Boy..Was I Embarrassed Today!

Today I decided to call to make an appointment for Tiki (she's peeing again on the beds and couches) because I think she's got a bladder infection. Well, since I was very impressed with my former Vet I changed to a new Vet (we only have 2 in this town!). I told her my situation and how I needed to get her in as soon as they could. She told me that I needed to bring in a urine sample. I felt quite foolish...but I didn't have a clue how to get a urine sample from Tiki. I've never had to bring in a sample before and I was racking my brain about how in the world I could do this! I was too embarrassed to ask how to do it...so I asked some co-workers about it...And they laughed their butts off at me! They said that they could just picture me with a little Dixie cup trying to catch her peeing in the box! That thought did run through my mind a few times, but there had to be a better solution to this problem. I finally broke down and asked a customer who works for this Vet. She told me that they've got a long handled spoon like thing that you hold under them while they are peeing. I told her that I didn't know how I'd be able to even catch her "in the act", so she told me to tell them that I couldn't get a sample and they would manually get her to go when she is there.
Has anyone else had to give a sample? Is there a better solution to this? Any ideas would be quite helpful at this point. Do you think I should just fib to them and tell them I couldn't get a sample?
I'll keep ya posted on what I find out at the Vets tomorrow morning...Hopefully I will finally gets some answers about her peeing issues.
Thanks in advance,
Shell

Hi Shell,

There are two ways you can do this that do not include a dixie cup or a long handled spoon. You can buy special litter called Lab Litter (I think) that is what it is called. It does not absorb the urine and is available at your vet's office.

Or you can put uncooked lentils (beans) in the bottom of the box. Make sure you scrub the box out well and let it air dry first. The beans trick the kitty into thinking that it is regular litter, and the beans will also not absorb the urine.

I don't think I would be able to use the spoon method either!!

I was given the Lab Litter (what Hissy mentioned). It looks like little black pellets that will not absorb the urine. It's just a 'fake' medium to trick the cat into thinking there is litter.

Hissy, you always surprise me with your knowledge! Lentil beans?? Who knew?

MA;

I second that on the lentil beans! You are always there with a practical suggestion.

Just don't cook them first!

And Shell thought she was embarassed before! Imagine her walking in with a bag of cooked lentils to give to the doctor!



:laughing:

OMG! You guys crack me up! I just about choked on my root beer when I read that about the cooked beans! But...ya know, that's something I might have done!:LOL:

I knew about the special litter but not the beans. That is a great idea!:tounge2:
Denise

What about a pie pan?

I had to get a urine sample from one of my cats as part of a complete exam, since he is an older cat. In fact, that was the reason I first came to this board. I tried everything, including rice, unpopped pop corn, and NOSORB. But, he would not go in any of them. What finally worked for me, was the unscented, clay litter that he always uses! I put a very small amount in his large litter box, and he went in immediately. You just have to be there to tilt the box and get the sample before it is absorbed by the litter. My vet had given me a small jar with a sponge to absorb the urine. And there was even a small tool to hold the sponge, so there was no mess. Good luck!

Well...I gave up trying to get her to pee last night for me, so the Vet made her pee this morning. It does look like she's got a minor infection, but she said that it looks like her peeing problems are mainly behavioral. She said that I need to confine her in a room for 2 weeks and slowly let her out more & more every day. She said that it needs to be a room with out carpet, towels or rugs...but I don't have a room in my house with out carpet in it. Any suggestions on what I should do? My house is rather small, but pretty open (not many rooms with doors that I can shut her in). I thought about building a small "room" with boards and etc, but I'm afraid that she'll jump over them. I'm at a loss right now...I just don't know how to keep her confined to one place. Thank you in advance for all of your help!
-Shell

Well, you can buy an inexpensive tarp and put that down over the majority of the room BUT the problem there is that some cats automatically pee on plastic. So that defeats the purpose. You could try it, but don't get angry if she pees on the tarp (though it will be easy enough to clean up)

Now, what you have to do it figure out why this is behavioral and see if you can solve it and make it better. Isn't owning a cat fun?!

Write down what has changed in your life recently that could be affecting her. Spend more time with her than you are- with interactive play toys, read to her aloud, that sort of thing. Maybe she doesn't like her litter box-she should have two of them anyway. Try using different sizes of boxes filled with different litters and see which one she uses the most.

You'll figure it out, you have a whole boardful of cat lovers to help you here.

My bad boy, Joey, is even more attracted to plastic! Fortunately he hasn't peed outside the box in a couple of months now. I am vigilant about keeping stuff put away that will attract him, including piles of paper. I am so thankful that he has never targeted the beds or the other furniture.

I'll tell how I collect urine samples from my Winter, who has recurrent/chronic cystitis.

I have trained Winnie to pee on command in the bathtub.
I can then either just dipstick test the urine (for blood) in the bathtub since I am a medical technologist and testing urine is in my job description

If I need to do a microscopic analysis to check for crystals, which so far Winnie has not had, I use a plastic pipette to quickly collect the urine from the puddle in the bathtub and transfer it to a sterile urine container to take to work, centrifuge and examine under the microscope.

Here is how I "trained" Winter. When he is symptomatic he needs to pee all the time. When I first get up in the morning and the cats, including Winter hear me moving around they come upstairs. I'd keep Winter occupied up there, away from the litterbox, then put him in the bathtub. Since he always needed to pee, the bathtub was close enough to the litterbox, it has four sides and all,and Winter would immediately pee.

We did this a few times and now Winter will pee "on command" if I pick him up and place him in the bathtub even when he is not symptomatic.

I have a VERY clean bathtub; wouldn't want that precious pee contaminated !!