Natural Cystitis Remedies for Cats

| Modified on Dec 14, 2023

Cystitis is a miserable condition for cats to endure, and painful for their owners to watch.  Fortunately, natural treatments for cystitis work often bring swift healing to cats and relief to their owners!

What is Cystitis in Cats?

Cystitis is an inflammation of the bladder. Often the cause is unknown. Cats with cystitis will have trouble urinating. They may make many frequent attempts to use the little box with little to no success. They may urinate outside of the litter box in places that are inconvenient - carpets, beds, counter tops and bathtubs.  A cat with cystitis may appear to be in pain. Their appetite and behavior may be affected and their abdomen may seem bloated and tender.

Cystitis is not the same thing as a urinary tract infection in cats, though the symptoms may be quite similar. Many of the remedies that work for a bladder infection in a cat work for feline cystitis as well.

What Natural Treatments Can I Use for My Cat's Cystitis?

Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple cider vinegar has been used for generations for bladder health in animals and people.  It can be used daily to keep the bladder healthy and will often quickly resolve bladder inflammation. You can read more about apple cider vinegar for cystitis here.

Coconut Oil 

Coconut Oil is a highly nutritious and healing food that is good for pets as well as their owners. You can put a pea sized amount onto your cat's paw for him to lick off. You can put the same amount right into his mouth or mix it into his food. It is a mild tasting oil and easy to disguise in food. Coconut oil is an anti-inflammatory oil.

Herbs

Turmeric

Turmeric is an excellent natural anti-inflammatory.  1/8-1/4 teaspoon can be added to a cat's food once or twice a day. Powdered turmeric can be found in the spice section of your local grocery store or health food store.

Parsley 

Parsley is renowned for its healing effect to the bladder. Parsley tea can be given instead of water if your cat likes it. Pour once cup of boiling water over 1 teaspoon of parsley. Steep 15 minutes. Strain out the herbs. If you cat does not like the tea, a quarter teaspoon of ground parsley can be added to food.

Corn Silk

Corn silk tincture works well for bladder problems.  It is a mild tasting tincture that can be mixed into food or given by syringe. Add 1/4 teaspoon of corn silk tincture to 3/4 teaspoon of water and give orally twice a day.

Dietary Changes for Cats with Cystitis

Plenty of water is critical to the health of the bladder of your cat.  You may need to get creative to ensure that your cat stays well hydrated. If your cat's diet is primarily dry cat food, your cat is almost certainly not getting enough fluids to effectively flush the bladder. Changing to wet cat food or a combination of wet and dry cat food will help to increase the amount of water your cat gets.  You will need to do some trial and error to figure out the best way to encourage your cat to drink more fluids.

  • Keep clean, fresh water available at all times.
  • Try bottled water.
  • Try cold water.
  • Make bone broth for your cat to drink. Cats love chicken bone broth (Boil chicken bones in water for several hours. Strain. Freeze the broth in ice cube trays or small containers.) You may be able to just add a few cubes each day to your cat's water bowl. The water bowl will need to be washed daily to make sure it is clean, especially if you are putting anything in the bowl other than water.
  • Add 1/2 teaspoon of raw apple cider vinegar to your cat's water bowl and see if your cat likes the taste. Some animals do. If your cat does like this and drinks more, the apple cider vinegar will be an added bonus to his bladder health.

As aforementioned, dry cat food will not ensure proper hydration for your cat.  Dry cat food also contains fillers, grains, food colors, and other chemicals that are working against cat health and not for it.

Has your cat had cystitis? How did you treat it? Read on to see what works for our readers!




