Urine Test Strips for Animals
Urine Test Strips for Veterinary Medicine
Urine test strips often come into use for urine diagnostics in veterinary medicine. The cost-affordable and easy-to-use test strips provide information on the presence of various diseases within a few seconds. Exactly as in human medicine, veterinary medicine tests for the following parameters:
Blood, Urobilinogen, Bilirubin, Protein, Nitrite, Ketones, Glucose, pH-value, specific gravity and Leukocytes
Of course, urine test strips from the human medicine descipline do come into use for veterinary medicine (e.g. the Combur urine test strips from Roche), but when interpreting the results, it is important to be aware of the animal species-specific characteristics. The urine composition can greatly vary by animal species, which can easily lead to misinterpretations based on the human colour scale.
As long as this fact is considered, urine test strips from human medicine can also be used in animal medicine.
Depending on the requirement, urine test strips can be used to examine different parameter combinations. For complete diagnostics, test strips with 10 testing fields are used–these give information on all relevant values.
The Most Important Parameters and Their Significance at a Glance:
Parameter | Significance |
---|---|
pH-value | provides indications on poor nutrition and bacteria |
Glucose | possible presence of diabetes mellitus |
Nitrite | appears in presence of specific bacteria |
Protein | indicates kidney diseases or insufficiencies |
Blood | indication of bleeding in the urinary tract |
Ketone bodies | indication of diabetes mellitus, starvation or fever |
Special Urine Test Strips for Animals
In order to prevent improper treatment of the animal as a result of a misinterpretation of the test results, it is sensible to use special urine test strips for animals. These function on the exact same principle as the test strips from human medicine; however, they are delivered with a special, readings table that accounts for the species-specific characteristics. This provides a precise diagnosis and a targeted treatment. From Praxisdienst, you can order these test strips for animals from the company Macherey-Nagel under the name «Medi-Test Combi 10 VET» at an affordable price.
Spontaneous Urine or Catheter Urine?
Carrying out a urine examination with the help of a test strip can be done with both, spontaneous urine and catheter urine; however, there are things to be considered. For one, it is very difficult to collect spontaneous urine from animals. A urine sample can be especially difficult to collect from female dogs and cats. With cats, one can employ the use of special cat litter that is first filled in the previously, thoroughly-cleaned litter box. This cat litter does not absorb the urine, which allows it to be drawn in from the litter box using a pipette. However, many cats do not like this special cat litter and refuse to use the litter box when it is present. For this reason, many still use the method of an open litter box where the sample cup is held underneath the cat while it urinates.
The urine may only be stored for a very short period of time and in cool conditions, as it would otherwise become useless. The patient owner often takes the urine sample at home and then brings it into the animal clinic, which usually takes up enough time to where the sample is no longer suitable for examination.
The last point to consider is the contamination of the sample. Spontaneous urine is often contaminated by the urethra, vagina or prepuce, which can lead to false test results.
Removing the urine using a bladder catheter or with bladder puncture is done directly in the clinic under high hygiene standards. While the urine of male dogs is often collected via a bladder catheter, urine collection from the bladders of cats and female dogs is mostly done via bladder puncture.
In addition to the urine examination with urine test strips, a urine sedimentation is also often carried out, as various things can be made visible by this microscopic examination, including urinary crystals and urinary casts.
Conveniently Purchase Urine Test Strips for Animals from Praxisdienst
With Praxisdienst, you will find a large selection of urine test strips for animal urine examinations at affordable prices. Our assortment encompasses Combur test strips from Roche and urine test strips from Macherey-Nagel for monitoring glucose, urobilinogen, nitrite, leukocytes, blood and bilirubin. Of course, we also offer you the compatible accessories for urine examinations–from urine cups and bladder catheters up to special cat litter for urine examinations.
Do you have questions about our urine test strips or are you looking for a specific product? Our customer service will gladly advise you. You can reach us per telephone, email or live chat.