Is there a diabetic friendly cranberry supplement to prevent UTI?

[Andrea&Tennessee (GA)]

Tennie just visited the vet today for a probable UTI. She gave his a shot of Covenia and said that it might be good to start him on a cranberry supplement.
Does anyone have a good one they can recommend?

Thanks,
Andrea

 

[Deb & Wink]

Sorry, I don't know of a cranberry supplement that you can give to Tennessee.

Just wanted to commiserate with you on those UTI's. Wink used to get them all the time when his BG levels were over renal threshold. After his BG levels got under control, he stopped getting the UTI's. Makes sense if you think of that sugary rich urinary tract environment providing a fertile breeding ground for bacteria to grow.

I did a search for cranberry, and found this post by Chicken Little's mommabean and a few other posts that take about acidifying the urine.

. I have her on Drs Foster and Smith Cranberry Health tablets for UTI's. She gets one every other day. Im going to give her one everyday instead of every other day because the only thing that I have seen that has been "off" is yesterday she missed the litter box and pee'd all over the floor next to the litter box. I dont know if she just missed it or if the box was not to her liking or if she may be getting a UTI.

Joanna & Bix (GA) said:
On the cranberry thing I experimented with that once years ago, I found a liquid supplement thing at a pet store that was supposed to promote urinary health and it had some cranberry in it. Messy, cat didn't like it, and it didn't help. I found urinary acidifiers (either prescription food or as a supplement) were what worked best. There was also a homeopathic thing that seemed to work for my kitty who would test with blood in his urine but never any infection and the vets couldn't figure it out. That was from GNC and called urinary something or other and I gave him a few drops a day and then his urine samples would come up with no blood in them. Weird, who knows if it really worked or was something else. For actual though if they keep coming back, I am a fan of urinary acidifiers as long as you can monitor at home to be sure you don't overdo it.

We need to find out what is going on with how acid her urine is though first. The pH was far lower than it should be. Too acid urine can lead to different types of stones, so I want to be sure I don't create more problems. And, if she does have renal failure, these cats tend to already have acid systems, so cranberry is not recommended as a result. I may investigate homeopathic solutions though. Some of the herbal treatments I saw today have tons of diuretics in them, not exactly something I want to give a cat with potential renal failure or diabetes, not to mention pancreatitis since dehydration is an problem when it is kicking up. All that said, I ordered some cranberry stuff for animals today before I found out about the acid urine, so I'm hoping that clears up so I can try it on her.

How do you monitor acid at home? With some sort of urinary test strips?

Yeah, I saw the other post about the acidity after I posted this. I used to moniter with reagent paper, I got it from 911healthshop.com (took a lot of searching to find one that tests the right range). Pool stores have test kits, but the range was wrong. Then you just dip the paper in their pee, like testing for ketones. I remembered using it in science class in like 5th grade, so I knew they had to sell it somewhere. It is one of the things on the dipsticks that vets use to test pee, but those are expensive, and I found hard to get as a non-vet.

I had a kitty who had an internal cyst that caused acidic urine, that's why I was curious. It was pretty weird, and had to be surgically removed, and then his urine went back to normal. I caught it b/c his pee started to smell like vinegar.

 

[Andrea&Tennessee (GA)]

Thanks Deb,
That is exactly what the vet thought was happening- we have had loud construction at our house. It may have caused him to be overly stressed, and with still getting over his pancreatitis- made his glucose level go up, causing the uti.

I will have to look into the urinary acidifiers.

Andrea

 

[Rachel]

2 of my civvies started having UTIs about a year ago. I started adding Apple Cider Vinegar to their food and we haven't had problems since. Someone on here mentioned it to me and I did some research on my own after that. I don't know how it would affect sugar kitties, but it's worth checking out.

 

[Andrea&Tennessee (GA)]

2 of my civvies started having UTIs about a year ago. I started adding Apple Cider Vinegar to their food and we haven't had problems since. Someone on here mentioned it to me and I did some research on my own after that. I don't know how it would affect sugar kitties, but it's worth checking out.

Thanks Rachel,
I have read about others using ACV to prevent UTI. Did you use ACV with "the mother"- or just regular?

 

[Rachel]

I have a giant jug of ACV that I buy. To be honest, it's publix version...doesn't have the mother in it. I add water to my cat's food already, and now I add half a teaspoon of ACV and mix it up. I worked my way up to that amount slowly so they didn't really notice. We've been sticking at that dose for awhile and no problems so far!

 

[Andrea&Tennessee (GA)]

Thanks, I'm going to have to look in to how it will affect his glucose level, but its sounds like it might be worth a try.