Collecting Cat Pee :P

[Dante2005]

Greetings, everybody. Dante (8 yrs old) was recently diagnosed with feline diabetes, and has just finished a week on insulin and special diet. The difference in just these few days is amazing. He dropped half a pound, his coat has some shine again, and he's bright-eyed and interested in life. So, very encouraged!

What is making me nuts is the urine testing. He does best when I put out a small pan of Kit4Cat (it's called hydrophobic sand, you put it in the litter box, and his urine doesn't get absorbed like nornal litter, so you can get a sample). My problem is that this stuff costs. He's a big boy, and he needs 2 2-lb. bags per test. 2 lbs of the stuff costs 15 bucks (plus shipping). If I test him twice a week, that's $30.00 a week, $120.00/month, $440.00/year. I can see that this is very good stuff if you occasionally have to give your cat a urine test, but I don't see how it is sustainable for a cat getting insulin.

What are some ways that people have found to manage the cost of collecting cat pee? I want to do what is best for my good boy!

Theresa

 

[Wendy&Tiggy(GA)]

we have lots of ways: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1quta5WLEjdO0Y_t2dAYSwN84h-LNZWxOdtVsJDKZ16A/pub

Try a few different methods to see what works best

Wendy

 

[Deb & Wink]

Also, most of us are home testing the blood, so we don't need to test the urine.

 

[Wendy&Tiggy(GA)]

Except for ketones of course.

 

[terriy]

Sue and Oliver told me a trick that works very well for me. I purchased a bag of aquarium gravel (cost me $6 for a bag) and when I need to do a urine test I take a cleaned litter box and fill it with the aquarium gravel. It will not absorb the urine. After I get my sample and Im done with it then I empty the gravel into a pair of panty hose. The panty hose keeps all the gravel together and it makes it easy to wash the gravel in the bathtub. I also take the panty hose bag of gravel and sit it out in the sun to make sure that its good and dry before I store it in the basement for the next time I need to do a Keytone test. Its a little work but its very cost effective. Spent $6 one time and just wash and reuse the gravel forever!! :razz:

 

[doombuggy]

I recently had to collect a sample of urine to take to the vet for Cedric. The gave me a square plastic dish, a syringe (no needle kind) and a tube for the urine. Cedric is great, he pees near the entrance of the box. :smile: When i check for ketones, i need to catch him in the box, but I just need to stick the strip in the stream and bingo!

 

[katiesmom]

I just stick a shallow ladle under Katie's butt to catch the urine. She gives me a dirty look, but it works.

 

[catsharing]

I went through this last year. You have several options: buy a special tray called Smartcatbox which allows for urine collection, it is a worthwhile investment for diabetic cats. Or buy plastic beads at Michaels for example, they should be reusable if you don't mind cleaning them, or buy aquarium gravel and make sure to clean it first. Also look at the PawCheck testkits that come with non-absorbent litter.