| 5 star (77) | 83% | |
| 4 star (3) | 3% | |
| 3 star (5) | 5% | |
| 1 star (6) | 6% | |
 (2) | 2% |
Atlcdn (Whiteland, Indiana, Usa) on 03/18/2013: 
Adora Libertad (Carolina, Puerto Rico) on 03/10/2013: 
In October Otis went through numerous test and left the vets with antibiotics and a large bill. The bloody urine happend off and on until last tuesday, march 5, I noticed him in pain and picked up more anibiotics. But on wednesday he was totally blocked, he was straining with no urine passing, he would cry and go to every corner to try to urinate. I had to find some remedy because I wasn't going to submit him to more test that lead to nothing. Found this site and quickly went to pick up a bottle of ACV and a couple of cans of friskies special diet for urinary track heath. Not my food of choice but it was the best available. Honestly I was a bit scared cause I read that male cats can die from a blockage within hours, but with vets letting my Tashy to die I wasn't going to give them one more cent. Started at about 11 am with half a can mixed with water and 1/2 tsp of acv. He ate it all up. In two hours he passed urine aparently in a burst because it was all over the place and he was all wet. After that he rested for a couple of hours then gave him more food. The next morning he was totally blocked again. Repeated the Apple Cider Vinegar for another day and went to buy cranberry juice and Cantaris on friday. Followed the recipe for cranberry, lemon and water mix I found from a reply on this site. Otis didn't like it at all but after giving him some water with a syringe to wash the juice down he seemed to be ok. I gave him the juice every 3 hours and the cantharis avery 1/2hour until he was unblocked. Today, sunday, is day three of the combination of the 3 remedies and for the first time in a while Otis asked to go outside to the balcony. He went to his litter no problem and seems to be happy and comfortable. I'm happy to see results but I know we are not in the clear just yet. I know this is a lot to read but I wanted to share my story and wanted to that all of you people that told yours. I can see how much you all love your cats. Just because we look for alternatives doesn't mean we are irresponsible or are not willing to spend the money on our cats. But as I lost my faith in doctors and pediatritians I found options for my family and we are healthier than ever and my daughters havent had to visit the pediatritian in over a year. I hope I can provide my pets with the same healthy lifestyle. Good day to all!
Kerri (Darwin, Nt, Australia) on 03/01/2013:
Thank you! Love, love, love this site!!
Karen (Key Largo, Florida) on 02/23/2013:
Goes to show, if you are aware of your pets actions and catch an issue quickly there can be a positive outcome. Minus my own lack of sleep all as well.
Madi (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) on 02/22/2013:
I separated them, gave the male two litter boxes of his own, and watched his movements. Three days ago he urinated at least a dozen times, some quite normal in quantity, others just a few drops, and towards the end of the day, although his urine was still clear and he was using the litter-box, he was in pain and began to howl.
I had stopped giving him any dry food even in the small quantities he was being given as a treat, and was on the verge of taking him to the Vet again when he started to howl, as I had been told he would need various blood tests and an Xray or MRI.
That very same day, we had taken him to the Vet who did a quick in-house blood test for diabetes - using the same little meter I use at home, because I have recently been diagnosed with Type 2. For that test, which took all of three minutes in and out, we paid over $90.
I came across this website feeling somewhat desperate, it was either find something natural rather quick (like a miracle?) or deliver him to the Vet next morning, and leave him there for tests and a cost of at least $500/$600. (And no guarantee that any further procedure would be effective! )
There was bottle of organic (with the mother) apple cider vinegar in my kitchen... I had bought it for myself, and had not yet started using it...
After reading page after page of the comments here on this website about ACV, I mixed about a half-teaspoon of it into some canned wet cat food, and he ate it with enjoyment. A couple of hours later, I gave him some more with another dash of ACV.
He spend the night on the bed, and in the morning, urinated quite normally - his morning feed again included a dash of ACV and by the middle of the day, I knew we were on top of it. He was comfortable, obviously had no more urinary arritation, and I am so happy to say that the Vet missed out on his fat fee, because Peppi is now totally back to normal. How long will it last? I don't know, but he's going to be getting his little dose of ACV at least once a day from now on.
