★★★★★
i mixed 1 teaspoon of organic apple cider vinegar with about 2 big tablespoons of plain whole yogurt (organic) and some water, about a tablespoon or two, for hydration and she lapped it right up. I did this three times yesterday and gave her regular potty breaks. Tonight I added some of her dry kibble into the same mixture and the bowl was licked clean.
Her symptoms started a week ago. She peed on my boyfriend's shoe....while he was wearing it. I gues she was trying to tell us something was wrong then.
Apple Cider Vinegar Mixed in Food
Apple Cider Vinegar Mixed in Food
Kayla is doing just fine, business as usual and her daughter (my other springer) has been on the ACV regimen from the start as well even though she had shown no bladder issues herself. It's ACV & can't harm them so now they get it in their food on Wed/Sun as preventative medicine. Funny thing though, Alice had a batch of pups 2 yrs ago and I held onto one of them 'Scooter' for about 10 months before giving her away to a friend whose springer had recently passed on. As I sat watching Scooter acclimate herself to the back yard and her new family that very first day she ran up to the apple tree and grabbed an apple off the ground ran under the deck and ate it, we all laughed at her behavior but little did we know she was adding nutrients her body was likely needing. A habit my friend Dave says she repeats often. These nutrients are missing from our pet foods.
Apple Cider Vinegar Mixed in Food
★★★★★
Cream of Tartar
WARNING!
Dietary Changes
~Mama to Many~
Apple Cider Vinegar, Yogurt
Apple Cider Vinegar, Yogurt
General Feedback
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
Apple Cider Vinegar, Yogurt
★★★★★
Sea Salt
You could at other times add ACV to the food. About a scant tsp.
Namaste, Om
Dietary Changes
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.
D-Mannose
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.
Dietary Changes
I may also giver her natural, unsweetened yogurt with probiotics too.
P.S. Anyone who opposes natural remedies is clueless. We should only go to a vet as a last resort. Thanks (! ) to the person who began this site, and thanks so much to all of its contributors!!!!
Multiple Remedies
★★★★★
Echinacea, goldenseal and propolis are immune enhancers and natural antibiotics. ACV helps the ph of the urine I think and yogurt promotes good bacteria in the gut. Cranberry helps the bacteria not stick to the walls of the bladder and also helps the ph be inhospitable to bacteria. Also, my dog wouldn't drink at all and drinking is important to flush out the bacteria so I gave her water and chicken broth mixed together and that worked. I also gave her a little orange juice which I read would help, but didn't want to give too much because of the sugar content. Good luck! Abriete
Cranberry
★★★★★
If my Rottweiler mix eats birdseed, he inevitably will get a urinary tract infection. One Sunday, when the vet was closed we decided to try cranberry and cantharis and it was amazing! Worked even faster then the antibiotics prescribed by the vet. Firstly, if your dog likes the taste of cranberry jiuce, as mine does, give several 'doses' of unsweetened cranberry juice along with remedy. If not I am sure it will be effective in just pill form. Cantharis is available in most natural food stores as little blue pills. We gave our 110# dog 5 cantharis pills 3 times a day along with 2 cranberry pills. Cranberry pills come in different strengths so I would follow the directions on the bottle, but I think generally 1 pill for dogs under 75# and 2 pills for dogs over 75# should work. For cantheris, I would use a 1 pill per 20# ratio. We continued this treatment for one week after the first sign of blood in the urine and he had no issues. In fact, after the first dose and drink of juice, he was able to urinate within an hour and had a clear urine within about 3 hours. If your dog does not like cranberry juice, it is still important to encourage lots of fluid with this remedy, as the kidneys will need to be well hydrated for the acidity of the cranberry to flush the urinary tract.
Cream of Tartar
★★★★★
D-Mannose
★★★★★
Cranberry
★★★★★
While everyone generally knows that cranberry supplements are usually mentioned when trying to prevent urinary tract infections, it's sometimes not so well known that many supplements don't actually contain enough of the active phytochemical or the right ones to make a substantial difference to a dog or cat suffering UTIs. Cats that have diabetes are for example very prone to recurring UTIs as well as dogs that suffer from bladder cancer (TCC). Also not that well know is the fact that struvite bladder stones in dogs are usually a result of chronic UTIs. The recent lawsuit against multinational pet food companies regarding their "Prescription diets" also highlights the fact that these diets, frequently prescribed for urinary issues and bladder stones, are filled with low quality ingredients and might not be that different to those that are less expensive and "non prescription". So do cranberry supplements actually work?I would imagine that the key would be to find a "clinically proven pet UTI supplement", that has actually been independently tested and verified to work. I know of only one product that actually fits this bill and there are many reviews online, as well as the published clinical trial info in an actual Veterinary Journal. The product is called "Cranimals Original" and works to prevent recurrent UTIs from E Coli, and also prevents struvite stones from infections, acidifies urine naturally and helps alleviate infection related incontinence. Plus it helps reduce the continual use of antibiotics. It's non GMO and organic to boot.
So, perhaps Earthclinic members will be interested in the product along with all the other remedies they have posted about for urinary issues in pets.
Test for Bladder Stones
★★★★★
my dog has had UTI's before, so I just assumed he had one again. After trying d-mannose, cranberry, ACV, kefir and increased water on my pooch to no avail I took him to the vet. THANK GOD I DID! His X-rays revealed 8 bladder stones one of which was lodged in his penis and he had to be operated on immediately to avoid going into Kidney failure.
I'm so grateful I didn't chance it, and wait any longer. Apparently certain breeds are quite prone to stones, so taking them to the vet is definitely worth it. Yes it was expensive. X-rays and bloodwork $650, surgery etc $2000, but I still have my Chewie! <3 As vet owners we can do all the reading we want, but there really is no replacement for things like blood tests and X-rays. So remember to keep that in mind if after a few days your dogs symptoms don't stop. Or maybe try one of those home uti tests to see if he or she has one, and if not get her to the vet ASAP.
Apple Cider Vinegar, Yogurt
★★★★★
★★★★★
Dietary Changes
★★★★★
A 'wet' food would be better. But, better still a raw diet
Multiple Remedies
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!
D-Mannose
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.
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
★★★★★
Apple Cider Vinegar, Yogurt
★★★★★
