Replied By Theresa (Mpls., Mn) on 03/11/2014

Theresa

The wonderful Theresa from Minneapolis, MN has been helping pet owners and their beloved pets around the world on Earth Clinic since 2013.

About Theresa

Theresa from Minneapolis was born and raised in the inner city, always wishing she had been raised on a farm.

Her love for creatures great and small began at an early age, starting with caterpillars - which continues to this day, along with an interest in all insects and 'creepy crawlies'.

Theresa's interest in pet health started with a bird keeping hobby at age 14, where she learned from another hobbyist that the simple addition of Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) in a bird's drinking water kept fungal infections away; she was able to share this with her avian vet who in turn prescribed it to her own clients; Theresa was surprised to learn that she could teach her vet a thing or two. This important lesson - that each of us can be a teacher - was a turning point for Theresa, and  fueled  her quest for the knowledge held in lore,  and remedies passed by word of mouth. That quest for knowledge continues to this day, as new and old remedies alike are explored. She may not have experience with a particular issue, but she will research it to the best of her ability and share what she finds freely, in the hopes that you can heal or improve your pet's health.

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If you would like to thank Theresa for her helpful posts, she asks if you would please consider making a donation to one of her favorite local rescue organizations, or by making a donation to help the genius contributor, Ted from Bangkok, recover from his stroke.  

http://www.piperslegacy.org/

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http://ted.earthclinic.com

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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.