★★★★★
My 5 pounder was unable to urinate...I took him outside, he squatted but nothing came out...after reading the information on this site, I decide to try the apple cider vinegar before running to the vet...I must admit I was quite skeptical about trying this method, but I can truly say that it WORKS! After the first dose my Rasco was feeling better....I gave him 1 1/2 tbsp of ACV in his water bowl...about 30 min later he went out to pee, he ate his food (which he hadn't ate in 2 days), and drank most of his water.
ACV is good for a number of health issues. I give my dogs it every day in their drinking water so it won't hurt.
Apple Cider Vinegar Mixed in Food
hi, so relieved to read your comments! I am out of town with my 8 year old bulldog Belle and she is having trouble urinating! Freaked me out as she has never had any health problems even though English Bulldogs are prone to MANY health issues. So I was about to take her to a vet locally (who I don't know! ) and probably walk away having spent $$$$$$ which I wouldn't mind if I weren't strapped financially right now. I know now that we brought her with us for a reason. Thank God! Sooo im going to attempt the cider remedy before the vet? A little scared, no a LOT scared! The vet said it was life threatening! I wish I knew for sure. Any comments or suggestions welcome!
Apple Cider Vinegar Mixed in Food
My dog is showing signs of uti and refuses to get in car to go vet. So I am trying this remedy to give my 9 year old fur baby some relief hopefully.
Apple Cider Vinegar, Coconut Oil, Garlic
★★★★★
My puppy had a uti and the last thing I wanted to do was give her antibiotics, so I came on here and did a lot of reading, so grateful for all the free advice. I started with a clove of raw garlic in every meal and the Apple Cider Vinegar 2 teaspoons along with coconut oil a teaspoon, after one to two days saw an improvement. Then added a probiotic and a uti supplement, shes doing great, its been six days and no more burning or squatting. I also cook for her chicken and rice and add a pinch of sea salt. So I don't know if it was one of the things I did or all of the things but shes happy, ...Thank you,
Apple Cider Vinegar Mixed in Food
Maybe she's trying to tell you something about the boyfriend...? LOL sorry, just joking...I couldn't resist!
Sea Salt
★★★★★
I absolutely love this simple and cheap home remedy for a UTI. I gave my dog 1/2 teaspoon sea salt at 8 last night and by 12 this afternoon her symptoms have completely susided. She's not peeing and dribbling, she's holding down food, and she's much much more comfortable. Thank you so much for the advice....it worked like a charm!!!!!!
General Feedback
As a vet tech for 15 years who has finally seen the light, anyone depending on commercially prepared "prescription" diets is simply maintaining a medical condition with a band-aid, not curing a problem. Look into species-appropriate diets and cure your pets that way - with real, fresh food, antioxidants and some herbs that in most cases can get them OFF expensive diets and medications, and actually stop the condition. Conventional vets make a large portion of their income selling these diets, and keeping clients coming back - not because they see themselves doing anything wrong, but simply because this is what gets taught in vet school. Vets receive intentionally little true nutritional information in as far as preventing disease, a plan promoted by the pet food industry. Prescriptions, and prescription diets, are a business model taught in school that is beneficial to the practice, but not actually to the business. Do the research and learn that these diets are not the way to keep your pets healthy. Try Dr. Karen Becker's website, and any other holistic sites, for a lot of comprehensive information on how to alleviate long-term conditions through correct diet.
As for the main topic about UTIs, treating one UTI with some of the above mentioned remedies can be fine if the only symptom is frequent or smelly urination, but if there is not a quick response, there are other symptoms, or there is recurrence, diagnosis is essential to determine the cause of the urination. My general attack is to list the symptoms, decide if it seems like an isolated problem or could be a more involved one, and treat at home for a few days as long as there is improvement, and not an increase in severity or number of symptoms. This does require a good degree of knowledge sometimes, to make these decisions though. So my best recommendation is for those who feel confident in being able to make the determination from when frequent urination goes from something treatable at home to something that needs diagnosis, try it if you like, but get vet attention if there is not speedy response. For those who do not feel qualified to make that decision for their pets, find a holistic vet. Then you can have your diagnosis, and still get to use the healthier home remedies without the guilt trip that many conventional vets will lay on you for even considering it.
