Urine sample from your cat (eating, crystals, litter, foam)

[westwind15]

I have had two cats in the past who formed crystals in their urine, and I was often having to do urine samples. I could never get myself to be a fan of the vet version, where they put a needle though their abdomen and into their bladder to withdraw one. OUCH! My cats would never pee in an empty cat box - they were much too polite to use something that did not look to them like they should be "going" there. So I got creative.

Take a clean cat box, and fill it with those shreds the you buy for gift bags and easter baskets - clear works best but yellow will work too. My cats thought I had changed to some really weird cat little, but would use it. The urine sifts right through. Move it out the the way, suck up the uring in a syringe, and voila! A perfect urine sample!

Hope this helps someone.

[maincoon]

I had to collect a urine sample once and I had no idea how to go about it. Thanks for sharing this trick.

[ShelbyGirl1]

Great idea!

[mytimenow]

How clever of you! I wish I had thought of that!

[Amazonchix]

Great idea! The vet gave us some plastic pellets and our cat refused to use the bathroom...which was defeating our whole purpose of getting a urine sample. Next time, although hopefully we won't have a next time, your idea is the route we'll try!

[Austinitegirl]

Shredded newspaper works well too - it is a little absorbent of the pee, but it works well most of the time.

I've also heard of the put-plastic-wrap-over-the-litter-trick. I've never tried it, but I've known people who have and they say it works great.

BTW - remember to refrigerate the pee if you can't get it to the vet right away. Bacteria normally present in pee can overgrow if it's left at room temperature and that will affect the outcome of the urinalysis.

Fyi - sometimes they need to do a cystocentisis (needle in the bladder - yes ouch) in order to obtain a sterile sample to send off for culture. Not (usually) necessary for a run-of-the-mill urinalysis, but required for a culture.

[Racelady88]

Another thing that works pretty well is the Styrofoam "peanuts" used as packing material.