Urine – Why Do We Want Your Pet’s Urine And How You Get It!

You may have been asked by us to get a sample of your pet’s urine for us to analyse. Here we will tell you why and how to actually obtain that sample!

Urinalysis – Why we want that wee!

This is a routine test which reports the physical and chemical properties of urine. It is used to assess the health of the kidneys and urinary system but can also yield information about other organ systems, for example it is very important in the diagnosis of diabetes. It is a very valuable test in both healthy and sick animals. If you notice any changes in your pets’ urinary behaviour, a urinalysis can help identify the cause.

How to get that wee!

This can often seem a daunting prospect but with the correct equipment and knowledge it is usually a fairly simple task.

Dogs

  1. Find something to collect the urine in – something flat and shallow e.g. a takeaway tray or shallow Tupperware. 
  2. Wash the container with soapy boiled water, rinse and allow to dry thoroughly. It is really important that it is completely dry.
  3. The first urine of the day is the best sample to test and most dogs are likely to urinate on their first outing after a night’s sleep.
  4. Wait for your dog to start urinating and quickly (but calmly) place the container into their stream of urine.
  5. Transfer the sample to your sample pot provided by us and label the pot with your name, your dog’s name and the date and time of collection. 
  6. Ideally bring the urine straight into us, but if this is not possible please put it in the fridge until you can get it to us.

Cats

We have kits which can help you collect a urine sample from your cat. They contain non-absorbent litter, a pipette and a sample pot.

  1. Empty, clean, rinse and dry your cat’s litter tray. This is important because dirt, chemicals and even water can contaminate the sample.
  2. Sprinkle some of the non absorbent litter into the tray.
  3. Put the tray back into its normal place, you may need to keep your cat indoors to encourage tray usage but do not do this if causing stress to your cat.
  4. The first urine of the day is ideal so leaving the tray overnight may enable you to collect at least an overnight sample if not first of the day.
  5. Once sample has been produced, use the pipette to transfer the sample from the tray to the sample pot. Label the pot and bring the sample to us as soon as you can. If you cannot get it straight to us then please store it in the fridge.

We appreciate that getting a urine sample can be a challenge in some cases! Please do not hesitate to contact us if you are struggling and we can advise you or offer alternative methods of urine collection.