Dietary Changes
★★★★★
GRAIN DIETS are the biggest problem and create UTIs. Get off of grains!!
Thank you for the advise for the ACV for your lab. I have a black lab and I started seeing blood in her urine. I will definitely give this a try, because we love our baby, but being a single mom, it's hard for me to spend the extra money to go to the vet.
Multiple Remedies
Hey Noelle!
I suggest you take your boy in again and spend the money at the vet. Find out why he is having chronic UTI's; are there stones or crystals present? Do a full blood panel; are the levels normal, or is there something deeper going on that is stressing the immune system? You might also check into thyroid medication rather than the hit/miss approach with iodine; out of the many expensive meds out there, the thyroid is a cheapie and it gets results.
I advise this only because, as you know, you have a senior blue boy with IVD - a genetic train wreck and I am sure who is a total sweetheart. A correct diagnosis as to why the chronic UTI is needed when so many helpful remedies have failed will help prevent unnecessary suffering.
Overall, since you are dealing with a jacked immune system and jacked nerve communication to the bladder, expressing his urine 6 times or more per day may help reduce the episodes. Consider alkalizing his water with baking soda - 1/2 to 1/4 in 1 liter of water and this as the only drinking water - the dosage is a maintenance dose, but for a crisis you could bump it up to 1 teaspoon per liter for 7 days.
You do not say what diet you are feeding; if not on RAW check the bag of kibble to ensure you are not feeding a grain based diet and that it is free of sugars and food dyes as these ingredients are directly linked to UTI's in dogs. Consider supplementing with vitamin C - 500 to 1000 mg am and pm.
Lastly, you might consider a doggie chiro or doggie acupuncturist. Yes, it is spending yet more money. My feeling is your boy is older, is immune compromised, and these techniques may help improve quality of life and extend his life.
Good luck and please report back!
Multiple Remedies
★☆☆☆☆
I have a paralyzed little dachshund that suffers from chronic UTI's. The last 5 months have been one after the other. We try 2+ weeks of antibiotics, he'll get 'better', and then a week off the antibiotics and the infection starts to flare up again.
ACV did not work. He was on it for five days.
Sea salt did not work. He was on it for four days. Excessive drinking and peeing were the only result.
He has pure cranberry powder mixed into his food. Not helping.
He has yogurt every night (and has for years). The acidophilus has not prevented or help the current problem.
Going to try Vitamin C and then iodine (per suggestions read) before I take him in for his umpteenth vi$it to the vet for this problem. Any other suggestions??
FYI - he is 14.5 yrs old and I express his urine three times a day. He also suffers from alopecia. (he's a 'blue' dachshund. Lots of thyroid problems. Hmmm, maybe the iodine is the route to try first?)
★★★★★
WOW!!! Thank you so much for the great info. My 15 yr. Old Corgi mix Tessie has been paralyzed in her back legs for several years and is prone to bladder infections. She had very bloody urine tonight, and none of the zillion vets here have Sunday or emergency hours. I was going to have to get through till Monday, and was concerned because her pee looked so bad all of a sudden. I express her bladder every four hours, and when she gets an infection, it feels "boggy" not firm. I tried the ACV with yogurt (1 tsp. In 2 tsp. Probiotic yogurt). I gave it to her 2. 5 hrs ago, she passed a few clots, her bladder is firming up, and her urine is clearing up already!!! What GREAT results!! Tessie and I thank you. :)
Sea Salt
You could give her a half tsp. of the salt which works instantly on people as per Ted's advice and my own experience.
You could at other times add ACV to the food. About a scant tsp.
Namaste, Om
Sea Salt
Hello,
I have a 5 year old female yorkie who weighs 11 pounds, she had a UTI back in March (7 months ago) after tests and X-rays and a really expensive vet bill, she has been fine. Yesterday I noticed she seemed to be asking to go outside way too often. Today I noticed she peed in the bathroom on the bath mat, same things she did in March.
If I try the ACV, how much would I give her?
