estimating urine output?

[Karen & Rudy]

I am trying to gauge urine output- not by actually measuring his urine though. My vet said to note if it is a puddle, river or lake. I keep thinking lake is what I am seeing, but maybe I am overestimating it?

Does anyone have an idea as to what that translates to in a litter box? Is a lake the size of a softball, a puddle the size of a manderine orange, etc? I feel like I need an object to compare it to.

We are only doing this as an estimate of output- I'm not looking to get all complex and actually drain it and measure it or anthing ;-)

 

[BJM]

Think in terms of volume the way they suggest you estimate portions of food. These are rough estimates!
2 cups = 2 fisted-size clumps; a bit much
1 cup = fist-sized clump; high side of normal
1/2 cup of clumped litter = palm of hand about normal, depending on size of cat and moisture content of food
Multiple thumb sized deposits (ie not broken off a bigger clump) = tablespoons, and look for infection or stones as that is not normal.

 

[Megan & Oren]

BJ; those amounts are you speaking of total daily output or any one pee? For ex., today Oren has pee'd about 4 times, each somewhere around 1/8th cup except for the last one, just a few min. ago, which was a full 1/4 cup. So he's up to about 3/4 cup total output today so far, not counting the pee overnight. I add a fair bit of water or broth to his canned food every meal and snack...

 

[BJM]

Those are approximate daily amounts.

 

[minxkohl&mush]

I am trying to gauge urine output- not by actually measuring his urine though. My vet said to note if it is a puddle, river or lake. I keep thinking lake is what I am seeing, but maybe I am overestimating it?

Does anyone have an idea as to what that translates to in a litter box? Is a lake the size of a softball, a puddle the size of a manderine orange, etc? I feel like I need an object to compare it to.

We are only doing this as an estimate of output- I'm not looking to get all complex and actually drain it and measure it or anthing ;-)

I am trying to gauge urine output- not by actually measuring his urine though. My vet said to note if it is a puddle, river or lake. I keep thinking lake is what I am seeing, but maybe I am overestimating it?

Does anyone have an idea as to what that translates to in a litter box? Is a lake the size of a softball, a puddle the size of a manderine orange, etc? I feel like I need an object to compare it to.

We are only doing this as an estimate of output- I'm not looking to get all complex and actually drain it and measure it or anthing ;-)

Ins


Instead of measuring output, I measure input. I put aside in a separate container 32 oz. Of water. I then measure after 24 hours, how much he drank!

 

[Karen & Rudy]

not good news for my little guy :-( He probably has a daily output of at least 3 cups...ugh...

 

[Tuxedo Mom]

not good news for my little guy :-( He probably has a daily output of at least 3 cups...ugh...

I have been measuring my Tuxie's water and urine since he was diagnosed. I use the non-clumping litter so I had to figure out how to measure that. What I did was take a measuring cup with water and pours amounts..4 oz..6 oz..8 oz..into the litter box and see how big a "puddle" it made and how much I had to scoop to clear it. In the beginning I was actually stalking my kitty and doing free catch and measuring output so I had pretty good records. I knew how much he got in moisture from his food and I also measured his water intake...put 12 oz into his bowl and measured 4 or 5 times daily how much was gone, then filled it back up to the 12 oz again. Yes...a "little" obsessive

Tuxie can input 20 oz of moisture (food and water combined) and output 18 oz of urine in a 24 hour period, especially when he is running higher numbers, The few times he ran a full day of blue numbers it was about half the amounts of fluid and urine. So higher blood sugar will definitely cause higher water and urine amounts.

 

[Karen & Rudy]

OMG That is genius!!!! I'll do an experiment tonight with pouring the water to see what it looks like. Thank you all so much! Good to know what "normal" looks like. We are far from it, but I don't give up easy ;-)

 

[Tuxedo Mom]

OMG That is genius!!!! I'll do an experiment tonight with pouring the water to see what it looks like. Thank you all so much! Good to know what "normal" looks like. We are far from it, but I don't give up easy ;-)

You are most welcome..It should actually be easier to judge with clumping litter so then you can have a good idea how much is "coming out"