After a visit to the veterinary ER and some $200 later, I now know what to do when my cat has an onset of urinary tract infection (UTI).

I had a feeling Nala had a UTI, but I had to take her to the ER anyway because she had never had it, and I didn’t know what to do.

I will share what I learned from this ordeal, from symptoms to look for to how to treat your cat’s UTI at home. I hope you and your kitty find this helpful.

Cat Urinary Tract Infection Symptoms

The first sign I knew something was wrong was noticing Nala go to the litter box at very frequent intervals.

Usually, both my cats poop once a day and pee 1-2 times a day. But on this particular day, I noticed her go to the litter box every 10 minutes.

I observed her for a while to see if this was an anomaly, and it wasn’t. In fact, the interval at which she was going to the litter box shortened to every few minutes. 

When I followed her to the litter box to see if she was making any business, she squatted but there were no trickling sounds. It was as though she wanted to go pee but she just couldn’t. 

Another sign was, Nala usually went on the bathroom sink counter and summoned me with her meows to give her fresh water.

But this day, she hadn’t asked for any water at all. And, when I offered her some, she turned her head and sauntered away.

According to Pets webmd, there are way more serious signs and symptoms, like cloudy or bloody urine, crying out in pain while trying to go in the litter box, and even vomiting. 

Thankfully, I didn’t witness any grave symptoms with Nala, because it was an early onset.

The key was and is to be vigilant about noticing your cat’s unusual behavior and acting quickly. 

Cat UTI Treatment From The Vet

Because I knew something was wrong, I naturally googled. And the frequent visits to the litter box and squatting to pee but nothing coming out were symptoms that definitely pointed to UTI. 

There were some home treatments recommended that I came across online, but I couldn’t take any chances as Nala nor I had gone through anything like this. 

So, I took her to the ER. 

I explained the unusual behavior to the doctor, and she also suspected that it was UTI.

To be sure, she wanted to take a urine sample by jabbing a long needle into her bladder. (I know, it freaked me out, but apparently, it’s not too painful for the cat.)

Unfortunately, Nala’s bladder was completely empty, because she had been refusing to drink water. 

Even though the doctor didn’t do a urine test to confirm UTI, she was pretty certain it was, and so, she gave my cat the treatment for UTI.

But, here’s the thing. There isn’t much of a treatment for UTI. In the literature my doctor gave me concerning cat UTI, basically, it says that there’s no medical treatment for UTI. 

(For male cats, if it’s a very bad case of UTI, there are complications and may require surgery in serious cases.) 

I’ll include the photos of the literature that the doctor gave me at the bottom of the post. 

All you can really do is to get a lot of water into your cat’s body, so she can pee out any impurities. 

So, that’s exactly what my doctor recommended. She did 2 things:

1. She injected IV fluid under her skin.

The doctor said that cats have a lot of excess skin, which could house liquid and eventually the body distributes and absorbs the liquid.

It was so weird how there was a lump of liquid on the nape of her neck, but after about 5-6 hours, the liquid did get absorbed by Nala’s body. 

2. She also prescribe pain killers.

The painkillers were so that the IV fluid that got absorbed by Nala’s body would eventually go to her bladder and she could pee that out without feeling pain.

The painkillers came in the form of a syringe, and I had to squeeze that into her mouth twice a day.

Squeezing this into the mouth wasn’t very hard. Though, I think it tasted bitter, because Nala smacked her lips in disgust.

BUT IF YOU READ UP TO HERE AND GOT DISCOURAGED THAT THERE’S NO MEDICAL TREATMENT, FEAR NOT. KEEP READING – GO ON! 

Cat UTI Medication

As mentioned above, the only cat UTI medication that the doctor prescribed was the IV fluid to get liquid passing through my cat’s system and the painkillers. 

How Can I Treat My Cat’s UTI At Home?

Okay, apologies for making you scroll down here, but I wanted to set the scene first and explain chronologically what happened that gives me some credibility to talk about how I treated my cat’s UTI at home. 

So, after I brought Nala back home with painkillers and a liquid hump on Nala’s back, I didn’t give up there. 