PEPPI AND I CAN'T TELL YOU HOW RELIEVED AND HAPPY WE ARE!
Tracie (Williamsport, Pa) on 11/05/2012:
So off to the internet I went and found this site. Last night I started the ACV giving it to him in his dinner, he wasn't having that so then I had to do it with a syringe (2ml Apple Cider Vinegar 5ml water), nothing changed between last night and this morning. I gave it to him again this morning before I fed him (wet food with a little water to make it like a gravy, I no longer use dry food because it seems to make the cystitis act up). I went home on my lunch break and saw a nice spot in the litter box ( by the size and way it looked I am pretty sure it was his and not my female kitten) and then when I went to pick him up and take him into the kitchen to do another dose an awesome thing happened, he peed all over me and the kitchen floor! Sounds weird but I was so happy! There wasn't any blood at all! I am going to keep giving the ACV and probably continue even after it has cleared, just use a smaller dosage like 1/2 tsp instead of a little over 1 tsp. Not sure if that will hurt the stomach with all that acid. Hopefully it continues to work.
Thank you everyone for posting, I believe that this may save his life.
Alex (All Places Cats Are, Texas) on 08/06/2012: 
Urinary problems in cats have very different causes: inactivity, stress, less frequent feeding, bacteria, fungus, parasites, viruses, stones or urethral plugs (crystals or other material), and most often the cause is "idiopathic" (no traceable cause). Typically, when a cat is stressed the muscles around the urinary tract tighten; fear keeps them less mobile; they urinate less; toxins/debris concentrate in the urine, breed bacteria, irritate and inflame the bladder lining and urethra and cause a UTI. The extra attention and frequent small feedings of wet food required to treat it with the ACV may be all a stressed cat needs. It relaxes, receives more fluids in smaller more acidic feedings, and urinates. A few good streams of urine might relieve the problem. To paraphrase Dr. Earl Mindell, MD, ACV is considered "a system tonic. It can discourage and inhibit the growth of bacteria and PREVENT urinary infections", but it is not an antibiotic; by creating more acidic urine it can PREVENT the formation of urethral obstructions, but would take much time to dissolve one. Female cats, due to their very short urethra, are not generally put in a life threatening situation from UTIs or urethral obstructions, but male cats have only hours once a complete obstruction is formed. With complete blackage the kidneys are no longer able to remove toxins from the blood and maintain proper fluids and electrolytes in the body. If the obstruction is not relieved, the cat will eventually lose consciousness and die. Death comes often from heart failure due to electrolyte imbalance, but the suffering prior to death is great.
My cat, Xander, showed no pain or stress. I took him to the vet to find out what kind of problem the blood in his urine was and if it was treatable at home - cost $60 (2AM Emergency Vet) He was completely blocked. Death from the blockage was imminent. Had I not taken him in it would have meant a quiet (he was always quiet) but excruciating death in hours.
IF YOUR MALE CAT HAS UTI TROUBLE there is no time to try home remedies, take him to the vet. It will cost you an office visit. If it is treatable, you can use ACV, or get antibiotics/antifungals (fish antibiotics /fungals - ask your vet to help you with amounts), or just about anything else online, BUT if it is an obstruction you will need to choose between euthanasia or surgery (which often does not have a terrific outcome). You will suffer - the loss of your pet, or the loss of money, but your beloved pet will be spared further suffering and go to whatever lay ahead as quietly as his little cat feet used to bring him to you. (and you will know that you did absolutely everything that you could)
Heidi (Basel, Switzerland) on 03/13/2012:
So, sooo impressed with ACV... Here's what happened:
I noticed one morning my Somalian cat had difficulty urinating and would try to go several times with traces of blood increasing as she kept trying. I then noticed there were droplets of blood on the floor as she walked around the house though no signs of her peeing outside her litter tray. I tried the following steps:
- Wet food only (in this case, she eats canned tuna)
- 1 teaspoon of Apple Cider Vinegar spread over the day mixed well into her meals (and a little in her water on day 1 & 2)...
