Well, Katie went in for her recheck UA today. She had a uti a few weeks ago, but has since been normal. They did a cystocentesis and in house UA to start. The vet called back and said for the most part everything was normal. There were no WBC but she did see RBC's. Not many but they were there. She also said it could be from the needle stick but could also be due to ongoing inflammation or kidney issues. Her specific gravity was 1.033 , which I though was normal but the vet said was dilute? Their reference ranges seem different because the lab they go through is different. Anyways there were no crystals so that is great. How worried should I be about the specific gravity and red blood cells? She is acting great other than being mad about going to the vet. She eats well and drank water before we left. She is older and just turned 10 so I do worry about developing kidney issues. We are going to culture the urine and see if there is hidden bacteria and I will bring her back in for blood work in a few weeks. Hopefully nothing more is goi on.
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Katie's UA results
- Thread starter kattiekitty
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- Apr 7, 2014
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Hi
The red blood cells could be from the needle stick so I don't know that I would be all that concerned about them. But the dilute urine is a concern. Cats should always have concentrated urine except when being given fluids. Drinking water although the best way to rehydrate will not dilute the urine. Blood work will show kidney values as being elevated only when there is at least a 70% loss of kidney function. So basically the blood work will not show that the cat has kidney disease until it is so bad that the cat is functioning on about half a kidney. So, while I would be concerned, and I think the culture is a good idea, I would not be relying on the blood work to be the deciding factor of if she has kidney disease or not. I would definitely recheck the specific gravity (concentration of the urine) again and I would have them do that test in house because you never know what could have happened to the sample on the way to lab. But it is an easy test done with a drop of urine on a refractometer and it takes less than a second to do.
Was there protein in the urine?
The red blood cells could be from the needle stick so I don't know that I would be all that concerned about them. But the dilute urine is a concern. Cats should always have concentrated urine except when being given fluids. Drinking water although the best way to rehydrate will not dilute the urine. Blood work will show kidney values as being elevated only when there is at least a 70% loss of kidney function. So basically the blood work will not show that the cat has kidney disease until it is so bad that the cat is functioning on about half a kidney. So, while I would be concerned, and I think the culture is a good idea, I would not be relying on the blood work to be the deciding factor of if she has kidney disease or not. I would definitely recheck the specific gravity (concentration of the urine) again and I would have them do that test in house because you never know what could have happened to the sample on the way to lab. But it is an easy test done with a drop of urine on a refractometer and it takes less than a second to do.
Was there protein in the urine?
