Urine Collection

[Ella Spell]

I'm really frustrated. I have five cats and every time I think one of them has a UTI it's impossible to collect urine. When I take them to the vet they charge me $100 for the exam and send me home with a $15 jug of black non-absorbent litter that the cats have ALWAYS refused to use. I've never had a single cat use that stuff. I just kept Macbeth in my bedroom for nearly 24 hours and sat beside him waiting for him to pee in it but he wouldn't. He squated once but nothing happened. Then he actually tried to eat it because he has a bit of Pica. Then, he rolled around in it. He's crying.

I know he has a UTI and/or crystals but they won't prescribe anything until they have a sample.

I know there's such thing as getting it from a needle in the bladder but same thing, every time I go and ask for that they tell me to go home with the black litter which they don't use, because their bladder doesn't feel full enough to use the needle. Rinse and repeat.

He's drinking tons of water and must be as big as a water balloon right now but it's night time, and I can't bear to leave him overnight when I know he won't use the black litter and he'll likely eat it. Oh, he also tried to eat the paper litter that I tried even though that likely would have soaked it up. If I give him his normal clay litter overnight so he's not in agony, then he'll have a small bladder again in the morning if I go back to the vet.

Help. Ideas??? This is ridiculous and crazy expensive, all for nothing.

 

[stephanietx]

Find another vet who will be more responsive to your concerns and not just send you home with a urine collection kit. A needle collection is actually the best way to collect urine.

 

[Biomehanika]

I had to do an at home urine sample collection just last week and I used Kit4Cat Hydrophobic litter, which I got on Amazon. It’s a hydrophobic sand litter solely for collection purposes and according to the reviews it’s worked for a lot of people that the big black pellets (NoSorb) didn’t work for. There are two different kits, one with testing strips and one with collection vials/dropper… I got the one without strips/just collection tools and would recommend you get that one too since the test at the vet will be way more accurate, and I believe it’s slightly cheaper.

The amount of litter they give is really small, it comes in three small bags, I was worried it wouldn’t be enough but I used 2 of the 3 bags and my girl went in it IMMEDIATELY. I placed her down near the box just to show her where it was (because she’s used to having many boxes available) and she was peeing in it a minute later. I probably could have used just one bag in hindsight, it was pretty amazing how immediately attracted to it she was. Since the litter is hydrophobic none of the pee absorbs, it just collects in perfect little pools, and they give you a little dropper and vials as mentioned so collection is super easy. I’ll 100% continue to use it whenever I do at home samples.

 

[Ella Spell]

^^

Thanks. I know the needle is best, also for avoiding contamination. They always say their bladders aren't full enough. I don't know when their bladder is full or not to make an appointment so I end up driving there and wasting $115 on the stupid kits which aren't even sanitary.

I don't know why they can't just keep him there until his bladder is ready.

I've tried two vets with various cats and very annoying. I guess I'll try a brand new one tomorrow.

 

[Ella Spell]

Oh wow, OK I'll look on Amazon for next time anyway. I won't have time to wait for it tomorrow so I'll have to go to a new vet I guess, if they tell me on the phone they can do something besides give me No-Sorb. That stuff is useless. I should throw it in a fish tank somewhere.

 

[stephanietx]

My vet told me early afternoon is a good time for a full bladder.

 

[Ella Spell]

I've used human test strips in the litter box before and they always come up as UTI. That's when they pee in clay litter and I can't get it out of there but I can lay the test strip on it.

 

[Ella Spell]

My vet told me early afternoon is a good time for a full bladder.

I'm not a morning person so all my appointments are early-mid afternoon, and I'm always sent home.

 

[Biomehanika]

Yeah it worked amazing for me. As for samples taken by needle, I’ve also had a few of those done lately, and removing all litter boxes the morning of their appointments (which have been between 11:30AM and 2PM most times) and giving them a good wet food breakfast with added water has always left their bladders full enough, so maybe try that.

 

[Ella Spell]

Is this it? That seems like a long wait.

