Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) are pretty common infections in humans as well as dogs. There are many remedies proposed by many schools of thought for the treatment of this infection, including apple cider vinegar (ACV). Today, we want to find out how much apple cider vinegar to give a dog for UTI that’s safe and effective.
Before we go on, we’d advise you to consult with your vet before embarking on any form of treatment for a UTI in your dog. Even if apple cider vinegar is touted as an all-natural remedy, remember that your dog’s health is safest in the hands of your vet.
With that said, let’s progress to the next phase of the article.
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Table of Contents
How Much Apple Cider Vinegar Should You Give A Dog For UTI?
If you notice symptoms of UTI in your dog, it’s possible to treat these using apple cider vinegar. Here is a dosage for dogs according to their weight. The dosage should last between seven to ten days. For small dogs, administer one teaspoon of ACV once to twice daily. For medium-sized dogs, administer one tablespoon of ACV once to twice daily. Lastly, for large dogs, administer two tablespoons of ACV once to twice daily. Normally, you should put the ACV into their drinking water. However, there are some dogs that won’t drink their water if there’s ACV in it. If that’s your dog, then you can add the correct dosage of the ACV either to his food or you can also mix it into peanut butter or yogurt and feed your dog with it.
Ordinarily, house-trained dogs are not supposed to have accidents in the house anymore. That’s literally what house-training is about. However, if you notice that your house-trained pet is beginning to drip urine in the house or is beginning to have frequent accidents, then he might be suffering from a urinary tract infection.
Now, there are dog breeds that are more prone to urinary tract infections than others.
In most cases, symptoms are the same. You begin to notice your dog dripping urine, house-training begins to face a regression, urine gets bloody, and urination can also become painful.
If you notice any of these symptoms in your dog, it’s possible to treat these using apple cider vinegar. Here is a dosage for dogs according to their weight. The dosage should last between seven to ten days.
For small dogs, administer one teaspoon of ACV once to twice daily.
For medium dogs, administer one tablespoon of ACV once to twice daily.
Lastly, for large dogs, administer two tablespoons of ACV once to twice daily.
Normally, you should put the ACV into their drinking water. However, there are some dogs that won’t drink their water if there’s ACV in it. If that’s your dog, then you can add the correct dosage of the ACV either to his food or you can also mix it into peanut butter or yogurt and feed your dog with it.
Like we mentioned earlier, ACV has antibacterial properties so it is believed to be effective in the healing and prevention of bacterial infections such as UTIs.
UTIs generally occur as a result of bacterial invasion of the urinary tract usually as a result of an over-alkaline system. Now, because ACV is slightly acidic, it is able to neutralize pH levels in your dog’s systems which helps to cure the infection and prevent the occurrence of a new one.
That said, it’s important to discuss with your vet before administering ACV to your dog either for curative or preventative reasons. There’s no real evidence to back up whether or not ACV actually works for UTIs in dogs. This, however, does not mean that ACV is not an effective remedy for such infections.
Is Apple Cider Vinegar Good For Dogs?
Giving your dog a teaspoon or two of ACV is unlikely to harm your dog as long as he’s healthy and the apple cider vinegar is diluted. Giving more than that amount though, or administering the ACV undiluted might cause some problems in dogs especially if they are not completely healthy. Dogs with kidney diseases who have a hard time processing acid shouldn’t be given apple cider vinegar for obvious reasons. ACV is slightly acidic and could worsen the condition in such dogs. In fact, for dogs with kidney diseases, the recommended diet is usually alkaline in nature, and all diet-related decisions must be discussed with your vet first before being made.
Most vets are skeptical about ACV mostly because there isn’t sufficient data to back up the claims many people have made about the “cure-it-all” wonder drug. This, they believe, makes it difficult for pet owners to make an informed decision on whether or not their pets can have ACV.
Although a lot of people claim that apple cider vinegar packs a lot of nutrients in forms of potassium and amino acids. These claims are not quite put in perspective and unsuspecting pet parents can fall into the trap of wanting their pets to reap the “health benefits” of these “nutrients.”
