How To Catch Urine from a CAT

Multiple methods for collecting urine from a cat will be reviewed here.

The most consistent method involves leaving the cat in the animal hospital for 8-24 hours to catch urine.

If the cat is misurinating on hard surfaces (bathtub, tile floor), a new misurination can be collected with a syringe. A common problem involves not having enough urine to sufficiently provide an analysis or contaminating the sample. 

Alternatively, if the cat is misurinating on the same surface (bed, pile of laundry, bathtub), you can try putting plastic wrap in that location and hoping the cat leaves enough urine on the plastic wrap that you can carefully fold up the plastic wrap and bring us a sample of about a teaspoon in volume.

In multiple cat households it becomes important to isolate cats long enough to be sure who is the culprit. This will mean limiting one cat to a bathroom, laundry room, or other space long enough to prove he is the culprit or clear him. The isolation space is preferably a small room with hard floors, no rugs, and food, water and a litter provided. Also, report the type of misurination. Is it a puddle on the floor, drips of urine outside the box, or urine sprayed on a wall and dripping down to the floor?

While the cat is in isolation, it is a good time to catch a urine sample. In a thoroughly cleaned litter box, put in foam packing peanuts or plastic, non-absorbent litter, or nothing. When the cat urinates in the box, the urine sample can be poured into a Ziploc or other container. (Throw away the foam or plastic litter.)  If the cat refuses to use the abnormal litter and urinates on a hard surface, you may use the previously described syringe technique.

Kit4Kat is an impermeable litter product you can purchase from us in single use size to catch urine. When used in a litterbox as the litter, the cat urine will pool on top where it can be collected instead of being absorbed.

Another major issue is any urine sample should be collected and tested while fresh, typically within 2 hours of being produced. This means nights and weekends are NOT good times to try to catch a urine, because it will not be fresh when tested. Refrigeration helps keep a sample fresh, but even with extended refrigeration, a urine will change and no longer be helpful for accurate diagnosis.

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