ACV Application Tip

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Posted by Jo (Uk) on 08/07/2017
★★★★★

I would like to share a simple way to give AC vinegar. My cat would not drink it or eat food containing it. I put 2.5 ml AC and 2.5ml water in a 5 ml syringe. Squirt onto her sides and then she licks it all off immediately. Is simple way to get cat to ingest AC vinegar. Hope this tip helps : )


Cranberry Juice

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Posted by Alicia (Fl) on 11/29/2017
★★★★★

I've been mixing cranberry extract in my cats wet food and they've been eating it. It has normalized my blocked cat's litter box habits! 1/4 tsp


Cranberry Juice
Posted by Patricia (Downsville) on 07/11/2016 42 posts

My cat didn't urinate all day. It has been sparse for a few days but I am concerned. Has anyone found a remedy for not urinating? I ordered kidney support but who knows if will help and how long it will take to get.

Replied by Patricia
(Downsville)
07/11/2016
42 posts

I gave my cat 1 tsp cranberry juice with dropper beginning at 7pm and finished administering it with last 2 droppers full at 8:45 pm.

A few minutes ago, 9:45, she hit the litter box and I was praying something would come out and it did. I am going to continue giving it to her every hour or two tonight.

Replied by Patricia
(Downsville)
07/12/2016
★★★★☆

Non urinating cat and cranberry Tj's juice

Last night I gave my little one cranberry juice again at 2:30 am ( two eye droppers full ) and this morning at 7:30 three to 4 eye droppers full. Since starting the juice yesterday evening, she has had almost two teaspoons full of cranberry juice (I had to administer it through the side of her mouth- Hold her head still with one hand - hold eye dropper with the other).

Secondly, I had been rubbing her inside ear with mag oil also (I had stopped while she wasn't urinating because I thought it could be the problem and also stopped the borax solution - three 1/4 tsp 3 xs per day) on the inside of the ears. (I administered it there because she can't lick it off and get it through the mouth- transdermal magnesium avoids diarea sp?) So I administered the mag oil (magnesium chloride) also at 2:30 on her ears. When there still was no urination at 7:30 (last night at 8:45 was the last) I began to research dandelion tea and had just about ruled it out because it says not to use it if there is no urination.

Good News: An hour after the 7:30 cranberry dose (which was almost double the 2:30 dose) I got up to check her box and saw a dark coin sized dark spot and so I checked and it was a significant amount under the surface (I use silicon crystal as litter which absorbs the urine).

She was hungry and gave her some canned sardines with only one quarter tsp of borax solution because she was refusing to eat it with 3 1/4 tsp of the solution. I added a drop of cranberry juice for good measure. She wouldn't eat it. Could the borax be the culprit? Anyway she refused to eat the

So now since she urinated, dandelion is back on the table. Will research dandelion tea some more. I have plenty of free dandelion leaves outside with no threat of chemicals on them).

It is now 9:22 am that I have finished writing this. Will update later

patricia

Replied by Patricia
(Downsville)
07/12/2016
42 posts

Update:

my cat was hungry this morning and all day in fact. I have stopped putting the cranberry juice in an eye dropper and inserting it in her mouth, but I am now putting the eye dropper full on the raw chicken and liver she eats. Give her a little at a time so I can get more juice into her. today she has had at least 2 teaspoons full of cranberry juice on her food. I have continued to put the magnesium oil on the inside of her ears. Three times today.

She has come back to life and urinated a second time about 6 pm and has started drinking water again.

10pm I gave her two more eye droppers full of cranberry juice on a little raw chicken cut into little pieces and the mag oil on the ears again.

Things are looking up tonight. July 12,2016

I hope she begins urinating more often.

Replied by Suseeq
(Sydney, Australia)
07/13/2016

Good on you, Patricia, and thanks for giving us your progress.

Replied by Patricia
(Downsville)
07/15/2016
42 posts

Update:

when I started the following she was urinating every 12 to 14 hours and this scared me
I wasn't able to get her to take the nutrients. Would squeeze the eye dropper with the cran, blueberry, honey mix into her mouth and stopped when she spit it up and started again.

