Monitoring glucose and ketones in the urine

You may be asked by your veterinarian to monitor your diabetic cat by regularly testing urine samples from your cat.

What you need

1. A clean plastic litter box
2. Clean syringes at least 5ml in size.
3. Polystyrene balls, aquarium sand or shredded plastic bags.
4. Urine dipsticks provided by or recommended by your veterinary surgeon.
5. A place to record the results.

Collecting urine

1. In the clean litter box place some aquarium sand, polystyrene balls or shredded plastic bags.
2. Do not allow your cat access outside or to another litter box until it has urinated in the clean box.
3. Collect the urine with the clean syringe.

Testing urine using urine dipsticks

1. Follow the instructions for the dipsticks you are using, particularly for the time to read the results.
2. Place the dipstick in the container with the urine and soak the test pads.
3. Remove the dipstick and tap dry.
4. Read the result after the time specified on the stick bottle (usually 1 minute).
5. Hold the stick against the chart on the dipstick container to compare colours.
6. Record the results including time of collection and times of insulin injections given for that day.

See video on testing urine.

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