(Note. After getting the ACV I tried the dropper approach others have used and as I suspected, she hated it and is now afraid of the dropper and the noise it makes when it releases liquid...)
Day 1 when I noticed the blood she had 1/4 teaspoon in 4 different mini meals (she usually eats twice per day so fed her early and more frequently to get the ACV working and ensure she ate it).
Day 2 (i. E. About 18 hours later) she was able to pee fully in one go. I couldn't see any blood (so there might have been a little) though there definitely wasn't any blood on the floor again.
Day 3 again she was able to pee fully though I noticed she had constipation from the meat only diet so in the evening I gave her dry food.
Day 4 she was able to pee fully and the constipation had gone and I'd returned to 2 normal sized meals with the 1/2 a teaspoon of ACV in each meal mixed in well.
On about day 6 I started to reduce the dosage of ACV to 1 teaspoon one day, 1/2 teaspoon the following day. It's now day 8 and I'm still giving her 1/2 teaspoon per day and I'll do this for perhaps 2 or 3 more days. I'm so pleased - My cat Lily & I thank everyone who posted!
Note of caution: A few times I didn't mix the ACV in well enough to her food and she had a coughing fit as she inhaled the smell or couldn't handle the flavour. Thankfully when it was mixed in well, she ate all her food like normal.
Nora (Jamaica Plain, Ma) on 02/17/2012:
Matwood (Carmichael, Ca) on 02/15/2012:
Tyty (Mougins, France) on 01/31/2012:
Dahlia1 (Athens, Ga, United States) on 01/29/2012:
She showed up one day with a huge gaping wound on her neck and by this time I had broken my neck, had surgery, and then was fired from my job... Long story, needless to say I had no money, let alone for the vet so I called my vet's office and they knew my situation so they only charged me $40 for the visit (she was a new patient) along with the antibotics to give her. It was an interesing game of take the pill for a week. But she healed up and that is how I found out she was a she and that she was estimated to be around 16 years old. So she went from Chairman Meow to Ingrid Birdman. Well, I now live in GA and she now lives inside... She spends most of her time in her "room", the utility room where I put her litter box, food on an elavated platform my step-dad made her, with her kitty bed underneath. Ezzie is a snot so Ingrid likes to be in her safe place. Yesterday, she started going to the cat box and back to the platform (which is white and the floor is white also), like she was doing wind sprints. She was leaving little droplets of peepee tinged with blood once in a while. I freaked, I have no money left of my own and am living off of my mom and she is retired... Vet bills aren't in the cards, and I don't have a vet here that will do me any favors like the nice vet in NC. I found this website and forum, after having read other stuff here and there about the ACV, but nothing specific enough, so I immediately put on socks and shoes and went to the grocery in my jammies (sweatpants and a long ugly t-shirt) and bought the ACV.
Ingrid stopped doing the wind sprints almost instantly after eating the soft food with the ACV in it, last night I put it in her water bowl and she drank that all up. No peepee droplets this morning, I am so thrilled! I hate stressing her out and car rides, vets, etc. Scare her... She's been abused horribly in her lifetime and now she is finally happy and comfortable and because of this forum she is already better and soon will be ALL better. Thanks so much everybody, you are lifesavers!
Paul (Rock Island, Il) on 01/07/2012:
We added one teaspoonful to a small can of catfood. She ate half of that the first day. Gave her the other half the second day. By the evening of Day 2, she was fine.
(Her prior symptoms were frequent attempts to urinate not just in the litter box, but also other places around the house, which is not like her. This had gone on for over a week.)
Ashley (Fort Mcmurray, Alberta, Canada) on 12/25/2011:
I found this site with information about ACV for cystitis, and tried the apple cider vinegar, and I kid you not he peed within 20 minutes. I kept giving him small doses by mouth (in a 1 ml syringe) every 30 minutes for 2 hours. He was up peeing all night, and filled the litter box. I am so gratefull!! Thanks!
