Tips for Collecting Your Dog’s Urine
The following tips will make sample collection as easy and stress-free as possible:
If your dog likes to have bathroom privacy and gets nervous when you approach, try being stealthy. For example, tape the ladle to a yard stick so you do not have to bend over your dog to collect their pee. Or push the pie plate under them with your foot or a stick so you do not have to get too close. Use whatever provides you with a bit of distance, so you do not have to hover over your dog and scare them.
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Whether for a wellness exam or a health issue, at some point, your vet will need you to collect a dog urine sample. This task can be daunting. After all, how do you get your dog to cooperate? With these simple tips and a little training, you can collect urine samples without stressing your pet or yourself.
A valuable diagnostic tool, urinalysis is a laboratory test that provides a report on the physical and chemical properties of a dog’s pee. For example, it can detect the presence of blood in the urine or measure the urine’s concentration. Although urinalysis is mainly used to check on the kidneys and urinary system, it can also help diagnose other illnesses such as diabetes and urinary tract infections.
There are times when your vet will want to extract urine directly from your dog’s bladder. In that case, they might insert a catheter through the urinary tract. Alternatively, they will employ a procedure known as cystocentesis, which involves locating your dog’s bladder with an ultrasound and inserting a thin needle to extract the urine. If you are unable to get a urine sample from your dog on your own, your vet can always use one of these procedures. However, if acceptable to the vet, a free-catch sample— where you let your dog pee as usual and catch their urine— is the least stressful for your pet.
Although cystocentesis or catheterization supply uncontaminated urine samples, free-catch samples should still be as clean as possible. Do not mop up urine from the floor or grass after the fact. That will lead to contamination from the environment. Instead, collect the urine, preferably mid-stream, in a clean container as your dog pees. In addition, try to complete your collection in the morning, when your pet’s urine is at its most concentrated.
Once you have the dog urine sample, transfer it to a clean container with a lid. You only need a tablespoon or two for the urinalysis. Cover the sample and label the container with your pet’s name, then take it to your veterinarian as soon as possible, preferably within a few hours. If you cannot take it in immediately, place the sample in the refrigerator until you can drop it off.
If you have a cat that is urinating inappropriately the best way to collect a urine sample is to purchase kit-4-cat litter from us. This litter is non-absorbent, so when your cat urinates in its litter box you will be able to collect the urine using a syringe or simply pour the urine into a container.
A urinalysis is a very important diagnostic tool. It can identify many types of diseases such as a bladder infection, diabetes, kidney disease and so much more. If your dog or cat is urinating inappropriately please contact Lomsnes Veterinary Hospital and we would be happy to help you.
If you are not able to collect a urine sample from your dog or cat we can perform a cystocentesis. This procedure requires your animal to lie on a padded trough and with the use of the ultrasound, the veterinarian will locate the bladder. Next, the veterinarian will use a needle to collect a sterile urine sample. This may sound really scary however most animals handle this procedure very well.
Anytime your pet is urinating inappropriately we will ask for a urine sample. Here are some step by step instructions on how to collect urine from your dog.
What happens if your veterinarian asks you to collect a urine sample from your pet? Instantly, you are thinking, “How am I going to do this?”