Diagnostic Dogs?

[Guest hllb]

OK, we have a houseful of critters, 3 dogs and 4 cats. Over the last few months, one of the cats (not sure which one) has peed a few times on the rug under the kitty litter boxes. We suspect it't Tabitha as she is the only one that has ever peed somewhere she wasn't supposed to. In fact, she got sick and started peeing in the corner of the living room - which resulted in us going carpet free at our house now (and forever!). Anyway...we just figured she was telling us the litter boxes weren't up to par so we'd just throw the rug in the washer, clean the litter boxes, and go on our way.

 

Today, There was a HUGE puddle of cat pee outside the litter box. It had just happened too as it hadn't all absorbed into the rug yet. I was letting the dogs outside when I noticed it....and Izzy went right over to it and started licking up the urine. EEEWWWWWWW! Of course, now I'm wondering if perhaps she has a UTI? Cat urine smells so rank you can't tell by that!

 

So how exactly do you get a urine sample from a cat

[Guest LynnM]

You head to the store and buy a new litter box and some aquarium gravel. Sterilize the gravel as best you can (boil it in water for several minutes, rinse in a clean colander and dry in the microwave or oven). Sanitize the new litter box, too. Now, put a layer of the gravel in the litter box, put the litterbox in a large crate (appropriate one of the greyhound's crates, if you have them) and put the cat in the crate along with food and water. The cat is on house arrest until she uses the litter box. Once she produces the sample, take it to the vet for a urinalysis.

 

*IF* the cat won't go, then a cystocentesis at the vet is the only other option. Most will give it up in the litterbox, so it's worth trying that before the cysto.

 

Lynn

 

ETA: Only use a little bit of gravel... just enough to give the cat something to scratch around in. You can also use styrofoam (not the corn puff ones, but the old-school polystyrene) packing peanuts in the litter box instead of the gravel... whichever the cat will use.

Edited August 24, 2007 by LynnM

[Guest Tigonie]

Another method which the vet recommended to me is to prepare the litter box, but put a piece of plastic like a litter box liner over the litter. The cat gets the "feel" of litter, but pees on the plastic, where you can collect the pee. Also, your vet probably sells plastic beads that you can put in the litter box in place of litter. Either way, you have to worry about your kitty tracking urine around the room.

 

The easiest way is to leave the cat at the vet's office for the day, and they will try their favorite fake litter technique. If/when the cat holds it all day, your vet can stick a needle in your cat's side and pull out urine. It's really weird to watch, since you expect to see blood in the syringe and instead you see pee.

 

 

ETA: since you have an exact location for the occurances, you might want to think about setting up a webcam or other camera before spending money at the vet. You never know--you might have the wrong cat, but it would be pretty easy to figure it out with a camera.

Edited August 25, 2007 by Tigonie

[Guest CindiLuvsGreys]

If your cat will easily pee in front of you you can use this method. Grab a soup ladle and stick it under the cat while she is peeing. I have done that many times to get a urine sample from my Diabetic cat.

[Guest SillyDog]

While I'm sure it's a good idea to check to see if your cat has a UTI, I will say that one of my greys likes to lick urine when we're walking where other dogs have went. It's one of his odder behaviors, but I feel like it's no worse than my other grey chowing down on some poop. He seems to only like some pee. I've never gotten down on my hands & needs to sniff to see if it's especially pungeant pee.