Urine sample, any tips?

[TiggerMoon]

I took Smudge to the vets last week as she just wasn't herself and hasn't been for a little while. She was put on antibiotics, which have helped, and had a blood test which has revealed that she is showing signs of chronic kidney disease. The vet has requested a urine sample for a more accurate digagnosis. I have never been sucessfull in getting a sample from a cat so I was wondering if anyone had any tips! When Speedy needed a sample taking, the vet ended up sticking a needle into her bladder, which was a very unplesant experience for everyone, and definately a last resort!

[angieh]

I'm sure that there is a sterile litter-type substance that you can put down in the cat's litter tray if she uses one. Other than that I am equally sure there is a device you can use but it is tricky trying to catch an outdoor cat peeing. I do wish you luck and send Smudge calming vibes.

[Elaine]

Think this is what Angie is talking about...
http://www.petdrugsonline.co.uk/site.aspx?i=pr226666, you should be able to get it from your vet too and am surprised they didnt offer it while you were there.
Any way, I used to have to try to get urine samples and it can be a long time coming....
What I used to do was to shut the cat in question in a room with the litter box and pretty much wait for him or her to pee, sometimes I only had to wait a few hours other times it took days....

Have they started him on any diets or meds yet? I highly recomend the felinecrf.org website, they may also have some tips on getting a urine sample.

[TiggerMoon]

Thanks guys. The litter looks like it might be worth a try if she won't go in an empty tray, perhaps I have given up too soon with the others. Speedy lived with crf for 3 and a half years. She would not go on an empty tray or eat the prescription food! We ended up just feeding her whatever she would eat! Her brother also had it, but unfortunately he went downhill very quickly and there wasn't much we could do for him.

We are off to the vets again on wednesday to discuss treatment. Hopefully we have caught it quite early and she can have a good quality of life for a few years yet.

[Velvet]

When i suspected a UTI our vet was able by manipulation manually the bladder to express urine on the examination table - kitten was only 6 months so pethaps its easier with youngsters

Hope all ok with Smudge

[TiggerMoon]

That sounds alot better than sticking a needle in! I will bring it up next week if I haven't been able to get a sample.

Smudge seems ok in general. She's a bit cheesed off about being shut in the bedroom, but I think she's enjoying having a break from Romeo jumping on her!

[JMPARK]

My Vet said that the best sample was when they could take it "direct" from the Bladder, and recently when Joy was ill I had to leave her at the Vets until they could do it. Other than that , I did manage to get some from the tray, by putting only a small amount of "litter" in it and waiting for her to "go".

[Shelley123]

sorry to hear about Smudge's problem.
When Jerry needed a sample for the vet i was able to get one by following him into the garden and waiting until he squatted to wee, i was then able to collect the urine in a disposable shallow foil tray which i then transfered into a bottle. Maybe you could do this when he uses the litter tray.

[Gaina]

My cat will never 'perform' at the vets for a urine sample so we always get the sterile litter balls. We leave them in the tray overnight then collect the urine first thing in the morning - certainly easier that following him round the garden with a clean 'Flora' tub (yes, we actually did that! haha).

EDIT: My vet has never had a problem with getting useful, accurate readings from the sample in the tray and I absolutely refuse to put Billy through the stress of a needle in his bladder so if you're not comfortable with that option, stick to your guns x

[TiggerMoon]

When Jerry needed a sample for the vet i was able to get one by following him into the garden and waiting until he squatted to wee, i was then able to collect the urine in a disposable shallow foil tray which i then transfered into a bottle.

That made me chuckle! I can't imagine what the neighbours thought!

Fortunately she went in the tray with a bit of newspaper in there. She is VERY upset with me right now, so I think I will have to bribe her into forgiving me with some dreamies!

[Shelley123]

That made me chuckle! I can't imagine what the neighbours thought!

Fortunately she went in the tray with a bit of newspaper in there. She is VERY upset with me right now, so I think I will have to bribe her into forgiving me with some dreamies!

lol, fortunately for me Jerry was a very slow moving cat in later life.

[TiggerMoon]

Gaina had me laughing too with the image of using a flora tub!

[Gaina]

That made me chuckle! I can't imagine what the neighbours thought!

Fortunately she went in the tray with a bit of newspaper in there. She is VERY upset with me right now, so I think I will have to bribe her into forgiving me with some dreamies!

Does your cat go nuts for Dreamies too!? I often have to tell Billy 'No Sweets til you've eaten your dinner!'. So he goes and begs them off another family member who will relent. :-P

[TiggerMoon]

All of them love dreamies! I used to keep them on the lower shelf of the coffee table and Smudge would knock them over onto my feet and look up at me with those big eyes trying to hypnotise me into handing them over! They now have to be shut away in a drawer as Romeo steals them and chews through the packet!

[Gaina]

All of them love dreamies! I used to keep them on the lower shelf of the coffee table and Smudge would knock them over onto my feet and look up at me with those big eyes trying to hypnotise me into handing them over! They now have to be shut away in a drawer as Romeo steals them and chews through the packet!

LOL and I thought Billy was bad! He knows where they're kept too, and will often sit, purring with his nose right up against the cupboard door.

[angieh]

Paws up for Dreamies here too! Pip is only allowed 5 per day ...................

[Gaina]

Gaina had me laughing too with the image of using a flora tub!

Due to the fact I use a wheelchair, these jobs usually fall on the shoulders of my wonderful parents (I tried to change Billy's litter one day, overshot the tray by about 6", litter all over the floor and I nearly fell in the tray myself! Dad does it now for obvious reasons :lol: ).