8:40 am july 13

2 eye droppers blueberry cranberry honey

9:15

3 eye droppers dandelion tea boiled 1 minute and steeped over raw chicken (1 tsp about) cut in tiny pieces 1/4 tsp rare liver (all organic meats)

acv in drinking water 1/4 tsp 2 cups water

borax solution on cyst 3-4 xs per day on cotton swab

10 eye droppers per teaspoon

after that she was still hungry

9:40 1 dropper blueberry cranberry honey

repeated the 9:15 food

12:30

2 dropper blueberry cranberry honey she threw it up

3 droppers of dendelion tea

tsp of chicken, 1/4 tsp liver all tiny pieces to that added 2 droppers of ACV 50/50 water to see if she would eat- no

she would not eat chicken or liver

she ate grated parmesan cheese

1pm she cleaned what I made at 12:30 all up

1:10 pm more cooked chicken 3 squirts (droppers) of blueberry, cranberry and honey underneath on all sides ( the chicken had been left over from a meal that had seasoning (baked in olive oil ACV salt pepper paprika, possibly garlic OH No! )outside. perhaps that concealed the taste of the liquid.

she gobbled it up

1:25 CHECKED LITTER BOX and she had URINATED!! Significant amount. What did it?

Don't remember WHEN the last time WAS but I was beginning to worry …again.

This little love, Babe, is my only heir! My grand daughter.

She seems okay. She drank about 3/4 cup of water between yesterday and today before I added the 1/4 tsp ACV to two cups water. Don't know if she will drink this ACV water.

4:45

gave same as 12:30 meal

with 1/4 cal mag tablet crushed with knife and sprinkled on top and mixed in- she ate 99.9 % ( my friend says that calcium blocks absorption of phosphorous

5:30

cooked chicken as above

3 droppers, blueberry, cranberry, honey

3 droppers dandelion tea

2 droppers Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)

she didn't seem to want the above but drank water

she ate the above at some point

6:40

6 eye droppers, blueberry, cranberry, honey

3 droppers dandelion tea

3 droppers Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)

SHE WENT OUT SIDE AND I WATCHED HER SHE DROPPED OF THE STEP AND SHE GOT LOST UNDER THE PORCH BEHIND THE STACKED WOOD AND WOULDN'T COME OUT.

BY HER INQUISITIVENESS SHE APPEARS TO BE A LITTLE BETTER Finally extracted her and she went inside (more fleas!! Ugh)

7:15 URINATED SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT

I defrosted chopped turkey because it has less phosphorous

gave her 1 heaping tsp raw turkey

8:10 power went out

3:25 am power went on

2 tsp cooked turkey cooked some up

added

4 droppers, blueberry, cranberry, honey

3 droppers dandelion tea

2 droppers Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)

ate all

3:40 she was still hungry

1 tsp turkey cooked

1 tsp chicken raw

3 droppers, blueberry, cranberry, honey

1/4 tsp borax solution (1tsp borax in liter of water)

sliver of cal mag tablet crushed fine so she won't object

3:45 URINATED pretty good amount

1:25pm July 13,2016,7:15pm and 3:45 am July 14

URINATED 3 TIMES IN 14 HOURS

I say this is a significant improvement because before I got the (nutrients via eye dropper squeezed along side and under her food) cranberry juice (trader Joes), blueberries (organic), raw honey (solid sort of blended in vita mix and strained blueberry pulp because it began to solidify in fridge) 50/50 ACV and water (with a little more water) fresh dandelion tea dandelion leaves (no chemical sprays) cup of water (I believe I explained this earlier) and some boron and magnesium chloride (magnesium oil) she was urinating about every twelve hours

I believe the success so far happened because I got a lot of the above nutrients due to feeding her small amounts to see if she would eat it and then would give her more than one portion and added more of the nutrients also. Sort of sneaking them in. She seems not to object to them now.

Replied by Suseeq
(Sydney, Australia)
07/15/2016

Patricia, your success is because of your dedication, knowledge is power and the people who truly care about their animals do this. I have done this all my life and rarely use vets because I hate the chemicals they always shoving into their bodies and making them sick. You can never stop learning any pets that come into your life are truly lucky. Good luck for the future.

