Cat UTI Home Remedies: 12 Easy Ways To Treat Your Pet Friend
Are you looking for the effective cat UTI home remedies? Do you want to know how to treat UTI in cats at home? I know those days could be straining for your cat as well as for you when your cat gets urinary tract infection. I can understand your situation because my own cat, Shirley had once developed uti and it was such a hectic task for me to find the best cat uti home remedies to make him feel better but I did a great job.
I am writing this blog to help you out in situations like these. You can make your feline friend better by treating uti at home with some basic cat urinary tract infection home remedies. You will find these products easily on Amazon or in nearby stores. Read this blog to know more!
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What is UTI?
In order to treat uti, it is very important to know first what actually it is about. Sometimes, people use uti as an umbrella term to refer to any issues related to their cat’s health.
Urinary Tract Infections occur on the tract between the urethra to kidneys. The bladder gets infected with bacteria from outside. The bacteria from the urethra move up all the way to kidney after gaining access through the bladder.
UTI or Urinary Tract Infection concerns the lower urinary system of cats, which cause irritation and other infections in their lower body part. These infections prevent emptying out of the bladder and create the blockage in their urethra. The most common problem that cats face is FLUTD, which means Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease. There can be many causes of this disease and can be many symptoms as well.
Why Does My Cat Have UTI?
There can be many causes behind uti in your cat such as accumulation of stones or debris in the bladder, any injury or tumor in the urinary tract, and any kind of inflammation and infection in the bladder could also result in uti.
The other reasons could be a weak bladder, problems in the spinal cord, and congenital abnormality. Even stress in cats might be the reason behind their uti.
Signs of UTI Problems In Cats
You can easily know whether your cat has uti or not. Look out for the symptoms such as vomiting, the strong odor of urine, change in urine color to red, dribbling urine or inability to do so, frequent visits to the litter box, licking of the urinary part, etc.
These are signs that you could look for such as hiding in isolated places, avoidance of litter box, lethargy, and crying out in ache while passing urine.
The most common sign out of these could be their littering outside the littler box. They might face difficulty in reaching out to their litter box.
However, there are very less chances of your cat to get a UTI if your cat is not suffering from diabetes, hyperthyroidism, or any kidney disease. As studies shown that cats, who do not suffer from these above-mentioned diseases, are less likely to get infected from UTIs and hence, there are only 1-2 % chances of healthy cats get UT infection otherwise.
It is better to take your cat to a vet to diagnose them against UT infections before treating them at home.
12 Effective Ways For Cat UTI Home Remedies
It is very common for cats to develop urinary tract infections at any time. It is quite important to treat them as soon as possible. Read furthermore to know some remedies for treating them easily at home.
1. Use Apple Cider Vinegar
It is one of the best home remedies to treat uti in cats. Due to its acidic nature, it creates an unfavorable environment for bacteria in the digestive tract. The frequent use of apple cider vinegar could even reduce the risk of uti in your cat. It is even helpful in getting rid of fleas from your cat.
You can mix apple cider vinegar in your cat’s food and water for treating problems like uti. Read here for more details.
2. Use non-sweet Cranberry juice
You can use cranberry juice for treating uti in cats but it is really important to go for unsweetened one. This juice is rich in vitamin C and antioxidants that help acidify the urinary tract and thus, making it vulnerable for bacteria growth. You can give cranberry juice to your cat by mixing it in food and water.
I have treated my cat against UTI by feeding him cranberry juice. I gave Shirley half a dropper of the solution like ¼ teaspoon of cranberry juice and ¼ teaspoon of water, twice in a day. I increased his water consumption along with that. So, it really helped him to cure.
It is important to keep in mind that the cranberry juice that needs to be fed to your cat should be unsweetened one. Doing the opposite of this, would cause more problems for you.
3. Use Bone Broth
Bone broth contains chondroitin and glucosamine that helps to fight against inflammation in the bladder. It even protects the lining of the bladder with amino acids present in it.
It provides apt moisture to your cat along with many beneficial nutrients. It is the best food item to provide adequate hydration to your cat in times of UTI. You can get this in the market available in various flavors like Turkey or Chicken.
You can even make bone broth for your cats at home without any onion and garlic as these two substances are toxic to cats. Just pour some broth over their food or feed them as it is.
4. Use D-Mannose
It is tasteless sugar that helps to treat cat’s uti. It helps to bind harmful bacteria with itself and flush them out of the system through urine.
You can easily find D-Mannose powder available in the market. You can give it to your cats once or twice in a day while it is recommended to mix ¼ - ½ teaspoon of powder in 1 tablespoon of water. It is a sugar but does not affect sugar levels in cats. You can definitely feed D-Mannose to your diabetic cats also. You have to simply add this sugar to your cat’s food and water.
5. Add more water
Drinking of more water would help to flush out infectious bacteria from the bladder. This method is really simple and economical but extremely effective. It is even the best solution for cystitis and also prevents any bacterial infections in the future.
Make sure to keep changing water and let your cat drinks it frequently in small quantities. You can try changing its water source in which you offer water to your cat. For instance, some cats prefer to drink water from a bowl, bottle, full shadow dish, the tap or water fountain.
