help identifying the secret "pee-er" in multicat home

hi! this is quite urgent! For the last week we've been finding small amounts of urine in the oddest places at home - mostly an the kitchen area arround one of the house's "feeding stations" - that is also one of the most traffic ladden areas of the house. Yesterday I got hold of some reactive sticks to dip in the urine - and according to them - there is an infection present (the other data I could not descifer - I'm not a vet). This, coupled with an incident of urination (large amount) on one of the beds this morning - again by anonymous doner -may indicate FLUTD in our home. The problem is that no cats have been observed presenting any of the signs of the syndrome - and taking 16 cats to the vet to establish who's the ill one is a prohibitive experience - both for the cats and for us - stress and money-wise. DOES ANYBODY KNOW OF A WAY TO DISCOVER WHO'S PEE IS IT SHORT OF INSTALLING A SURVEYOR CAMERA ? I SEEM TO REMEMBER SOMETHING ABOUT DYEING EACH CAT'S URINE A DIFFERENT COLOR. HOW ARE THESE DYES CALLED AND OBTAINED? ARE THERE ANY SAFE DOMESTIC ALTERNATIVES ? ANY OTHE IDEAS? PLEASE LET ME KNOW! THANKS !

one note about dyes, if there is carpet or upholstery involed you may not get the stain out, but I believe food coloring will do the trick.

Here is how I find out short of catching them in the act:
Add up the number of rooms you can close the door on and then divide your cats into groups and "jail" them with litter boxes and all their needs until you find a spot. Then take that group and separate them until you find your culprit. I have had to do this twice, but it helps that I already HAVE litter boxes in ALL the rooms.

Another hint is to use your instincts. You know your cats better than anyone, and most of the time when I "guess" that it is so&so, I usually turn out to be right (But you don't want to medicate on a hunch, so finding the correct one is important). Look for signs like frequenting the litter box, acting in distress, behaving differently than normal and anyone with a history of UTI's or other medical problems in the past, age is a factor (one of the times it turned out to be diabetes and his age combined with other factors led me to Y.Lee)

Best of luck

What you're referring to is called a fluorescein strip, available from your vet. It is a tiny strip that is inserted into a gel capsule, given orally to the cat...hours later, or when the cat urinates, the urine will be dyed so that you can detect which cat.

Problem is you still have to monitor the cats and litterbox in a timely manner to see which kitty's urine was dyed. If you choose this method, please make sure that after administration of the capsule, you give kitty water with a syringe/eyedropper to ensure the capsule has been swallowed.....................Traci

Traci I have wondered about this before. Does the dye stay on the fur any time after elimination to make the identification easier? It almost seems to me that in a multi-cat household to track down this type of problem, for me anyway, would be very difficult. I would have to bring all the cats indoors, put them in different rooms, give them each a litter box and go move into the motel down the road for a few days because my house would be occupied.

Originally posted by lazy
Yesterday I got hold of some reactive sticks to dip in the urine -

Click to expand...

That sounds like a good thing to have on hand. Where do you get those?

Hissy, it depends on the cat....if she is an impeccable groomer, one might not catch it soon enough. If she isn't, then yes, small traces of the dye might be visible on the fur. On a dark-haired kitty, though, might be alittle difficult.

Purina Feline Diagnostics also makes a urinary blood detection kit, it's a litter additive, that if it changes to blue, hematuria (blood in urine) may be present, indicating a UTI..................Traci

Thank you JenLuckenbach,Hissy,Cat-Tech and Sicycat! Since all my cats are indoor cats - part of the surveillance effort is already in effect. I thought that giving a group of the cats each time different color dyes I coud find the "culprit"(s) by an elimination process - albeit a lenghthly one. By keeping track which color dye is given each cat - there would not be a need for confinement. Three problems with this : I don't know if veterinarians carry fluorescein strips in Israel, and if they do - are these produced in a variety of colors.Another question would be for how long does the dye influence the cat's urine color after ingestion(since even if they come in colors I doubt they'd come in 16 colors so I would have to "paint" in shifts). I think the food colorants may be the way to go - does anybody have experiences related to this? Pray tell! . Sicycat- the reactive strips (urine diagnostic test) I got from my vet - they are standard use in the clinic- but they are the same used for human urine analisys - I think they may be available at pharmacies.
I will start researching the food colorant issue and let you know of my findings if any - thanks, Lazy