I didn’t want to keep giving Nala painkillers. 

Just like humans can treat an early onset of UTI with natural remedies like cranberry juice, I knew there must be a home remedy to treat a cat’s UTI at home. 

Apple Cider Vinegar Review

One of the treatments I came across was a tiny amount – ¼ teaspoon of apple cider vinegar (ACV) twice a day in the cat’s food or water. 

In a poll of 43 cat owners, 41 reported that they saw an improvement in their cat’s UTI problem back to normal. 

I did try giving Nala a small dose of ACV by mixing it in their wet food, but she wouldn’t have any because of the strong acidic aroma.

But there are many benefits for humans in eating a spoonful of ACV everyday, so I don’t doubt that it could have some benefits for cats. But I was still a little weary about the acidic level being too harmful for cats. 

HomeoPet Review

The other home treatment I found online was HomeoPet UTI+ drops that had mostly reviews of people who claimed that it treated their cat’s UTI and some reviews that it didn’t work. 

Because it was made of all natural ingredients, and because the only solution the doctor gave me was painkillers, I had nothing to lose trying this on Nala.

It’s a tiny little eyedrop bottle. The dosage is to put 5 drops on your kitty’s food 3 times a day.

But if your cat is experiencing UTI already, then you can give your kitty 5 drops every 15 minutes upto 6 times. 

So, I gave Nala 5 drops every 15 minutes 6 times the day I got it. I first put it on her wet food and made sure she ate all of the HomeoPet drops. 

Then the other times, I put the drops on her dehydrated chicken treats, because these treats are dry and absorb the Homeo liquid drops.

The next day, I decreased the frequency to 3 times a day.

I keenly observed her visits to the litter box over the next few days, and I was so so so happy to see that she started going to the bathroom regularly again (2-3 times a day for poo and pee). I was such a proud and happy cat mama!!

So, I can tell you. This HomeoPet UTI stuff works. 

I’m not sure why it didn’t work for some of the reviewers – whether their cat’s UTI had progressed to beyond home remedy or if they didn’t administer it properly.. But, it worked for Nala!

Cat UTI Prevention

So now, I have the HomeoPet UTI+ in stock at home, so that if I see any early onset of UTI, I can whip this bad boy out right away. 

But, it’s more important that you prevent your cat from getting UTI in the first place. 

I don’t know why Nala developed UTI. The vets say that it could be because of dirty litter box or stressful events. To try to combat all of these, this is what I do now to prevent my cats from getting UTI:

• Give wet food mixed with water at both their feedings (morning and evening) so that they’re getting the amount of water they need everyday
• Have HomeoPet UTI+ handy and if I see any signs of them going to the litter box often, then give them drops of this
• Keep the litter box clean at all times and use natural cat litter 

Really, this is what you can do to prevent cat UTI and to treat it if your cat does get UTI. But this worked for me because Nala’s UTI was in the very early onset stages. 

Please take your cats to the doctor if the symptoms persist and if they’ve never had it before. Don’t take any chances. I’m merely sharing what worked for my cat.

But, I think regardless, it’s good to have the HomeoPet handy, just in case. 

Summary

The primary symptom of an early onset of UTI is frequent visit to the litter box. If you notice your cat going to the litter box every 10-15 minutes and squatting but not making any business, then this is a sure sign of UTI. 

There are more serious symptoms to watch out for, so make sure to keep vigilant watch on your cat’s behavior. 

According to the vet at the ER, there is no real medical treatment for cat UTI. The best thing you can do is to get your cat to have a lot of liquid and give him/her painkillers so they can try to pee without pain. 

But thankfully, there is a home treatment for cat UTI that did work for me – HomeoPet UTI+. 

The best prevention is to give your cat plenty of water, which I do by mixing in water with their wet food twice a day. 

Other things that will help prevent your cat from getting UTI is to make sure their litter box is clean at all times, to play with them a lot, and to reduce stressful stimuli in their environment as much as possible.

And, here’s the literature that I referenced above that the doctor gave me concerning cat UTI:

1 of 4

2 of 4

3 of 4

4 of 4