Apple cider vinegar

[alexgirl73]

As most of you know, Teddie has had a nasty bout of cystitis (which is clearing up nicely thank goodness). But as I'm not a fan of giving animals medication all the time, I decided to have a scoot about t'internet and see if there were any suggestions to help stop it happening again. And apple cider vinegar seems to be a popular remedy for cats as a preventative and a help when already suffering. I just wondered if anyone else has used this in the past for their cats, and if they found it beneficial It's supposed to help both males and females.

[angieh]

I've not used it at all for cats ...... I wonder if it is acidic in itself? Cranberry is generally thought of as good for people - not sure if it can be used for cats though.

I have a homeopathic remedies for cats book - I'll see if there's anything in there about cystitis.

OK found it -

Cantharis 30c
The classic cystitis remedy, frequently used for acute treatment of this condition. It will often stop more serious symptoms developing. Pain mainly associated with the passage of the last few drops of scalding urine. A conflict arises between the constant desire to urinate and the painful straining on passing urine. This makes Cantharis an easy remedy to spot. More severe cases have bloody urine, consult your vet in this instance.

Note: Homeopathic "speak" can sound a bit odd! There are loads of other remedies available, so don't give up if this one doesn't sound quite right. I picked it because it seems to be the first choice for cystitis.

I know that you can easily order homeopathic remedies online, although I have not done so myself so cannot recommend a company - www.ainsworth.com is mentioned in the book, which was written by a senior vet who used to own/run the practice I take my cats to. He retired a while ago.

[dandysmom]

Alex, how do you administer it? Add to the water? I'd suspect it would taste "off" to them and they wouldn't drink it ..........

[alexgirl73]

I've added some to their water today Eileen and they have all drunk it. It's only a few drops to each bowl. Yesterday I tried it on their food and they ate that too, so can't be too bad a taste to them

Interesting about the cantharsis angie Never heard of that before. However that seems to only be given when actually suffering, from what I've read about the ACV it can actually PREVENT it occuring, which is what I'm hoping for, particularly as Broxi has had 2 bad episodes of it resulting in hospitalisation.

Apparently it's supposed to be good for arthritis sufferers too, although one tiny sip of the stuff was enough to put me off

[angieh]

Yes, I'd heard about it being used by arthritis sufferers - sorry you don't like it. My mum had a phase of having some with hot water every morning - it didn't smell too good! I think you can add some honey if you like that.

Have you ever tried kelp - for yourself I mean, not the cats!?

Hope your trio keep taking it and it does them good. It would be very interesting to know how they get on with it.

[dandysmom]

Off topic completely, but I confess to being truly weird: I love the vinegar that the little bottles of pickled cocktail onions come in; always drink a little before tossing the bottle.

It tastes soooo good!

[Velvet]

When younger i used to eat the tinybonions like sweets!

ACVinegar - my dad drank it all his life & heblived to 92. its supposed to be good for multitude of things. I used to add few drops to dogs water because of Katies constant cystitis. They dont seem to notice it