Because urinary infections are so common for kitties, it’s important that we check our cat’s urine pH at home. Cats are stoic beings, so we often won’t know that they are in pain from a urinary issue until it’s bad. The pain that a kitty experiences when they cannot urinate is horrific, and often avoidable. It’s always important for us cat parents is be proactive – and this is especially true if we know our cat is prone to UTIs.
I understand that most cat parents have never done this in their years of being owned by cats. Heck, it wasn’t until we had a cat with reoccurring urinary infections that we even thought about it. Now, it’s another tool in our kitty-care tool box that helps us be proactive about cat’s urinary tract health.
The majority of urinary tract issues in cats is due to either stress or a dry food diet – so these are two issues we can also help control at home. We often don’t even know that our cats are dealing with anxiety, so we need to take proper measures to keep their stress low. Getting rid of the kibble and switching your cat to a moisture rich diet is also important.
Okay so let’s get to it.
How To Check Your Cat’s Urine pH
- Go online or into a store and pick up some urine pH strips. We got ours on Amazon and they come in packs of 50-200 strips.
- If your kitty doesn’t mind company while he urinates, simply slip the strip under the stream of urine as he goes. Our strips only need 2 seconds to test. Tip: Keep a urine strip near their litter area so you can grab it quickly when you catch them heading to the box!
- Another option is to put a very thin layer of litter in the box so that all of the urine isn’t absorbed. This way you can come in after they’ve urinated and test.
The urine strips will come with a chart. Put the strip up to the chart to test your cat’s urine pH. The normal pH should be between 6 and 6.5 for cats. Once it get’s close to 7 we need to start adding in something to help acidify the urine.
To supplement, we use UrinaryCAT Plus. It’s pure ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and helix water and works great for balancing the urine pH of our kitties. Another option is DL-Methionine, which is an amino acid that does the same thing.
If the urine pH is higher than 7 we recommend contacting your vet for a urinalysis. It may or may not require medication, but it’s always better to be safe rather than sorry!
Urinary Supplement for Cats
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