However, according to PetMD, apple cider vinegar does not contain any amino acid. And even if it’s in trace amounts, in the end, that’s not enough to cause any significant health benefits for your dog.
The potassium content which is supposed to assist with heart and muscle contraction is also quite low. Only 11 grams in one tablespoon. For you to see any significant health impact in your dog, he might have to consume up to 10 bottles of ACV which will also cause gastric ulcer in the end due to the acidity of ACV.
Can You Give Your Dog Apple Cider Vinegar?
Many dogs are not really cool with eating food that has been mixed with apple cider vinegar. So, monitor your dog closely. If you put apple cider vinegar into your dog’s food and he doesn’t seem to like it, then don’t force him. Let him be. If ACV seems to upset his stomach as well, then stop feeding it to him. ACV must never be consumed by pets undiluted. Mixing a small amount of apple cider vinegar into homemade treats or a large bowl of water, or a meal might not be such a bad idea though if you feel your dog needs it.
Now, keep in mind that vinegars are acids and so is apple cider vinegar. It can burn delicate mucus membranes in the digestive tract. Also, sometimes, it could have a laxative effect in dogs, leading to stomach upsets. So, there are vets who discourage the use of apple cider vinegar in pets altogether.
What Is The Best Kind Of Apple Cider Vinegar For Dogs?
For health reasons, it’s best to go with unpasteurized apple cider vinegar as pasteurization can kill all the necessary good bacteria in the apple cider vinegar. Preferably, get the one in a glass bottle as they pose less health risks than plastic bottles. Also, when you shop for apple cider vinegar, you will find some that say they have the “mother” in them. Apple cider vinegar with the mother in it refers to the raw or unfiltered apple cider vinegar. This raw, unfiltered apple cider contains the fermentation leftovers which contain all the enzymes and good live bacteria that are beneficial to the health of your dog. Again, it’s a great idea to go for organic ACV. Since your dog is going to be consuming the product, it’s best to avoid pesticides and the likes as much as possible.
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The Big Apple Cider Vinegar Controversy
There are a number of controversies surrounding the use of apple cider vinegar in dogs. Some people do not seem to agree that dogs can have apple cider vinegar. In fact, Pat McKay who happens to be a canine nutritionist and author calls it poison. Not exactly flowery words, right?
In the book Eat Right for Your Type, Peter J. D’Amado explains that each human blood group has an ideal diet. His recommendation for the type O blood group resembles the meaty diet which dogs evolved on. He also warns that for this blood type, apple cider vinegar is very damaging.
McKay agrees with this saying that dogs might have adverse reactions to apple cider vinegar even if given in small quantities as it tends to throw the pH of the dog’s body out of balance.
Another pet nutritionist, Marina Zacharias seems to agree with McKay on the pH thing. In her opinion, dogs should have their urine and blood tested before pet owners decide to include apple cider vinegar to their daily diet.
According to Zacharias, a dog who has a too alkaline system will get some help from ACV even though, by itself, it won’t solve the problem. However, if the dog’s system is too acidic (acidosis), including ACV in his daily diet can cause stress on the pancreas as well as the adrenal organs which play important roles in the regulation of blood pH.
Symptoms of acidosis include constipation, diarrhea, low blood pressure, sensitive teeth and mouth, as well as hard stools.
If acidosis is combined with kidney, liver, or adrenal issues, ACV will only serve to aggravate existing problems in the body.
What Are The Side Effects Of Apple Cider Vinegar In Dogs?
There might be side effects associated with the use of apple cider vinegar in dogs especially if the dog is allergic to the product. Symptoms might range from vomiting, scratching furiously, to other similar reactions. While this is still under debate, a number of experts believe that ACV can worsen rather than relieve chronic ear infections. Also, in dogs that have shown sensitivity to ACV, bone deterioration as well as tooth decay have been observed from long term use. Plus, too much of the product can also lead to an inflammation of a dog’s mouth and esophagus.
Sue Ann Lesser (DVM) advises pet owners to use common sense when administering ACV to their pets. She says that dogs mostly have an over alkaline system and apple cider vinegar, in fact, does help most dogs.