What about the sea salt? I have Himalayan pink sea salt, would that work?
thank you in advance.
Hey Melissa!
You can use the liquid form from the store, but the kind to use is the more expensive, organic, raw, 'with the mother'/live cultures. You can mix 1 teaspoon 3x day into her food, and on top of that also add some to her drinking water - 1 teaspoon into a liter of water.
Can I ask what diet you feed your giant girl? Grain based diets cause some dogs to have UTI's - so it may be worth your while to read the ingredient list on the diet you feed and change brands if you find the current diet is grain based.
Apple Cider Vinegar Mixed in Food
question...i have a 113 lb mutt that has had a bladder infection on and off for the last 4 month. She is on a sulfer medication and every 30 days she goes thru the bloody urine and not eating. I have started her on cranberry pills but keep seeing about acv. The liquid form that you buy at the store? I really want to get her back to good health. Shes only 5.
Dietary Changes
Hey Lucy!
What food are you feeding your older dog? What food are you feeding your younger dog with the UTI? Without knowing what you are feeding I cannot comment on the diet being the cause of the bladder infection.
That said, Ted from Bangkok suggests sea salt for a UTI:
Ted from Bangkok, Thailand: "Sea salt added to the dog's drinking water, 1 teaspoon per liter of water should reduce the UTIs if taken for 1-2 days; then a maintenance dose of 1/4 teaspoon per liter of water of sea salt should be fine. If it is not working then I would likely add some cranberry juice to the water instead of just plain water with sea salt."
If your dog won't take the sea salted water, you can hide the dry salt in the middle of a wad of cheese or in soft canned food - but break the dose up into one half teaspoon doses if you go this route.
Dietary Changes
My dog is peeing all the time every few minutes see her squat..vet put her on amoxi pills for 2 weeks but still squatting all the time. doesnt seem to hurt and no dicolored urine. I am going to try some of the natural remedies I have seen on this page bur I am wondering if the food I have my older dog on is causing the problem. I switched a couple months ago to a no grain diet as 1 of my dogs seizures were becoming more frequent and this seems to have helped her, however the 1 with the bladder infection sneaks into this food dish and eats it as well as her own. So now wondering if this is the cause.?????
Hey Monroe444!
It appears the post you replied to is from last year; not sure if the poster will answer about the natural antibiotics - I hope they do!
I did research into using human UTI test strips for dogs, and it appears the ones used for dogs are the exact same ones used in humans - so yes, you can save money and buy the human test strips for your dog.
D-Mannose
I was wondering what you mean by natural antibiotics - do you mean colloidal or ionic silver water? I was thinking about giving my dog colloidal silver for her UTI but decided against it because it's still an antibiotic, and I figure that if I disturb her gut flora it will just lead to more UTIs in the future, so I'm going to stick with D-mannose powder and cranberry capsules for now. I don't think her UTI is severe though, so maybe if it were I would do the silver. But if there is something else out there, I would love to hear about it.
I am also giving her herbs for Cushing's (the ones from Adrenal Harmony Gold) and have just added some more for her kidneys that are listed in some UTI formulas like stone root and oregon grape root.
Does anyone know anything about using human UTI test strips for dogs so I don't have to keep going back to the vets? Human test strips are so much less expensive than dog test strips - $13 for 10 as opposed to $40 for 2.
Hey Linda!
I *hear* you on the high price for the fancy diet. I know some who do feed it and others who have chosen to research the ingredients and then select another more affordable diet based on their research. I cannot recommend a specific diet for you, but I do encourage you to research diets or consider home made; dogfoodadvisor and dogfoodanalysis are both good sites to start your research.
You might consider Ted's sea salt remedy for a UTI:
Use a quality sea salt - the aquarium stores tend to sell the best.
A crisis dose is 1 teaspoon of sea salt into a liter of pure, non-chlorinated water, for 1-2 days [play it by ear; you *should* see a rather immediate resolution to the symptoms in that time frame, but if not go for 3 days and consider adding cranberry juice to the water.
A maintenance dose after the crisis resolves is 1/4 teaspoon sea salt into 1 liter of water.