Patricia
(Downsville)
07/16/2016
42 posts

Suseeq

thank you for the kind words and encouragement it brings tears to my eyes thinking about what you said about me.

I need it about now. This little kitty has never been vaccinated so she can't see a vet. They will force it upon her upon her first visit.

Replied by Patricia
(Downsville)
07/16/2016
42 posts

5:12 am July 15 update

July 15 I think she urinated too much while I was out- she only urinated once though- strange

litter box is suddenly filled? 100% silicon litter absorbs the urine and the odor. The crystals turn orange-ish yellow/brownish when filled. Perhaps I had stopped stirring the pot enough while concerned with her urination. I changed the litter a couple of weeks ago. Perhaps the silicon loses its absorbancy after it is dehydrated (something I learned to recycle it). Too much to do.

5:45am july 15 saturday

went shopping for food and left the house 1pm july 14 friday

came home and she had URINATED- and upon examination of the litter the box

it seemed to be filled with much more urine (can tell by the white crystals turning a brownish color). Wasn't paying attention to the litter itself until now.

Received Kidney Support Gold in mail today and

gave it to her without shaking it. OMG!

amount to give- one drop per 2 lbs on cooked chicken portion 1

cranberry, blueberry and honey 4 droppers on raw turkey portion 2

dandelion juice 3 droppers on raw turkey portion 3

7:25 pm tsp raw turkey

chopped dandelion leaves

3 droppers cran, blu, honey juice

3 droppers kidney support because I didn't shake the bottle first time

7:30 cooked chicken and 1/4 tsp borax solution

4:45 am URINATED significant amount

checked water she had consumed 3/4 cup water

5:02 bowel movement may be soft- maybe too much mag in

cal mag tablet

mag chloride on inside of ears

not sure what to do now- that she may be urinating not too often but too much- I only received the commercial product 1pm today and was out till 5:45 so it couldn't be that.

I had given her 500 mgs of L arginine and 2000 mgs vitamin d when she was urinating too much and it stopped the urination and lots of water. Is it back now that I stopped that remedy?

do I stop my home remedies while giving her the kidney support gold?

by the way this product says proprietary formula which means there is no way of telling what is inside the bottle.

concerned about the phosphorous content in protein. Looked up the phosphorous amount in foods and found that sardines have much more than any other meats. Turkey is the least. Magnesium stops the absorption of phosphorous. Too much magnesium internally makes for watery diahrea. Gee this is a balancing act.

How could a doctor know what to give you? They re purpose their black doctor's bag (I grew up when doctors visited with black bags)

drug inventory and use them for what they were not intended. Not a good idea. Is that why the number 3 cause of death is medical malpractice? I can't speak from experience. It is what I read though.

Virginia
(NJ)
03/01/2023

I realize that the post I'm replying to is from 2016! But on doing a search about what blocks the absorption of phosphorus, the answer is Calcium, not magnesium! This information may help with more recent issues. It's just a FYI…I didn't find how much should be given, just that magnesium won't help block or eliminate excess phosphorus.

Replied by Patricia
(Downsville, New York)
07/17/2016
42 posts

I can't keep up with the recordation of her tiny feedings. Called the turkey people Sheltons and they said that there "may" be GMO in it. So we asked if they give them corn and they do. It is 90% chance that the corn fed to animals is GMO. Stopped the turkey.

I have decided to continue what I have been giving her along with the product I bought (kidney support gold) for a while. Her urination is about every 4 to 6 hours. I am going to change the silicon in the litter box t omorrow and keep tabs to see if she is urinating too much.

I don't know what a strong urine smell is from a bladder infection. So much I don't know.

The good news is that she is gobbling up her food no matter remedy I give with it. I guess because she is hungry.

I bought organic chicken drumsticks and free range chicken liver from a local farm instead of that GMO turkey.

She has much more energy and paces up and down in front of the sink until I feed her.