However, for dogs with over-acidic systems, when ACV is consumed, there are always clinical signs which are similar to symptoms of an illness.
What Are Other Ways To Treat A Dog For UTIs Besides Apple Cider Vinegar?
There are other ways to treat your dog for urinary tract infections besides using apple cider vinegar.
- Run your dog a hot bath and have him soak in it for 10 minutes before carefully washing the genital area.
- Encourage your dog to drink more water.
- Administer a daily dose of 500-milligram vitamin C for a week.
- One to three teaspoons of all-natural citrus juice until the infection clears.
- Include two teaspoons of chopped cranberries or blueberries to your dog’s food twice daily for a week.
1. A Hot Bath
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Another way you can help treat urinary tract infections in dogs is to have your dog soak in a hot bath. While we said, “a hot bath,” it’s important not to make the water scalding hot. It should be hot but comfortable. Plus, the level of the water shouldn’t be too deep either.
Let your dog soak in this hot bath for about ten minutes. This will help to relieve his muscles. Then wash your dog with mild soap. While doing this, be sure to focus on your dog’s genital area but don’t allow soap sit there for too long. When you’ve cleaned the area sufficiently, then rinse the area with clean, warm water.
You want to repeat this method every few days until you notice that the infection has cleared up completely.
2. More Water
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Encouraging your dog to drink water can also help treat urinary tract infections in dogs. Place more bowls of clean fresh water around your dog so your dog can drink more water. Ensure you change the water once or twice daily to keep the water fresh for your dog.
3. Vitamin C
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You can also crush a 500-milligram vitamin C tablet and sprinkle it over your dog’s food. Do this once every day for a week.
4. Citrus Juice
Citrus juice is also known to help with urinary tract infections in dogs. Please note that the citrus juice you use must be all natural and not from concentrate. It also shouldn’t contain added sugar as this will only aggravate the infection the more.
Give your dog about one to three teaspoons of the citrus juice daily until the infection clears.
5. Blueberries and Cranberries
You can chop up blueberries or cranberries and add them to your dog’s food. Make it about two teaspoons. Your dog should have this twice daily for about seven to ten days.
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- Durable dog beds — letting sleeping dogs lie.
- Dog boarding kennel — all you need to know.
- BARF dog food — what it is and what it isn’t.
- Dog kennel and run — the ultimate guide.
What Are Other Uses Of Apple Cider Vinegar For Dogs?
- Apple cider vinegar can be used to treat flea infestation in dogs.
- Works as a remedy for itching in dogs.
- For the treatment of hot spots.
- Can also be used to treat ear infections.
- ACV can also be used to remove tear stains in dogs.
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There are a number of other ways people use ACV to treat various kinds of health issues with their dogs. Some of them are effective, some are not, and yet others are not exactly advisable.
In this section, we discuss some of the major ways ACV is used to treat dogs as we attempt to find out whether or not they are effective.
For Fleas
Fleas are really tiny insects that seem to love an unholy relationship with our beloved pets. They are a huge problem as an infestation of fleas on dogs usually leads to biting and scratching which could lead to the damaging of the skin.
Thankfully, there are all kinds of treatments for flea infestation (Learn how to treat flea infestation on your dog from our article: What Do I Do If My Dog Has Fleas? Click here to read it). If these don’t work and the fleas remain persistent, then it’s time to consult your vet.
Apple cider vinegar is one of the many home remedies for fleas in dogs. Does it actually work? Well, somewhat it does. Anything or anyone doused with vinegar will definitely react. However, here’s the catch.
First, ACV won’t kill fleas. It simply causes them to jump off your dog’s skin. So, when you douse your dog in ACV, the fleas will jump off your dog’s skin and lie in wait for another opportunity to jump back either onto your dog or even onto you.
If you choose to use ACV though, then you’d have to soak your dog with ACV down to the skin. Of course, you must dilute it first. If your dog has a double coat, then that’s more work for you. Pretty sure you know that already.