Marina (Brooklyn, Ny) on 12/24/2011:
He started with blood in his urine, which cleared up after day one. He was urinating painfully, but seemed to be in much better spirits days 2-3. Yesterday, he clearly had a blockage and was suffering terribly. I rushed him to the vet, they voided his bladder. It seemed to go well until he had a heart attack while they were sewing the catheter in. The exact reason is unknown, but being in so much pain for so long certainly taxed his system. He could not be revived.
I believe if I had treated his problem as an emergency in the beginning instead of trying to care for him at home before taking him in, he would have had the strength to survive. I made a decision that cost him his precious life.
Laura (Racine, Wi-us) on 12/19/2011:
Paul (Los Angeles, Ca, Usa) on 12/12/2011:
He had a good life with me and he was a good little buddy for 15 months. He had playmates with neighbor kitties, good food, and a person who loved him. He knew it. It was a very affectionate and close bond. I know it sounds terrible and heartless to some, but is it less heartless than numerous operations with strange people in strange places. He had a day and a half of increasing discomfort and I imagine was in a great deal of pain at the end- but every surgery would have left him in pain for a while too. It is easy to be frightened of death and I think we take it too far. There are times to let loved ones go. But I am also sharing my experience as a word of caution to those who are attached to their pets. The ACV might or might not work. Just be aware of that if you choose that course. My cat was fine on Friday evening and dead on Monday before sun up.
Linda (Flemington, Nj) on 09/02/2011:
I began the ACV in soft food/water a little more than 24 hours ago, and he is back to behaving his usual self, purring, plopping on his side, expecting to be petted, looking for food. I know I need to continue the ACV at some level, feed soft food and improve his hydration in order to prevent a recurrence. I am so grateful to have found a site of such natural wisdom!
Sharon (Hermosa Beach, 90254) on 06/15/2011:
***We also have an older cat who needs 100mm of fluids eveyother day... the vet said it would be a good idea to give Dewey 100mm everyday to see if it would help flush his baldder, which I did along with the ACV.
FYI...I called the Vet to let them know and she mentioned that Cosequin is good for their bladder lining.
Thank you Earth Clinic for allowing all of us to share our stories and help one another!
Joan (New Hope, Pennsylvania, Usa) on 05/17/2011:
So..... This, our time-tested remedy as was recommended by a kind holistic vet many years ago.... Voila! Now, Skippy is acting like her good self again, and so are we! Here it is....
1) Break a 500 mg chewable of Vitamin C into 4 parts for a 2-day supply
2)Give the cat distilled or spring water to drink
3)Twice a day, Crush a 1/4 pill (125mg. ) to powder in a small dish, mix in well with a drizzle of olive oil over a heaping teaspoon of good canned fishy cat food or tuna; or into peanut butter and olive oil, whatever the cat's favorite soft treat food is. Spoon-feeding this to kitty and talking about getting better should do it, if the medicine food isn't eaten up fast at first: pets are smart and understand our speech. Probably hopefully we'll give more canned and less dry food in future - and will try not to give tap water in the bowls, too. Best to All, Joan
Maria (Carmichael, Ca) on 04/01/2011:
Matwood (Carmichael, Ca, Usa) on 03/30/2011:
He finished the meds that we were sent home with 3 days later. After 8 days we noticed that there was no improvement at all and he was still straining to go but couldn't. I'm unable to afford another visit to the vet which is how I found this site yesterday. After reading all the posts about how ACV really helped I had to try it.
Last night I gave him about 7 cc of ACV mixed with water. I also put about 1 tsp in his wet food last night & about a cap full of acv/water in his water bowl. I've competely removed all dry food from his diet. I never realized how bad dry food is for them and he really loves eating dry food.
This morning I saw him squatting in the kitchen and I thought hmm is this Apple Cider Vinegar going to work? I was so happy to see that he left a good size puddle on the floor. He hasn't peed that much in over a week so this has to be working. I'm going to continue giving him the Apple Cider Vinegar twice a day with syringe in his mouth as well as in his wet food. I'll update with is progress in a few days! Fingers crossed that he is on his way to recovering from this UTI!
