A urine test can also be useful to quickly identify the cause of urinary tract problems. These issues may include frequent and/or excessive urination, small amounts of urine, possibly with blood, or difficulty urinating or being unable to urinate.
For this test, the urine should be as fresh as possible, preferably without cat litter or sand. If you can’t bring the sample to the practice right away, it’s best to store it in the fridge until you can. For a standard urine test, 5–10 ml of urine is more than sufficient.
The examination consists of two parts. First, a refractometer is used to measure the urine’s specific gravity or density. This parameter is important for correctly interpreting the results. Then, a full urinalysis is carried out using our IDEXX analyzers, the Vetlab UA and SediVue DX. These devices help detect the presence of blood, proteins, or glucose in the urine. The acidity level (pH) is also measured. Additionally, it can be checked whether there is any sediment (casts, crystals) present in the urine. You can view images of these findings within just 5 minutes.
How should the urine be collected?
Dog: using a ladle or shallow container held under the belly or behind the tail.
Cat: by holding a small container or spoon under the tail while the cat urinates, or by confining the cat for a few hours in a room with a litter box filled with Katkor (available at our practice), a special non-absorbent cat litter that allows you to collect the urine afterward.
If needed, you can always come by the practice to pick up tools to help with urine collection. If collecting urine is too difficult, we can also perform a catheterization under light sedation to obtain a sample.
Parasites such as worms can be easily detected under the microscope after performing a flotation test. For Giardia, we use the SNAP rapid tests.
Smears, for example from earwax, are regularly performed. These smears are stained using the Diff-Quick staining method and examined under the microscope in our practice. This test provides us with important information about the presence of bacteria or yeasts in the ear, allowing for a more targeted treatment. The same can be done with smears from the skin, wounds, etc.
A “fine needle aspiration biopsy” is a procedure we often perform on lumps or masses in the skin. As veterinarians, we can’t always tell the difference between a benign or malignant lump just by looking or feeling. In this procedure, a thin needle is inserted into the lump to extract a few cells using a syringe. These cells are then placed on a slide and sent to an external laboratory for further analysis.
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