Apple Cider Vinegar

Hello! I am new to this site but need some help. I have a two year old neutered male cat. ( Tiger ) he has always been super healthy but last month he started urinating all over the house. ( Especially on blankets, towels, dirty laundry) This was the first time he has ever done this before, I thought he was acting out for some reason at first but then I found that he was peeing extremely bloody urine. We took him to the vet where he recieved an injection that was supposed to clear up his UTI within 2 weeks. After a week and a half he seemed like our old kitty, happy and playful. But then he started up again. We took him back to the vet 2 weeks and 4 days after his last appointment. He recieved another antibiotic shot and also a steriod shot to calm the swelling of his bladder. And bam within a week and a half he was such a happy cat! Even more snuggly and loving then ever! But now it is 2 and a half weeks since his last shot and he is licking his privates and I just found bloody urine again. I am not a weathly woman and we just had a new baby I cannot afford these fancy prescription diets and frequent trips to the vet. He has been eating Purina One food. I can change his food but seriously I have to keep it within a $12.00 to 15.00 a bag budget. I have added once a day wet food and i am planning after christmas to invest in one of those pet fountains ( he has access to fresh clean water all day). But what can I do to help him now? Right now before the holidays I am completely tapped out and cannot afford the $150 vet bill to get him a shot now and then shots every two weeks. I have read a lot about giving him apple cider vinegar. What is the story with that? Has anyone used it? Will it help him? I know he is in pain and I cant have him hurt until I get money and I cannot have him peeing everywhere. The baby is 5 months and really close to crawling. If my husband catches the cat peeing on the blanket the baby is on. I am pretty sure I am going to have to take Tiger to the shelter. Please help!!

Hiya!

Sorry your kitty has gone through this.  There are a few things you can do. The first is find out from the vet if there was a cause for his UTI's, esp as he keeps getting blood in his urine. (They should've analysed his urine). You could be just treating the symptoms, not the cause. If there is one that is! Some cats have UTI's and they do not know why, but it is always best to rule out a possibility of something like crystals.

The second thing is throw away your dried food. Seriously! A cat that is prone to UTI's is not going to get on with dried food, wet all the way. I wouldn't worry about fancy vet foods, if you get a reasonably good quality wet food then you'll be doing your cat no end of favours. My cat had a stubborn UTI, and it took several weeks to get it to budge, just to let you know that it may be a while. I added water to his wet foods, boiled chicken up and gave him the whole lot - water included. And I stopped all dried food, including treats.  2 months on and he's only just being allowed the odd treat now because he does love them, much more than the dried meats designed for cats.

Then there is antibiotic shot he's been given. Is it covenia? Or something along those lines in spelling! It's my understanding that this antibiotic is more useful for skin infections than a general antibiotic. Again, it may be worth going back to the vet for a chat (or telephone) and ask about other antibiotic options. Sometimes even if there is not an infection, some antibiotics help calm the bladder lining, and am pretty sure covenia isn't one of those.  Please don't leave it too long if you can with the vet, as you already mentioned he's in pain, but also it can get even nastier. Mine ended up with a very high temp and didn't eat or drink - ended up as an emergency patient in cat hospital and that was stupidly expensive!

I do not know about cider vinegar. I wouldn't recommend it because it's so acidic myself but there probably is someone else here that will help you more with that. I can't imagine kitty being happy about drinking it either!!  I would just try and get as much liquid into kitty as possible so it flushes everything out. If the cat is urinating everywhere and your husband will go mad, can you please keep him out of baby's room?

Good luck. It seems hard to solve, but you and kitty will get there :-)  Congrats on the new baby too btw!

Ask the vet for a urinalysis and culture to see if there are crystals present.  That might be the root cause.  Also, you might want to try a Feliway diffuser to help decrease stress.

I agree, feliway can help some cats, but not all. My cat likes feliway, but it did nothing when he had a full-blown UTI as the pain was too great. They are very very expensive and you mention money being tight until after Xmas. I would save that money in more antibiotics, or vet appointments - and lots of wet food.

If he has a UTI currently, then he needs to see a vet. I'd also consider cutting out the dry food completely.

I agree that it would be helpful to know what's going on with a urinalysis - crystals (and the type), cystitis, etc. Having a better understanding of this will help you to treat the problem. In either instance, getting more water into your cat's system will help. An all dry diet is very hard on a cat's system. Wet food does not have to be expensive. I finally got my "kibble addict" to eat Fancy Feast Classic pates, Sheba pates, and Purina One pates. The pates are better. The "chunky" kind are usually formed with something like wheat gluten and I would avoid this. A water fountain will encourage more drinking. Just be sure to clean it regularly. I wouldn't give ACV internally. It could do more harm than good by altering the pH of your cat's urine.

I would recommend having a culture/sensitivity done on the urine to see what the best antibiotic to use for the type of infection your cat has, obviously it's resistant to whatever shot your vet is giving it.  For future, I would try to get your cat on an all canned food diet as that is best for Urinary Tract Health. You can read more about it here:  http://catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth   I do not know if ACV would be helpful or not, I do know that most cats won't eat/drink it readily so you have to consider that.  I would also recommend putting your cat on Cosequin, it helps with urinary bladder inflammation.  This site talks a little bit more about what exactly Cosequin does for the bladder http://manhattancats.com/Articles/FLUTD.html