 

[Biomehanika]

View attachment 474313


Is this it? That seems like a long wait.

Yeah that’s it, not sure why it’s $67 though, it was like $20 CAD for me and didn’t even ship from Canada

 

[Ella Spell]

My plan is to give him his clay litter overnight. I'll give lots of water and wet in the morning, but he drinks lots of water regardless from all my own water glasses and the fountain.

I'll call the vet first thing and try to get in around 2. If he charges me and sends me home I'm gonna hit the roof. Maybe I just tell them I refuse to go home with No-Sorb and if they dont have a user-friendly kind they'll have to figure it out on their own because I'm not leaving without meds.

I just went through this on Friday with Hester too. I still don't have a sample for her either but that was almost $200 for nothing as well, because they checked a poop sample and said it was fine. What I mostly wanted was the pee but they didn't check hers either.

 

[tabbytom]

Help. Ideas??? This is ridiculous and crazy expensive, all for nothing.

When my boy had UTI, I used a Chinese soup spoon to collect his urine. I waited for him to pee and while he is peeing, I'll slip the spoon beneath him and collect the pee where the it lands. Meaning, spoon on litter or you can depress the litter with the spoon so that it won't touch his bum.

The Chinese soup spoon can collect a substantial amount of pee for the canister.

 

[silent meowlook]

There is a litter called kit4cat that works well. But if he hadn’t urinated in this amount of time it’s better to give him back his regular litter and make sure he can urinate.

 

[Kwik]

These Vets are blowing my mind- anytime mine needed a urine sample they just keep the cat until they get one- they sound ridiculous to me- I'm sorry they are putting you through all of this for such a simple thing for them to do and charging you for nothing

 

[Ella Spell]

Update: I gave him his clay litter last night and he peed in it but it took him quite a while. Mixed with the clay it looked like wet cement, almost green.

This morning I called a new vet who isn't available until Wednesday (??) and their exam fees are $50 higher. They said they normally do an ultrasound and needle "but if the bladder isn't full we'll send you home with non-absorbent litter. We don't keep the cats here to wait." I almost cried, but managed to ask if they use the black No-Sorb litter. They said no, it's brown. That's a start but I'm not waiting until Wednesday and it doesn't sound any better for the extra $50.

I called my main vet (I have two, but one is an idiot), and they aren't in until noon. I have a feeling I'll be going there yet again if I can get an appointment today. I took away his litter box and gave him wet breakfast with water. He also had a lot of water fountain. He's grumpy and trying to bite / swat / chase the others if they come in the room.

 

[Ella Spell]

We went to the vet after nearly seven hours with him not using a litter box. He said his bladder was too small ..... and tried to send me home again ... even after I'd explained that I'd already done a full day with No-Absorb and he won't use it. He said he was too small even for the needle, but he doesn't like to ever use the needle because it could cause infection. He finally agreed to keep him in a cage all day with subcutaneous fluids. He's going to try to express some manually in about 4-5 hours.

Seriously there has to be an easier way than this? Mac was crying his heart out in the cage when I left, although I guess it's better than having to collect it myself. *Makes mental note to order that stuff from Amazon for next time.*

On another note the vet said his own dog died yesterday from eating a piece of a towel that got twisted in his intestines. He did four hours of emergency surgery but there was too much damage.

By the time I left we were both in tears.

 

[Ella Spell]

It's Friday and I still don't have the UTI test result from Monday.

They phoned me on Wednesday to see how he was doing but didn't have the result yet.
I rang them today and the reception had the result but said she'd get the vet to call me when he wasn't busy.

I'm still waiting.

 

[Ella Spell]

I didn't hear from them until Saturday.
He has no bacteria, but there are white blood cells and trace amounts of crystals.
He's already on antibiotics which were prescribed Monday.
He said to continue the antibiotics and give him low-protein food.

I was thinking that meant "with grain" instead of "grain-free" but I didn't ask.
I should have asked for a prescription for low-protein food on my insurance.

Any recommendations for low-protein food?