Shogrl (Seattle, Wa) on 01/14/2011:
Sylvia (Frederick, Md., Usa) on 01/09/2011:
Warning... Do not give them daily ACV in their drinking water because you need to avoid bladder infection from too much. 3x a week is enough I'm told. My cat was cured in 3 days from cystitis with ACV. Good luck! Smn (Ireland) on 11/28/2010:
I started giving her a third of a teaspoon of ACV mixed in with tinned cat food and a teaspoon of water (she ate it as was delighted to get tinned food, normally I only give her dry) I continued this twice a day on the third day upping to half a teaspoon each time. I put a couple of drops in her water also. By day 2 she was substantially better, still trying to pee with little result, but not as often, and managing to pee slightly more in volume, by day three she appeared to be completely better, and doing big pees in the litter box, she now seems completely back to normal.
Thank you very much for all the advice here, very helpful. Just one question, how long should I continue giving the ACV to her? S
Beverly (San Antonio, Tx) on 11/08/2010:
After 4 days his new name is I. P. Freely!!! We absolutely do not want to take him to a veterinarian for this since they killed one of our other darlings with their antibiotics that didn't work!!! Between 5 different vets... All they could do was to give her antibiotics... This went on for 5 YEARS!!! The end result was bladder cancer which took her life. Since then (learn from our mistakes! ) we've used the echinacea and uva ursi and vitamin C on our other cats with success. This is the first time we used the vinegar. This is our first male cat so we were afraid it may have been the crystals??? So whatever it was he's better now!!! Thanks again EC!!!!!!
Lita209 (Sanford, Fl, Usa) on 10/19/2010:
Neil (Charlotte, Nc) on 09/20/2010:
No dry food. Mixing one to two table spoons of ACV in to the food. Day 1. He started to seem sprightlier and 18 hours after the first dose urinated more than he had in several days.
Day 2. Still made a few trips to the litter tray trying to urinate but unable. But passing significant amounts again.
Day 3. Seemed to be back to almost normal urination routines.
Day 4. All seems normal, happy as ever, no trips to the litter tray with no results. I can't thank everyone who posted here enough. You may well have saved my cats life and I felt compelled to tell my story. Thanks again from one inconceivably grateful cat lover.
Storms34 (Philadelphia, Pa, Usa) on 09/09/2010:
Better But With Side Effects
I have a male short haired cat of around 3 years old who is getting over suffering from cystitis. I want to thank you guys for the advice about using the acv. It did the trick, but now he is defecating far from the box. I keep the box immaculate and he shares the box with a 2-3yo female. The feces looks the same exact color as the acv. He doesn't do it all the time though. I am confused. Anyone help?
Ccmr (Montello, Wi) on 09/08/2010:
This week my husband was home on vacation and I got to sleep in each morning (he fed the critters dry food instead of my vinegar wet/canned mix). By the third day I found the large wet spot, like spilled tea, on my bedroom end table. I didn't remember leaving a water glass there, and could only think it had to have been one of our three cats. All of them always use the litter boxes (we have three boxes) so this was a warning. While I was using the bathroom I noticed Patrick used the litter box in there three times in ten minutes. I then knew that missing the wet vinegar mix food in the morning had allowed his UTI infection to get out of hand. I immediatedly started him back on the vinegar, upping his dosing to three times a day. It's day four and he's playing with his 'brother' and out hiding atop the hamper in the bathroom. I've been monitoring his reststops, and his wet spots have gotten much bigger, and farther apart. All three cats are going to stay on natural vinegar in their morning wet food as maintenance for the rest of their lives. The balance of their food is high quality dry food with probiotics, cranberry, and no grains. We lost our dear cat, Chan, two years ago to liver failure caused by the cat food additive mess. A little caution saves a lot of useless vet treatments. Nature cider vinegar works wonders with cats. I'd recommend mixing it with a high quality wet cat food, plas added water, so easy you're certain they are getting that extra water they need without a daily fight.
