Urine sample, any tips?

[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]

Originally Posted by TiggerMoon

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=aJEEo...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-ur...ion-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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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