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7 Tips For Taking Your Dog’s Urine Sample To The Vet

7 Tips For Taking Your Dog’s Urine Sample To The Vet

More than likely your veterinarian will ask for your dog’s urine sample a few times throughout their life. 

A urine sample can be very informative when looking at your dog’s health and it can be used for healthy dogs as a preventative test or to diagnose health issues in a dog that isn’t feeling well. 

Catching pee from a dog can be a little harder than it sounds so here are a few tips if your veterinarian requests a sample. 

7 Tips For Taking Your Dog's Urine Sample To The Vet

 

Have something to catch the urine sample

In most cases, it’s easier to use something other than the container you are going to transport your dog’s urine sample in because you may get dog pee all over. 

If you want to use something other than a container you can try a soup ladle or a cookie sheet for dogs that squat.

For containers, you can use a urine specimen container provided by your veterinarian, a cleaned pill vial, or a small plastic storage container.

It’s not recommended to use small plastic bags as these could leak and no one wants that all over their car.

Catching a Dog’s Urine Sample

It’s best to try and catch a dog’s urine sample first thing in the morning so if you can, go out with your dog in the morning.

Keep your dog close. You might want to leash them up just this one time so you don’t have to chase them all over the yard.

If you have a female dog or a male dog that is squatter it may be easier to use a soup ladle or small cookie sheet and slide that under them when they squat. 

If you have a male dog use the ladle or the plastic container and get ready when they lift their leg.

Be careful when they bring their leg down so that they don’t hit the container and spill it all over your arm. 

Try to keep the urine sample clean, avoiding dirt or other ground debris. 

It’s usually best to stand off to the side of a dog when collecting the sample because you don’t want to startle them.

If you have someone that can help, that would be ideal.

How much urine do you need to bring?

How much urine that you’ll need from your dog will depend on what urine tests your veterinarian will be running. 

1/2 of the urine specimen cup should be plenty for all tests. 1/2 of a pill vial or 1/3 cup in a standard measuring cup.

Storing Your Dog’s Urine Sample

You can store your dog’s urine sample in a plastic container such as a clean Tupperware bowl, clean pill bottle or you can ask your veterinarian for a sterile plastic container.

Make sure that the lid is on tight so that you don’t get any spills and store it in the refrigerator. 

Label the sample with the date, time, and name of your dog.

A dog’s urine sample is usually good for about 6 hours when stored properly but a fresher sample is better but you should call your veterinarian to see how fresh they would like the sample. 

If you caught the urine in the morning and your appointment isn’t until late afternoon, run it up to the vet.

If that’s not possible try collecting the urine sample as close to your appointment as possible.

Never freeze the sample. 

If you can’t get your dog’s urine sample

Don’t worry if you can’t catch a urine sample.

Some dogs just can’t pee under pressure. 

Your veterinarian will be to get one by free catch or by cystocentesis.

A cystocentesis is the best way to test a dog’s urine because it’s the most sterile but depending on why your dog needs a urine sample to be tested, your vet may be fine with a free catch urine.

What the urine test is for

Dog pee can be a very informative look into your dog’s health.

It can check for pH levels, urine concentration, red and white blood cells, kidney function, bacteria, prostate issues, bladder stones, crystals, sugar, protein, and ketones. 

For some Newfoundland dogs, a basic urine test can show cystinuria if cystine crystals are present at the time the sample is collected.

A urine test is also often part of a senior exam for older dogs. 

 

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Kathy S

Tuesday 31st of May 2022

My pup had crystals in her urine so even when she was pretty small and she was squatting I had to collect samples. Here are a few tricks: 1. Play fetch if you can or do some activity so encourage them to drink 2. Get a clean plastic container/lid clean and ready. I use the rectangular ones leftover from Chinese food. 3. Take your dog on a leash to a place you know they may like to urinate 4. THE MOST IMPORTANT: Stay close but give them just a bit of space. When they start urinating, SLOWLY move the container in to catch the urine. Try not to touch the dog with the container as it may spook them. With a little practice it has worked for me every time. Its the waiting until after the urine stream starts I have found to be the key to the catch. Good luck!

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[...] Jen from My Brown Newfies wrote a post about getting a urine sample from a dog. It came in handy this week when I had to get one from Jersey. [...]

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[...] steroid use. In September, she did it a few more times, so I decided it was time to visit the vet. Thanks to Jen’s awesome urine collection post, I got a pee sample from the Petite Flower no [...]

lauren

Tuesday 24th of July 2012

oh my gosh, you are soooo freakin funny. i was wondering about that when i read your first post. and i totally passed along this tip to someone else who is trying to get a woodchuck the hell off her property--he keeps destroying her deck.

Jen

Tuesday 24th of July 2012

LOL! I hope the pee works for the groundhog!

Montecristo Travels

Friday 20th of July 2012

I have not laughed this much in a long time. Thank you for this post. Out of curiosity - a 3 pound Chihuahua ... long hair so plenty of "bloomers" or as Mom likes to say "kilt" since I am a boy … at the rear. Not a lifter or a squatter but a ... well a bit of both. Squat with a partial right leg lift. HOW would you go about that?

Jen

Friday 20th of July 2012

LOL! Ladle for sure and proceed with caution, drips are bound to happen in this case:)))

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