I pray I get all the fleas with the borax treatment for the rugs. And then off of her.

It has been two years fighting to exterminate them without using poisonous chemicals.

Something has to work. If we only knew what.

I am not sure how to use this site so I keep clicking on reply to my posts for the next post. Is there something I am missing?

You have no idea how thrilled I am when someone actually responds to a post. Thank you all for caring enough to respond.

Tia
(Arizona)
06/20/2018

Loved reading your post. Just went through one of my male cats passing a blockage on his own. I am looking for a way to feed him without spending a ton of money. Maybe I can help you with the flea issue. Have you tried Dawn dish soap for a bath. It us to help smother them. Also try vinegar, garlic juice, coconut oil. In a spray in their coat and rubbed into their skin. Use rubbing alcohol with tea tree oil in a spray for carpet, flooring, bedding. When giving a bath remember that you have to use a flea or lice comb to remove as many all fleas and any eggs. I went to Walmart and bought the 91% rubbing alcohol. I was spraying everything. I also used baking soda and even corn starch and sorinklef it around my carpets. It helps kill the adults. I wish you the best of luck.

Replied by Darrell
(Montreal)
10/17/2016

I had a female cat who died from that condition in June, I wish I had seen your post before, the information you posted might have helped her. But I know it has helped other cats and given great comfort to their caregivers. I felt I had lacked the self confidence to treat animal sickness naturally, now I do not. Thank you

Replied by Jeb1
(New York City)
10/24/2016

I see that your post is a few months old. I hope that your pet has recovered completely. I just wanted to tell you that my 16 yr. cat had a UTI as well. There was even some blood visible in her urine. I used the Apple Cider Vinegar and in less than an hr. there was a visible improvement. The next day there was no blood at all visible in her urine. I wouldn't let this keep me from taking her to the vet but since it was a weekend and my vet wasn't available, it was a great relief for me to do something that gave her (and me) some relief.

Replied by Pasha
(Quebec)
01/02/2017

Borax is toxic to cats and they can ingest it because they clean their ears. What is the reason for the borax and magnesium?

Replied by Serena
(Ms)
03/02/2017

For the fleas, check out food grade diatomaceous earth. You can dust the yard & inside if you have carpet. I dusted my yard 2 years ago. Still have no flea problem!

Replied by Lynn
(Hillsboro Ohio)
03/18/2017

My vet told me to invest into science diet hills urinary tract c/d cat food; 4lbs is $20.00 plus tax. It has helped my cat greatly. Before she was not peeing at all and now she is peeing again, back to her healthy self. She had crystal like built up in her kidneys. Need to try this because this is dangerous and can lead to other health issues and even death.

Replied by Kathleen
(Sebastian, Fl 32958)
04/21/2017

Can you give a cat Cranberry extract (powder form) and how much? Or can you only give a cat Orange juice?

Replied by Carol P.
(Simpsonville, South Carolina)
01/13/2023

Hi, Patricia! Have had MANY cats over the years, and have done the kind of things you are doing to keep mine healthy after losing my first cat (my dear "Lucy, " who I got when I was 13) to feline leukemia. I have had vets tell me it was time to euthanize them, and I would refuse and use holistic approaches, and the cats would live for years after that! So I know these things work, and kudos to you for thinking "outside the box"!!! I used to have a lot of problems with fleas, and I had tried everything imaginable. First of all, fleas seem to thrive in warm, damp weather, but not so much in hot--especially dry--weather. When I started consistently feeding my cats raw food, the flea situation really got so much better, especially using the raw, organic, grass-fed beef (I cut a one-pound block into 16 neat "meatballs"--each about a serving size--and give once or twice a day. I put these into the freezer and put the next day's batch (however many you will use) into a baggie in the frig, and they are defrosted and ready to eat, looking very fresh, by that next day). We always have raw chicken in the house, and the pieces that I cut off when prepping for the family I will cut fine and give to the kitties (keeping them packaged in kitty serving sizes in the freezer also until ready to use). They all like canned tuna, sardines, mackerel, and salmon, which I give them also. I think you have to acquaint them early-on to turkey, venison, lamb, goat, even raw fish, etc., cause my cats are not very interested in those flavors they didn't consistently get each day growing up. But the raw--especially red--meat really seemed to make a difference in flea control. I know the kitties still have a few fleas, but they don't seem to be jumping off of them, and I don't see them scratching often! Also, living in the country and letting them roam free out here vs. living in the city where there are lots of other kitties and pets roaming around also seems to help! Wish someone canned mouse and other stuff like that for kitties--what a treat that would be! Anyway, just a little input from a fellow cat nut (what is a house without a cat?!?).


