Does Vitamin C help cats?

[AmberLee]

My brother's cat, Yogi, a 2 year old tabby, is slowly recovering from a nasty bout of URI **yeah!**. My brother is worried because although he is recovering, is it so slow. He was considering mashing a vitamin C tablet into a strongly flavored wet food for Yogi -- he asked me if I thought it was a good idea. I'm dubious, but unsure. I kind of thought vitamin E would be more helpful.

Does anyone have experience with either of these vitamins and their effect on cats? I know that tomatos, onions, and chocolate are bad for cats. What about vitamins designed for humans?

Concerned 'auntie'

[jenluckenbach]

Please ask a vet. Even if vitamin C can help, a human dose may be too much for a kitty.

[catland]

I second that, always check with a vet first! One folk remedy that I heard of was to sprinkle some dried cranberries into their food. Cranberries and cranberry juice are great for human UTI's (I know from personal experience) - and we have a friend that mentioned that he uses the dried cranberry routine for his cats and they are all healthy.

Once again, I strongly caution that you should check with a vet first because I could be wrong.

good luck.

[catland]

oops - I misread the post, is it supposed to be URI or UTI?

[AmberLee]

URI

[krazyaboutkatz]

I'd also check with the vet first. Most human pills are too much for a cat and could make them sick or even kill them. When Sunny had an URI my vet gave me an immunity booster called Vetri-DMG. It's a liquid that you can put in their food. I gave it to all 3 cats and Storm and Pepper never caught the URI from Sunny. I had to squirt it in their mouths and they hated the taste.

[smokey the elder]

I don't think cats can metabolize vitamin C.