Urine sample collection at home

Obtaining a urine sample from your pet can be tricky business. If your veterinarian or veterinary nurse has asked you to collect a urine sample from your pet at home, here are some handy tips on how to go about it.

Collecting urine from your dog

Your dog will urinate generally after waking in the morning or after feeding in the evening. Exercise and walks are another good time to be watchful for urination.

Firstly take a thoroughly washed, flat plastic container such as a margarine container or old frying pan to use for collection. Wait until your dog begins to urinate and place the container into the stream. You only need about a tablespoonful for testing.

For canines that regard their privacy highly and are difficult to keep still while you follow them everywhere, keep indoors for an extended period. When let out they will urinate for an extra long time allowing you to better manoeuvre for adequate collection.

Once the urine is collected pour it into a clean screw top jar (specimen jars are available from the hospital) and put in the refrigerator, if you are not bringing the sample down within a couple of hours of collection.

If all this fails, keep your dog inside for a few hours before bringing them to the clinic. Do not let them out of the car, come and get us first. A friendly nurse and a kidney dish will be ready and your pet will want to urinate with all the nice smells they encounter around the hospital.

Collecting urine from your cat

For indoor cats either replace litter in the tray with non-absorbent kitty litter (available at the hospital) or remove as much of the litter as possible, moving the remaining litter to the four corners of the tray.

When you cat has urinated, tip his/her urine into a clean screw top jar (specimen jars are available from the hospital) trying not to spill too much litter in there as well. Best to do this outside or over the laundry sink, as this could get messy.

For the outside cats or those not too keen on the above collection method, keep your cat in a confined area such as the bathroom or laundry for an extended period of time before visiting us and then bring them to the hospital in a cage. A vet or nurse can easily express urine from your cat as long as its bladder is full.