Urinalyses in the Veterinary Clinic

Urinalyses in the Veterinary Clinic Urinalyses are very helpful if there’s a suspicion on a disease an animal might have. To diagnose this, the veterinary technologist takes some urine of the animal and examines it to find out its characteristics like:

volume colour turbidity odor specific weight. Additionally you find out the components, e.g. protein, glucose and hemoglobin. There is a great variety of urinalyses. The most common tests are:

pH-value glucose protein hemoglobin myoglobin urea bilirubin Examples for microscopical analyses are:

urinary sediment (e.g. leukocytes, erythrocytes) urinalysis on microorganisms. How to collect a urine sample from a sick animal? There are three different ways of how you can collect an animal urine. You have the possibility to use a catheter for urinary catheterization, you can make a bladder punction or collect the spontaneous urine.

With small animals like cats or dogs, the veterinarian usually performs a bladder punction (cystocentesis). For this, the fur on the ventral abdomen is shaved and disinfected. Then a canule is injected into the bladder and the urine gained .

The catheter or the spontaneous urine is used for large animals, like a horse or a cattle . In the first case, the veterinarian inserts the catheter into the bladder and aspirates the urine. Afterwards, he disposes the first millilitres, because the urine sample is polluted by bacteries of the lower urinary passages.

Spontanous urine is collected with a clean and large pot, which is strapped on a bar .

You have to be patient to collect a spontanous urine sample from an animal. Some animal species may be encouraged to urinate with some tricks.

For example, sheeps and goats pass water, if you close their nostrils . Horses urinate, if you let them into a straw box after moving them outside.

Spontanous urine is not appropriate for bacteriological examinations, because of possible microorganisms.

How to accomplish urinalyses? There are three ways to analyze an urine sample. The physical urinalysis, the chemical urinalysis and the microscopical urinalysis.

The physical urinalysis can be accomplished without any equipment or analyzer. If there is a minor change of weight, this can be a hint for a kidney disease. If the colour of the urine sample is red or pink, the animal might have an urinary tract infection , for example a bladder infection (cystitis). Rabbits and guinea pigs are an exception here, because their urine always is yellow to brown-red.

Test strips are used for the chemical urinalysis. They provide different data and show the results on a colour scale. For example, when the protein amount is too high, the veterinarian can infer that the kidney of the animal isn`t supplied with plenty of blood. Increased protein amounts can also lead to high blood pressure or a specific heart disease called cardiac insufficiency . If the urine sample contains glucose this may be regarded a symptom for diabetes mellitus.

The microscopical urinalysis is put into practice if the veterinarian needs to closer examine the cellular and non cellular components of the so-called urinary sediment. Besides the urinary sediment you can also find bacteria in the urine using a microscopical analysis. The spontanous urine is not suitable for microscopical analyses, because of its possible pollution by microorganisms. In case of a urinary stone , crystals in the sample can give awareness about their composition and the required treatment .

Bibliography 1. http://dict.leo.org 2. www.dict.cc 3. Sirois M.: Laboratory Procedures for Veterinary Technicians, 6th Edition, Elsevier 2015. 4. www.webster-dictionary.org

EXERCISE: 1. Urine samples which are aged and left at room temperature and also exposed to UV light may cause a false negative result in which of the following biochemical tests? a) Glucose b) Ketones c) Bilirubin d) Protein

2. The best sample to examine for specific gravity of canine urine is the a) Midday sample b) First morning sample c) Last sample of the day

3. Which statement regarding catheterization in female dogs could be false? a) Catheterization is often better tolerated by the dog than cystocentesis. b) Catheterization is technically difficult in female dogs. c) Catheterization may introduce bacteria into the urinary tract. d) Catheterization may cause gross or microscopic hematuria.

Acknowledgement: Many thanks to Paula Grünewald for her wonderful work on the crossword.

Bibliography 1. www.dict.cc 2. http://dict.leo.org 3. www.webster-dictionary.org

Die Autorin: Carmen Lobitz mail@lobitz-seminare.de www.lobitz-seminare.de Carmen Lobitz ist freie Trainerin, Lehrerin und MTA. Sie gründete 1998 in Berlin lobitz seminare, die u.a. Englischseminare für Health Professionals anbieten.

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Lösung für Exercise:

Answer: 1. c) Answer: 2. b) Answer: 3. a)

Urinalyses in the Veterinary Clinic