. If they poop and are not able to clean themselves well the bacteria can travel through the urethra and cause their UTI. It's the same for elderly women. If they wipe the wrong way such as back to front they are asking for a UTI. The bacteria travels. Just like in elderly women, elderly cats have a hard time moving as they get older and it becomes more difficult for them to keep the proper hygiene. To help with this I have bought 7th generation baby wipes (fragrance free) and I wipe her once per day.

On another note, I am switching her to a raw food diet. I have read so many good things about raw food and my boyfriend and I have decided to go with Nature's Variety - Instinct Chicken Formula. It's better to avoid giving fish to cats because it's hard for their kidneys to process it especially if they have kidney problems. Fish is not their natural diet.

Thank you so much for this site! I hope my feedback helps others.

My beautiful 10 year old peach calico, Misha, is sitting in my lap purring while I write this. Last week I thought I was going to lose her as I did two of my other cats due to uti. Luckily I found this site and decided to try the ACV treatment. I did change the dosage as when I tried to give her the ratio that was suggested she kept spitting it up.

So I decided to try the recipe I have used myself for arthritis: which is : 1 tsp of honey dissolved in 1 cup of warm (not hot!!! ) water and then add 1 tbsp of Apple cider vinegar and mix well. I started by giving her the first dose of 1cc with a syringe that evening. She did not spit this up... and since then I've given here 1cc 3 times daily. By the next evening she had used her litter box successfully and was resting relatively comfortably in her bed. Couldn't believe it!!!! So sorry that I didn't know about this when my other poor kitties needed help.

Anyway...a week has passed and today Misha chased her ball around the kitchen for the first time .She curled up with us to watch TV after supper. She is eating well and "talks" to us as she used to. She also purrs again!!!! I urge anyone who runs into this problem to at least give it a try. For us and Misha it was soooo worth it. Thanks again to everyone!!!

If this were my cat I would try several things.

First, for the UTI, try raw, unpasteurized unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar - this will look cloudy and the label will indicate it has a live culture or 'mother' in it. Take 1/4 cup of the ACV and dilute with 1/2 cup of filtered water. [This is the easy part.] Next you need to apply the diluted ACV to your cat; I find dipping the paws and saturating them so they are dripping wet works best, however some apply it to other areas that the cat can then lick off. You cannot over dose on this, so I opt for getting the paws sopping wet with the solution so I know for sure that the cat will ingest some as she licks herself dry. Do the ADV/wet paw routine 2 to 3 times a day for a week and monitor the litter box to see if the remedy is working.

Next, ditch the grocery store kitty chow. Read all labels; you do not want to see any grain or corn in your cat's diet; you do not want to see unnamed protein sources, ie 'animal protien meal' as opposed to 'chicken meal'. Ideally you would feed your cat a wet canned diet - this to get adequate liquids in her to aid in flushing the UTI out of her bladder - so choose only a top quality canned diet, as the grocery store brands are loaded with grain, crappy unnamed protein sources, sugar and dyes. You may need to find a quality diet in a specialty pet food store; if you use a measure cup and give your kitty meals [as opposed to filling the bowl once a day and letting her free feed] that while seeming more expensive the diet is economical as well as healthier.

Keep us posted on your rescue baby please!

I am going to be adding both apple cider vinegar and olive oil to his diet from now on. I think the apple cider vinegar was a life saver when my kitty needed it. Thank you!