[TiggerMoon]

I know I shouldn't laugh at the image of you falling in the litter tray, but it reminds me of when my mum did something similar once! She uses a walking stick and has difficulty getting back up again once she's knelt down! She insists on doing the tray while she still can, so I have now moved the tray so she can hold onto something to get up again.

We had some good news at the vets today. Smudges urine sample showed no signs of kidney disease, so the vet now thinks she must have had some sort of infection which was making her ill. There was no obvious source (eyes, ears, teeth all fine and no cuts etc) and the antibiotics have sorted whatever it was out, so providing that in a couple of weeks the second urine sample doesn't show anything, she has been given a clean bill of health!

[Shelley123]

That's brilliant news TM

[Gaina]

I know I shouldn't laugh at the image of you falling in the litter tray, but it reminds me of when my mum did something similar once! She uses a walking stick and has difficulty getting back up again once she's knelt down! She insists on doing the tray while she still can, so I have now moved the tray so she can hold onto something to get up again.

We had some good news at the vets today. Smudges urine sample showed no signs of kidney disease, so the vet now thinks she must have had some sort of infection which was making her ill. There was no obvious source (eyes, ears, teeth all fine and no cuts etc) and the antibiotics have sorted whatever it was out, so providing that in a couple of weeks the second urine sample doesn't show anything, she has been given a clean bill of health!

I'm so pleased to hear Smudge is on the mend. Give her a cuddle from me and Billy x And as for the litter box thing, laugh away - I did! LOL

[catmadjax]

Just a tip for collecting urine. IF you can get them just as they are about to pee in the litter tray, use a saucer. BUT steralise the saucer first in boiling water and allow to dry naturally. Handle around the edge so not to contaminate it. There is a good reason for this. When we test for kidney function in urine, they look at the SG (specific graverty). The lower the SG the more likely kidney issues. When cats get kidney disease their urine becomes more dilute, and because of this, infections are more likely, one nasty little bug is ecoli, transferred from the bum to the virgina in the licking process. Ecoli needs a long course of antibiotics (usually 6 weeks) to be clear because it binds to the wall of the bladder and some of the little ******s miss the antibiotics only to breed again days later. The urine samples for Specific graverty or protein loss (protienuria) do not need to be sterile. But to detect infections then a sterile sample is absolutely necessary to enable the lab to do a culture on that sample. A culture is very important because it will not only determine what bacteria are present, but it will also give a list of anitbiotics to use that will be effective to that specific bacteria, the test is called a "sensitivity" test, and it is unique to every cat.

[catmadjax]

Sorry i forgot to mention, i dont mean that your cat could have kidney issues, i just mean to say that urine infections are common in cats with kidney disease which in turn have dilute urine, which in turn get infections.

[TiggerMoon]

Sounds like you are talking from experience there! Thanks for the advice, I will do my best to get a sterile sample.

[angieh]

Thanks for that info catmadjax - very interesting.

[Gaina]

Sounds like you are talking from experience there! Thanks for the advice, I will do my best to get a sterile sample.

Did you have any joy finding the sterile 'litter balls'? The pack also has a collection pipette and a sterile sample bottle in it so that should make getting a good quality sample easier :).

[catmadjax]

Hi, yes, lots of experience and I know a feline specialist in Edinborough :) do join tanyas crf group, that is a wealth of information:

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/tanyas-crf-support/

http://www.felinecrf.org/

and some useful videos for kidney cat owners by sarah caney feline specialist:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJEEofrvv3I&feature=relmfu

[catmadjax]

Just another tip, those balls are not sterile. You can sterilise them by floating them in boiling water for a minute and draining them through a sieve, the balls can then be placed in a steralised litter tray (also using a boiling water method, kettle hot water in a cleaned litter tray). the balls can be dried off with a gentle heat of a hair dryer.

Katkor which is the special litter, could be used on its own in a steralised litter tray although its not ideal, and this litter is designed for urine tests that do not involve a culture. But dont forget to steralise your pipette AND it is better to get a sterile sample pot from your vet (they should be free) rather than use the glass ones provided, again they are not sterile.

It is a lot of trouble to go to but labs are very sensitive to samples.

Here is a good little tool for collecting urine "under the bum" of the cat when it squarts in the litter tray. The yellow cup is placed under the bum and it runs straight into a sterile bottle. The whole thing is sealed and sterile until you use it.

http://www.myvetmeds.co.uk/uripet-urine-collection-device.htm

[catmadjax]

ps, you use the bottle which is pushed onto the yellow cup as a handle.

[TiggerMoon]

Thanks catmadjax, that's alot of good information! I'm not sure if she would let me get close enough to use the sample collector, she gets a bit funny if you get too close to her when she's on the tray, but I think it would be worth trying anyway for the price. Do you think using paper in the tray would be sterile? I used newspaper before, but I could use some plain paper.

Gaina, I haven't been able to find the litter balls yet, but I will keep looking.

[Gaina]

Thanks catmadjax, that's alot of good information! I'm not sure if she would let me get close enough to use the sample collector, she gets a bit funny if you get too close to her when she's on the tray, but I think it would be worth trying anyway for the price. Do you think using paper in the tray would be sterile? I used newspaper before, but I could use some plain paper.

Gaina, I haven't been able to find the litter balls yet, but I will keep looking.

TM, your vet should stock them. That's where I got mine :).