The intake of water ensures urination, which helps to remove toxins from the body. You can even feed them canned foods due to their higher water content.
6. Give wet food
The canned foods are the best food to give cats during uti because of their high water content. It is recommended to remove dry food from your cat’s diet altogether.
It is the most effective way to treat UTIs in cats as I have personally found this effective for my cat. When Shirley got infected from it, then, I added wet food in the first place to his diet to treat him.
You can introduce homemade soup to your cat’s diet to build their immunity against bacterial infections.
7. Uromaxx Kidney & Bladder Formula
Uromaxx is an alternative to cranberry juice. If your cat does not like cranberry juice the, Uromaxx is the best choice to go with. It is made up of cranberry extracts with glucosamine and Vitamin C. Cranberry is quite bitter in taste and there are high chances that your cat would not like the taste of it. Uromaxx is a kind of reliever for those who are struggling to give their cats cranberry juice.
It also prevents frequent occurrences of uti in cats.
8. Methigel Urinary Acidifier
Methigel Urinary Acidifier is a urinary acidifier, which helps to eradicate infections from the bladder system of cats. It makes the environment acidic and results in efficient bacteria removal from the body of the cat through urination.
It helped many cat owners in treating crystals in their cats and saved them a few vet bills. It is recommended for both cats and dogs by many people.
9. Use Cod Liver Oil
It prevents urine crystals as well as stones formation in cats. It helps in keeping the urine odor-free. If you see your cat straining over its litter box then add cod liver oil to your cat’s food once per day.
Even your cat has stones or crystals in its digestive tract, then cod liver oil helps to break them into pieces and thus, these stones came out easily through the urinary tract.
10. Use Probiotics
You can also use probiotics to prevent your cats against UTIs. It prevents the growth of pathogens that cause infection in a cat’s body. It even reduces the growth of other harmful bacteria and yeast that cause UTIs.
You can use probiotics like Probiotic Miracle for treating infections in cats and dogs. It is quite effective to maintain overall health of animals.
11. Use Antibiotics
Amoxicillin for cats
You can use antibiotics like Amoxicillin or Clavamox for treatment of uti in cats. It is generally given up to 10-15 days to treat bladder infections.
Even if you go to a vet, he/she also would recommend for antibiotics for some days in order to eliminate the infection from the body thoroughly.
Note:
While many vets also recommend antibiotics in case of cystitis, that might be of CONCERN here. It is shown in various studies that cystitis is not caused due to bladder infections in 99% of the cases. Many people take the help of antibiotics to treat cystitis in their cats, which is highly ERRONEOUS as these are not helpful for cats at all. On the other hand, adding more water to their diet or reducing stress in cats would be the best solution.
As the popular joke revolves around antibiotics, “Sterile cystitis patients get better in 1 week with antibiotics and in 7 days without antibiotics”, so, it is now in your hands to use them or not!
12. Reduce stress level in your cats
The most common reason behind uti in cats is FIC (Feline Idiopathic Cystitis), which is a condition closely related to stress. In order to treat uti, it is of utmost importance to reduce stress levels in your cat.
Even managing the stress levels generally keeps the cat away from any uti. There are many ways to reduce stress levels of your cats such as feeding them at the same time daily, regulate their playtimes, keeping their litter box clean, and provide them some private space.
If you want to reduce stress in your cat, then try using soft bedding such as Spray Feliway, which is quite effective in reducing stress in cats.
When To Seek A Veterinarian?
It is quite important to get a proper diagnosis if you cat shows any signs of illness. After knowing the exact problem as well as the root cause of the problem, you can thereafter decide the proper treatment for that specific uti.
Home remedies can never replace a vet's diagnosis. If you suspect the cat is ill, immediately see your veterinarian. Remember that cats are good at hiding their pain, especially kittens. This will delay the treatment and can cause irreversible damage.
If you have financial problems, try the following ways:
A veterinarian will clarify what has actually happened to your cat. It is not always necessary that the problem can only be uti. So, it is always better to go to the vet before going for a home remedy for your cat.
How To Prevent UTI for My Cat?
After getting a proper treatment, it becomes necessary to look for measures for prevention from uti. The one thing to keep in mind is to feed your cat always with good food.
It is also advised to give them wet food instead of dry ones. A diet with high-moisture content could be good for them as the dry food leads to dehydration and thus develops uti. Due to this, always go for canned and homemade food to keep them healthy.
It is recommended to provide them with adequate toys so that they would not feel boredom or loneliness and these will keep them away from stress.
Conclusion
The urinary tract infections could be seen most commonly in the male cats. The reasons for the urinary tract infections could be many ranging from the blocked urethra by mucus, bladder stones, and so on. It is your responsibility as an owner to look for the symptoms of uti in your cat and after that start looking for reasons.
Now you know how to treat uti in cats at home through some cat urinary tract infection home remedies above. It is better to seek a veterinarian advice before starting to treat them at home as you might not be able to know the exact reason behind that uti. Once you know the exact reason, you could treat infections on your own. If the problem still persists, then it is advised to seek medical attention as soon as possible.
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