[starry]

Brought some so that I could test one of my dogs urine as she gets infections, thinking they would be fairly straight forward to use haha !! Thought they would have easy instructions, NOT! Need a phd to understand them  has anyone managed to dechyper them 

[maxyboo]

What sort are they? We used to use some at work that were a strip with squares of different colours which correspond to glucose, protein etc and the colour changes were shown on the bottle they came in. You just dipped the stick in urine and compared it with the bottle to see if there had been a change in colour.  Perhaps a piccie of stick and bottle could help as someone might have used those strips.

[composthappens]

hi there!

some of the parameters on the tests strips are not accurate for cats and dogs. Can you tell us what urine infections she gets? Has a sample of urine been tested and cultured by a vet? What was the bacteria that was detected? Ecoli is a common one and is a result of the urine being too dilute, urine becomes too dilute for a number of reasons, mainly poor or aging kidney function. Were there stones or crystals detected in the sample the vet sent off? (If it was sent off).

A lab is the only way to be sure of an infection, that is where the Specific Gravity is tested, alone with microscopic examination for crystals, blood (haematuria) and bacteria.  When the urine is cultured in a lab, the bacteria present are grown to see what species they are, then a sensitivity is done, this determines which type of antibiotic should be used. Test strips alone are not much help and are mostly used for glucose testing, however they are useful for certain indicators e.g microscopic blood, but even then to be sure of infection it needs to be sent to a lab. 

If her infections are ecoli, then there is a very safe supplement you can use called D-Mannose, this keeps the bladder clean of bacteria and can be used as a maintenance dose with or without antibiotics, but doesn't actually kill bacteria (and only works on ecoli)  Either way, re-occurring urine infections absolutely must be treated with a long course (6 weeks) of the right antibiotics, because ecoli burrows into the walls of the bladder often avoiding antibiotic therapy only to emerge and infect again.  Urine infections are no at all common in young cats and dogs, is your girl getting on?

[starry]

hi there!

some of the parameters on the tests strips are not accurate for cats and dogs. Can you tell us what urine infections she gets? Has a sample of urine been tested and cultured by a vet? What was the bacteria that was detected? Ecoli is a common one and is a result of the urine being too dilute, urine becomes too dilute for a number of reasons, mainly poor or aging kidney function. Were there stones or crystals detected in the sample the vet sent off? (If it was sent off).

A lab is the only way to be sure of an infection, that is where the Specific Gravity is tested, alone with microscopic examination for crystals, blood (haematuria) and bacteria.  When the urine is cultured in a lab, the bacteria present are grown to see what species they are, then a sensitivity is done, this determines which type of antibiotic should be used. Test strips alone are not much help and are mostly used for glucose testing, however they are useful for certain indicators e.g microscopic blood, but even then to be sure of infection it needs to be sent to a lab. 

If her infections are ecoli, then there is a very safe supplement you can use called D-Mannose, this keeps the bladder clean of bacteria and can be used as a maintenance dose with or without antibiotics, but doesn't actually kill bacteria (and only works on ecoli)  Either way, re-occurring urine infections absolutely must be treated with a long course (6 weeks) of the right antibiotics, because ecoli burrows into the walls of the bladder often avoiding antibiotic therapy only to emerge and infect again.  Urine infections are no at all common in young cats and dogs, is your girl getting on?

Well that just about sums up why they seem so complicated to use off to the vet then !! Thank you both for your replies

[composthappens]

The vets use exactly the same strips as for humans, there is no difference, except in price of course!

You can buy various parameter strips online or from the chemist for about £9 for 100..

[starry]

Hi composthappens, she is only 3 but she eats all sorts of unmentionables when she goes out for a walk and she is quite a nervey dog and some times when I think she has an infection she hasn't she is scent marking her bed (compitition with her sister) which is why I want to test her urine myself 

[Lulu]

In humans positive results for Nitrates and Leucocytes are a sign of infection and these can be seen on some of the urine testing strips - usually purple in colour.  But it does depend on the make of the sticks and you need the bottle with the coloured scale on to interpret the results. I do not know if this is the same with dogs, you can always take a sample with you to the vet for them to interpret.  My Ollie got urine problems as he got older but he had renal failure due to his age - not great fun getting the samples is it!! I used to stalk him in the garden with a jug  .  Hope it gets sorted for you.