If your dog won't drink the water with 1 teaspoon of sea salt added to it, consider dosing 1/2 teaspoon sea salt into canned food and hiding it that way so your dog takes it. Give 1/2 teaspoon am and pm for up to 2 days.
Ted also adds: "As to the apple cider vinegar for UTI, I do not think it to be as effective as a sea salt remedy. However if ACV is used then it is likely to be mixed with a pinch of baking soda."
Some folks report good results with powdered cranberry. As for the powdered cranberry dosage, some contributors have used 2 capsules [Cranactin brand] diluted in 1 oz water for a cat, while others have used 1 capsule for a 65 pound dog. This is something you will have to compare brands and potencies and work out for your dog, but it makes sense to me to start out with 1 capsules with food am and pm during a crisis and then scale back to 1/2 capsule am and pm for maintenance.
Many mix yogurt and ACV together and feed with the am and pm meals. 1 to 1-1/2 tablespoons of raw, unpasteurized, unfiltered, "with the mother" ACV into wet food or yogurt. Yogurt provides probiotics; it may be easier to simply buy the probiotics in powder form and add to the diet, as some dogs don't do well with dairy.
The ACV can be used as a maintenance dose with the food; if you dose a probiotic as well its a good idea to switch brands every couple of weeks to rotate the species of probiotic for proper balance in the gut.
If the UTI comes back after using home remedies you really should make another appointment with the vet to rule out/rule in urinary crystals or bladder stones.
Sea Salt
Canine Bladder Infection and high white cell count: I took our 5 year old Golden Retriever, Abbie, to the vet today after spending a night letting her in and out of the house constantly to try to urinate. I took her to the vet this morning and they confirmed she had a bad bladder infection and gave me an antibiotic ($118.00 and that was with a Wellness Plan discount) and a prescription for special Royal Canin dry dog food for bladder problems. The bag is only 17 lbs and cost a whopping $68.00! I tried to get a straight answer from the vet if this was food she was going to have to stay on forever and couldn't get a definite answer. We have another golden retriever also and are on a fixed income and frankly don't think we can afford to keep her on this food as I doubt that 17 lbs is even going to last her alone, a month. After reading about ACV benefits, I am wondering if the special food is even needed after the infection is cleared up. I am wondering how many people who posted about this problem are feeding their dog the super expensive special food or if ordinary good quality food with the ACV is enough. We had been feeding her Costco's Kirkland Salmon and sweet potato dry food and thought it was an improvement over the normal grocery store brands.
Hey Bailey!
Did your vet wish to culture the urine to determine the best antibiotic? Or was there another reason to culture? If you try a home remedy and the UTI comes right back, you may need to continue with your vet to rule out complications such as crystals or stones.
You might consider Ted's sea salt remedy for a UTI:
Use a quality sea salt - the aquarium stores tend to sell the best.
A crisis dose is 1 teaspoon of sea salt into a liter of pure, non-chlorinated water, for 1-2 days [play it by ear; you *should* see a rather immediate resolution to the symptoms in that time frame, but if not go for 3 days and consider adding cranberry juice to the water.
A maintenance dose after the crisis resolves is 1/4 teaspoon sea salt into 1 liter of water.
If your dog won't drink the water with 1 teaspoon of sea salt added to it, consider dosing 1/2 teaspoon sea salt into canned food and hiding it that way so your dog takes it. Give 1/2 teaspoon am and pm for up to 2 days.
Ted also adds: "As to the apple cider vinegar for UTI, I do not think it to be as effective as a sea salt remedy. However if ACV is used then it is likely to be mixed with a pinch of baking soda."
Some folks report good results with powdered cranberry. As for the powdered cranberry dosage, some contributors have used 2 capsules [Cranactin brand] diluted in 1 oz water for a cat, while others have used 1 capsule for a 65 pound dog. This is something you will have to compare brands and potencies and work out for your dog, but it makes sense to me to start out with 1 capsules with food am and pm during a crisis and then scale back to 1/2 capsule am and pm for maintenance.