That said, please note that even diluted vinegar is irritating to the eyes and skin of your dog. And if you’re using homebrew vinegar, then the concentration of acetic acid can be variable. So, please be careful.
Dosage
People who use this remedy for treating flea infestation, typically mix ACV with water in a ratio of 1:1. Mix this into a spray bottle and squirt it onto your dog’s coat to get rid of the fleas. Remember that your dog should be soaked to the skin.
Alternatively, if you don’t want to use the squirting method, you can also splash some ACV into your dog’s bathwater.
You’d need to do this regularly and you’d likely have to bath your dog more regularly than you would normally bathe your dog.
For other ways to control fleas and ticks in dogs, click here to read our article on Dog Flea and Tick Control.
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For Itching
There are multiple reasons your dog might be itching. It could be the weather, a digestive issue, or an allergy. So, how can acid cider vinegar help your dog?
Apple cider vinegar is a common home remedy for itching in dogs. ACV comes with antimicrobial properties and as such is great at fighting bacteria and fungi. However, ACV will not necessarily all kinds of microorganisms.
To treat itchiness in dogs, dilute apple cider vinegar in a 1:1 ratio. You can either decide to bathe your dog in the solution or you can simply use it to bathe the affected area.
Your dog might be itchy as a result of something in his diet. Click here to read about Hypoallergenic Dog Food to learn how you can adjust his diet and, hopefully, see some results.
For Hot Spots
Hot spots are lesions that occur on dogs’ skin. They are really painful and might be caused by the bite of a mite or a flea. It could also be as a result of a scratch or an allergic reaction. If opportunistic bacteria mistakenly get into these lesions, they would replicate and explode in numbers which could lead to itching and inflammation. And because dogs have a natural scratching reflex, hot spots can quickly get worse in dogs.
In using ACV to treat hot spots, ACV, with its antimicrobial properties, help to treat bacterial infection. However, as you can probably guess, it’s going to sting like a thousand needles — burning needles for that matter. For this reason, we would advise you not to apply ACV on hot spots.
For Ear Infections
Dogs can come down with ear infections for a number of reasons. It could be an illness or it could also be as a result of environmental factors or parasites or even poor hygiene.
It would appear that apple cider vinegar should be able to treat ear infections. However, the ear, as we know it, is a pretty complex structure. So, even if ACV might actually help to fight bacteria in the ear, it’s almost impossible to expect that the vinegar will reach all the infected parts of the ear.
Ear infections can be really painful and usually make the patient feel very miserable. For this reason, most vets advise pet owners not to use ACV for ear infections. Instead, if you notice any odor, discharge, redness, or swelling around your dog’s ears, or if your dog is scratching around his ears more than usual, then you might want to take him to the vet.
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For Tear Stains
Tear stains are not actually tear stains, they are actually deposits of porphyrin, a waste product from the digestion of foods containing iron. As this compound accumulates, it causes a discoloration of the fur in the inner corner of a dog’s eyes to rusty red. You’d easily notice this if your dog has a pale-colored coat.
While porphyrin is mostly gotten rid of via the feces and bile, some are excreted in the saliva as well as the tears.
If the tear stain deposits in the corner of your dog’s eyes are rather heavy, then see your vet before attempting any home remedy. Heavy tear stains could also be as a result of ingrown eyelashes, poor diet, structural problems of the tear duct, infection, and a host of other causes.
Now, if tear stains are as a result of a bigger problem, it’s possible that the tear stains clear up on their own once the root cause is taken care of.
Final Thoughts
There’s no real scientific evidence that apple cider vinegar is beneficial to dogs. Nevertheless, we can’t deny the testimonies of many dog owners who claim to be reaping the benefits of giving their dogs apple cider.
Does this mean they are lying? Not necessarily. That a thing isn’t backed up by science just yet doesn’t mean that it’s ineffective.
Some scientists, though, are of the opinion that the benefits of ACV which some dog owners claim to be reaping are more of placebo effects than actual benefits.
Whatever the case, the good news is that, for most dogs, taking apple cider will either be somewhat beneficial or, at the very least, benign.
