I've started Mazy cat on the D-mannose for urinary tract health. I was reading about it in the Raw Feline IBD group.
Like always I bought it long before I started using it. But I started having UTI symptoms right at the time Mazy cat had her anal glands expressed. After that, she was doing a ton of licking down there (I'm sure she was sore) so I was concerned about e-coli crossing over.
Since I had started myself on the d-mannose and felt better in less than 2 days, I decided to put her on it too, as a preventive measure.
I kept myself on it for one week, one teaspoon a day. Mazy was on it for one with at 1/8 teaspoon twice a day, and now I've dropped her to 1/8 teaspoon once a day for another week.
I read that an acid urine can defeat the purpose of the d-mannose so I stopped both hers and my own ACV while on the d-mannose.
D-mannose acts as adherence in the bladder, grabbing stuff that doesn't belong there, certain bacteria, such as e-coli, and maybe crystals too, not sure about that, and other sludge.
Mazy had no symptoms that she was
showing, so this was more preventative on my part.
Here are some links to info on d-mannose
http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2010/01/06/prevent-urinary-tract-infection-in-cats.aspxhttp://chriskresser.com/treat-and-prevent-utis-without-drugshttp://waterfalldmannosereview.com/what-types-of-bacteria-is-waterfall-d-mannose-not-very-effective-againstI am using the NOW brand:
http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HCMK90/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1