As for the yogurt and ACV - many mix the two together and feed with the am and pm meals. 1 to 1-1/2 tablespoons of raw, unpasteurized, unfiltered, "with the mother" ACV into wet food or yogurt. If you are looking for probiotics from the yogurt, it may be easier to simply buy the probiotics in powder form and add to the diet, as some dogs don't do well with dairy.
The ACV can be used as a maintenance dose with the food; if you dose a probiotic as well its a good idea to switch brands every couple of weeks to rotate the species of probiotic for proper balance in the gut.
Apple Cider Vinegar, Yogurt
Can you please tell me the dosage you used with the ACV and yogurt. I have a 15lb boston terrier who has a UTI and I've already spent $300 and they would like to do a culture for another $150. If I could help my dog naturally I would like to try and bring the cost down :/
Apple Cider Vinegar, Yogurt
Hey Becca!
This is totally awesome!!!
Thank you for sharing your results!
Apple Cider Vinegar, Yogurt
★★★★★
I got the most AWSOME news today from my vet! After 8 weeks of blood and protein in my yorkies urine and 4 rounds of antibiotics...we are now blood free and only a trace of protein! But guess what, it wasn't the antibiotics that he credits for the drastic improvement...it's the natural regime that I put her on...and he wants me to continue what I am doing and not give her any more antibiotics. He actually ask me about the treatment! Within 24 to 36 hours of mixing plain unflavored live cultured yogurt and a capful of unprocessed apple cider vinegar in with a 1/2 cup of her food, she was asking to go out less and when she did, her output was more...no dribbles! She has had no accidents in the house and she is acting like a 6 month old puppy instead of 5 years old! He looked at her Ph levels from where we started to where we are and at the moment, we are 7...nuetral....YAY! I will have her urine checked again in 2 weeks to see if the protein is completely gone, but I have no doubt that it will be...she is acting just too happy and healthy and I am one happy mom!
★★★★★
Thank you so much for the great info. My dog woke up this morning showing signs of a UTI. I came across this site when I Googled it. The ACV and yogurt is working so well for her. I will tell all of my friends about your site if they ever need help with their pets
My dog suffered from huge amounts of blood in his urine for over six weeks. I brought him to a variety of vets who prescribed cephalexan, amoxycillin, and clavamox. Finally, I got him to a vet who put him on both clavamox and baytril. He has a full dosage of each, but at alternating intervals. So, each six hours, he takes either clavamox or baytril, a full dosage. I can only feed him at mid-point between dosages. So every three hours, he gets either medication or food. The food and supplements can render the antibiotic ineffective which is the reason for the three-hour intervals. The blood is finally gone from his urine and he has normal frequency of urination. With such a serious situation, home remedies did not work although I tried an assortment of them. It was the two strong antibiotics on the six-hour schedule that worked. It is important not to exceed the maximum dosage as determined by the dog's weight for each antibiotic, however.
Buchu Leaf
★★★★★
I have read many post out there about reoccuring UTI's. Our little male Pom was having a bout of the same and for the past 2 years we have kept them at bay by adding 1/4 t. Of Buchu Leaf powder to his food 2x a day. He hasn't had one since. And a friend came to visit and asked if I had any "cranberry juice" I immediately "knew" what she needed and gave her some Buchu powder too - 2t. and she was fine the UTI never set in! Goggle it as it has been used for years for UTI's in both animals and people. I do not know the long term effects if any, but know it works for now.
Vitamin C
Hi, I have a puppy age 6 months old, recently when I took her to a trip for holidaying. Upon returning home on the next day, I noticed that she has difficulty peeing. ( I search the net and suspected that she has urinary track infection) She tried to pee but only a few drops came out. Each time she did it, it could not came out and there would be little stained here and there.
Due to the holiday seasons her vet was not operating. I could not wait until the next day seeing her suffered. What I did was, I gave her 125mg of Vitamin C( Calcium Ascorbate) in the everning(mixing the poweder to her kibbles). The next morning she seem ok, no more urinary track infection... I guess. However, I continue to treat her with 125mg of Vit C for 2 days with Sodium Ascorbate and ascorbic Acid instead of Calcium Ascorbate as I have ran out of Calcium Ascorbate.
To my suprise she is back to normal after the 2nd day.