Homeopathic Cantharsis

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Posted by jnnfr4387 (Green Bay, WI) on 08/15/2023
★★★★★

This site has been so helpful to me numerous times so I wanted to give back and share some information that was incredibly helpful to my cat. I got him when he was about three years old from the humane society. He has always suffered from periodic constipation so when I saw his straining last week that's what I thought he was experiencing. I gave him a supplement that assists with that. But two days later he continued to strain and it was in inappropriate places. Then we saw some very concentrated urine.

He is currently seven and had never had urinary issues so I never suspected it. After I saw the concentrated urine I gave him another supplement I have called Tinkle Tonic made by Animal Essentials. By that time the poor guy was so uncomfortable getting him to eat or drink was challenging. He began to have blood in what little urine he could get out. He loves goats milk so I would place the supplement in that. Money is very tight for me so spending hundreds of dollars at the vet was not my first option.

I got online and started doing some research on different homeopathics that may help. I have always had good results using them. I came across the remedy cantharis which assists with burning and decreased flow. I ordered the 30C strength and also ordered some drops from Homeopet (feline UTI) which had the cantharis in it as well as additional helpful remedies.

The drops state they can be put in food or water. Normally with homeopathic pellets, you wouldn't put them in food or drink because it contaminates them. If you have a docile cat then by all means put them directly in the side of the cat's mouth. My cat however will slash me to pieces. If he even sees a syringe or medicine bottle he runs. So I had no choice but to place both drops and pellets in his food or water. I believe he may have passed a stone.

Within three or four days he was back to his normal self and bouncing off of the walls. He's very high energy and it was all back and then some! No more straining, peeing in inappropriate places, or blood in the urine. I was so relieved for him and me. I felt so helpless knowing my baby was in pain. I just wanted to share with others. Last time I took a cat to the vet for this it was over $700 and that was fourteen years ago so I can only imagine what it would be now. I hope this information can help someone else.


Om's Remedies

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Posted by Om (Hope, B.c., Canada) on 05/09/2013
★★★★★

Male tabby urinary issues.

In my experience, after caring for many rescue cats , these male cats need homemade food, raw but soaked meat in perox. Solution to prevent tapeworm. They need in addition dandelion tea which they like to slurp either in water and mixed into the food or given by syringe. Best to eliminate dry food. The tea gives them all the needed vitamins and some minerals. Just dig dandelions, wash them well using the entire plant, simmer in water til the plant is totally wilted, add a little more time for the roots. This herb attends to urinary issues, even healing severe kidney problems. In difficult cases you could look into MMS. Part of the urinary problem is often emotional, for example a cat wants to go outdoors but is an indoor cat or other emotional causes.

The dandelion water will have residue at the bottom but it can be poured off. It is an excellent remedy, also for people as I can well attest, especially diabetes. Give for about three weeks at a time and sporadically repeat. I hope all goes well. Keep your money for good food. God's pharmacy is not about extracting large sums, but service to fellow beings. Please stay away from polluted areas when collecting herbs.

Love Om

Replied by Carol P.
(SImpsonville, SC, USA)
01/13/2023

Thanks for that, OM! Will go see if I can find some dandelions in the yard (4 acres)!! And, wow, yes, that MMS is some great stuff--will try that, too!