Urinalysis

[CatladyJan]

Dr. Google isn't giving me the answers I'm seeking and the vets office is closed.

How is a urinalysis performed? I'm not talking about how the urine is obtained, I want to know if it's a test strip? Microscope? Sent to a lab?

A recent vet visit resulted in him using a test strip, but he did not put the urine under a microscope to look for cyrstals. It was said since he was able to empty my cats bladder that indicated no presence of cyrstals.

 

[casportpony]

Dr. Google isn't giving me the answers I'm seeking and the vets office is closed.

How is a urinalysis performed? I'm not talking about how the urine is obtained, I want to know if it's a test strip? Microscope? Sent to a lab?

A recent vet visit resulted in him using a test strip, but he did not put the urine under a microscope to look for cyrstals. It was said since he was able to empty my cats bladder that indicated no presence of cyrstals.

I found this link:
The Importance of Urine Tests (Urinalysis) for Dogs and Cats | FirstVet

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. It is kind of all of the above. Chemical test strips are generally used to look for blood, glucose, protein, bilirubin, and ketone. A microscopic analysis is done to look for crystals, red blood cells, white blood cells, casts (solid, tubular deposits), bacteria and yeasts. Visual exam of the urine is done too, as well as a test to determine USG (urine specific gravity).

I know of no way that expressing a cat's bladder will tell anyone whether or not there are crystals/sediment in the urine.

This article pretty much explains it in simple, basic terms, and probably just mimics the link provided above.
Urinalysis Test in Cats - Cat-World

 

[casportpony]

This article pretty much explains it in simple, basic terms, and probably just mimics the link provided above.
Urinalysis Test in Cats - Cat-World

That's much easier to understand.

 

[IndyJones]

Crystals must be viewed under a microscope

Test methods very depending on what equipment is "in house" and what they are looking for. A centrifuge may be used if they are looking for sediment too. The spinning motion seperates the particles from the urine.

The only time sediment is vissble to the naked eye may be large kidney stones or bladder stones. Stones are the result of sediment/crystals building up. At that point kitty would be in alot of pain.

Feline bladder stones

 

[silent meowlook]

Hi. A urinalysis is done as soon as possible after the urine is obtained. The urine is first grossly examined noting color, consistency, amount snd how obtained. A small pipette is used to place urine drops on the urine strip. The strip is read at the proper time, 30 and 60 seconds. Ghose results are recorded and another drop is placed on a refractometer. This is then read and results are recorded. Five cc of the urine is put into a test tube with no additives. It is balanced on the centerfuge for 10 minutes, run at low rpm. After that the tube is removed and uncapped where most of the urine is extracted with a sterile syringe. In the bottom of the tube is what is called the sediment. A drop of the sediment is put onto a slide and smeared and allowed to dry. Another slide is used and another drop of sediment is placed on it and a cover slip is placed over it. Then that slide goes on the microscope at 40x power. The entire slide is viewed and what is seen gets recorded in fields. When you look through the microscope, that is considered one field. When you move away from that the next view is a field. The cells seen are counted for every field and averaged. You look for RBC, WBC, Casts
( identified) epithelial cells ( identified) crystals
( identified) fat globules, bilirubin, and bacteria.
All this information is recorded. If there is bacteria present, the urine can be cultured by swiping some on a special growth plate snd leaving it in an incubator for 24 hours. If there is growth, it can be sent in to the lab for specific bacterial information.

There are some lab machines that can run the urine but in my opinion, they aren’t accurate.

 

[Cupcakecrazy]

Hi. A urinalysis is done as soon as possible after the urine is obtained. The urine is first grossly examined noting color, consistency, amount snd how obtained. A small pipette is used to place urine drops on the urine strip. The strip is read at the proper time, 30 and 60 seconds. Ghose results are recorded and another drop is placed on a refractometer. This is then read and results are recorded. Five cc of the urine is put into a test tube with no additives. It is balanced on the centerfuge for 10 minutes, run at low rpm. After that the tube is removed and uncapped where most of the urine is extracted with a sterile syringe. In the bottom of the tube is what is called the sediment. A drop of the sediment is put onto a slide and smeared and allowed to dry. Another slide is used and another drop of sediment is placed on it and a cover slip is placed over it. Then that slide goes on the microscope at 40x power. The entire slide is viewed and what is seen gets recorded in fields. When you look through the microscope, that is considered one field. When you move away from that the next view is a field. The cells seen are counted for every field and averaged. You look for RBC, WBC, Casts
( identified) epithelial cells ( identified) crystals
( identified) fat globules, bilirubin, and bacteria.
All this information is recorded. If there is bacteria present, the urine can be cultured by swiping some on a special growth plate snd leaving it in an incubator for 24 hours. If there is growth, it can be sent in to the lab for specific bacterial information.

There are some lab machines that can run the urine but in my opinion, they aren’t accurate.

Thanks for providing so much information! Is all of this generally done for every urinalisys? My boy had a urinalisys with sedimentation and I was told everything looked good and there was no bacteria present, but I'm not sure if it would indicate the presence of crystals or stones?

 

[silent meowlook]

Crystals, yes. Stones, no.

 

[Cupcakecrazy]

Crystals, yes. Stones, no.

Thank you!

 

[CatladyJan]

Thanks everyone!