In the end, as we always do, we will implore you to talk it over with your vet first before deciding on an ACV treatment for your dog. Plus, never use it in place of veterinary treatment as prescribed by your vet. This could cause your dog to suffer longer in a condition they could have easily come out of faster if you had stuck to your vet’s instruction.
How Much Apple Cider Vinegar To Give A Dog For UTI — Related FAQs
Can I Give My Dog Apple Cider Vinegar Every Day?
Whether or not you can give your dog apple cider vinegar every day would depend on your dog. If they don’t appear to like it when you add ACV to their food or water, then stop them feeding ACV. There isn’t enough science to back up the myth that ACV improves the health of pets anyway. If you feel like your dog absolutely needs it, and your pet is okay with it, then you can mix a teaspoon of ACV (or less) into your dog’s food, homemade treat, or a large bowl of water. Let them have this just once a day.
Remember that ACV is acidic and can destroy delicate mucous membranes of the digestive tract, often having a laxative effect when ingested by dogs. So, you want to be careful.
Will Dog UTI Resolve On Its Own?
While a third of UTI cases in humans will clear up on their own, the same hasn’t been proven for dogs. One contributing factor to this might be the fact humans can tell when the pains have alleviated indicating that the infection has cleared. Dogs, on the other hand, are not that sophisticated and need to be tested to confirm that the infection has indeed cleared. With dogs, if a UTI is left untreated, it could lead to a more severe urinary tract infection or could cause other serious complications. Some of these complications include kidney infections, kidney stones, prostatitis, as well as bladder infections.
Can Dogs Drink Cranberry Juice For UTIs?
According to a study carried out on dogs by the Kidney and Transplant Group in 2012, cranberry juice can help to treat UTIs in dogs. But better than that, this study also showed that cranberry juice can even prevent the infection from occurring in the first place. Cranberry juice works by keeping the bacteria from sticking to the bladder walls which makes the bacteria flush out much quicker, which helps resolve the UTI at the same time.
How Much Cranberry Juice Can I Give My Dog For UTI?
When consumed in excess, cranberry juice can cause stomach upset in dogs. Hence, it is of great importance to get and stick to the recommended dosage as prescribed by a vet. Or you could administer cranberry in the tablet form. Small dogs get 1/8th of a tablet, medium breeds get 1/4th, large dogs get half a tablet, and giant breeds get a full tablet three times a day till the infection clears.
How Do You Tell A Dog Has UTI?
Here are the symptoms of urinary tract infections in dogs:
- Frequent and strained urination.
- Pain during urination.
- Dribbling urine.
- House-trained pet having accidents in the house.
- Licking genitals all the time.
- Urine appears cloudy and smells bad.
In cases of severe infection, you may notice the following symptoms:
- Lethargy.
- Genital area seems to be growing increasingly tender.
- Loss of appetite and vomiting.
- Fever.
What Does Apple Cider Vinegar Do For Dogs’ Skin?
Apple Cider Vinegar has many health benefits for dogs and their skin. It can be diluted and applied directly to the skin to treat burns or acne. If your dog has itchy skin, hot spots, or other skin infections, after giving them a warm bath, you can also give them an ACV rinse. Prepare the rinse by diluting one part ACV in three parts water and then use the mixture to rinse off your dog after his bath. This will help to relieve your dog’s symptoms and give him a soft, shiny coat.
Does A UTI Make A Dog Thirsty?
One of the common symptoms of UTI in dogs is increased thirst. If your dog is consuming water more than normal, it’s probably an indication that he’s caught a urinary tract infection.
How Much Apple Cider Vinegar Do I Give My Dog For Worms?
Mix 1/4 to 1 teaspoon to your dog’s water or food once daily for worm problems in dogs. Keep doing this until you notice an improvement in your dog’s coat as well as relief from other worm-related symptoms. When taken into the body, apple cider vinegar increases the alkalinity of your dog’s system which makes it uninhabitable for worms and parasites.
Can Dogs Get UTI From Holding Pee?
Holding urine is one factor that can contribute to the occurence of UTIs in dogs. It can also worsen already existing urinary tract infections in dogs.