Dog Urine Sample Mistake

So much drama from a dog urine sample. I spent about a day last week worrying and wondering how our eldest dog, Clover, may have ended up testing as suddenly diabetic. Turns out, I made a dog urine sample mistake that threw off the results, a lot. Thankfully, a repeat test — done just hours later via cystocentesis (getting a dog urine sample with a needle) —  came back perfect. Whew! What a relief. So, learn from me, pals. Do NOT make this mistake. What you put the urine sample in matters ... a lot. 

My Mistake - Dog Urine Sample Container

I could swear I've done this before, just grabbing a plastic food container to bring some "free catch" dog pee to a veterinary appointment. I probably have. This time, though, it completely threw off the urinalysis results. Behold the offending deli meat container I used. Even carefully washed and dried, it caused drama!

The test showed high protein and high glucose in the urine, which can indicate canine diabetes.

Clover is also down about 1.5 pounds and went through some troubled times with not waning to eat (mostly in the morning), so it felt like a real uh-oh moment ... with her 9th birthday coming up in about a month. 

Message From Our DVM

Clover and I ran several errands after her annual wellness exam that featured these important elements:

• Physical exam, including eyes, ears, and teeth
• Routine bloodwork, including special thyroid tests for older dogs
• Heartworm test (every other year since we keep them on preventives year round)
• Urinalysis

Unfortunately, I didn't get the voicemail message from our DVM until we arrived back home several hours later. She must have called while I was driving in our mountain canyon, where there's no cell service.

So, I wolfed down a quick lunch, and Clover and I drove back down to town so that the veterinary technicians could draw a dog urine sample via a needle into Clover's bladder.

Second Dog Urine Sample Results

The next day, our DVM called to say that Clover's second urinalysis came back perfect. No problems at all. What. A. Relief.

Her bloodwork also looked good, though I've not see the full results myself yet. Even her often mysteriously low neutrophils measured higher than usual for her. 

So what now?

To Prevent This Mistake and Worry With Future Dog Urine Samples

I ordered sterile dog urine sample cups online so that when I do the same thing with our other dogs in the coming weeks or in the future I will have a clean / safe container to catch and deliver any needed dog urine samples.