Some Reasons Why Your Cat And Dog’s Urine Specific Gravity Reading Might Be Low: Other causes of dehydration that will elevate your pet’s urine specific gravity are vomiting, diarrhea, heatstroke and fever. Dehydration is also common in all diseases in which apathy, weakness or reduced mobility occur. In humans, signs of dehydration are also often nebulous (vague). The outward signs of chronic dehydration in cats are few. So, their need to drink additional water is minimal. In the wild, cats consume rodents that are about 75% water. Dehydrated pets are at greater risk of developing kidney and bladder stones because the mineral salts that form these stones fall out of solution ( precipitate) to form crystals (often oxalate or struvite) much faster in concentrated (high specific gravity) urine than in dilute urine. Cats rarely drink sufficient water to compensate for that, even when you keep bowels of water freely available to them. That can be a major side effect of maintaining pets (particularly cats) on dry kibble. When your pet’s urine specimens repeatedly have high specific gravity, it is often a sign that your cat or dog is not consuming enough fluids during the day. Specific gravity will also be high when urine contains substantial amounts of protein. Diabetes allows sugar to leak into the urine. But it can also be high if your pet has developed diabetes. Some Reasons Why Your Dog Or Cat’s Urine Specific Gravity Reading Might Be HighĪ normal or high urine specific gravity usually indicates that your pet’s kidneys are working well. It will tend to be the highest just after it gets up in the morning. That number will go up when your pet is dehydrated and go down after it drinks water. If your pet’s kidneys are healthy, its urine specific gravity will be constantly changing – but its kidneys will do their best to keep the SpGr of urine between 1.015 and 1.060. Pure water has a specific gravity of 1.0. The lower the number, the more dilute it is. The higher the SpGr number, the more concentrated your dog or cat’s urine is. That is an indication of kidney function. See How Tests Are Grouped The Specific Gravity Of Your Cat And Dog’s Urine = SpGr, USGĭetermining the specific gravity of your dog or cat’s urine is the way veterinarians determine how concentrated it is. Results of all analytes will be reported, and the provider should decide if recollection is needed.Why Is My Dog or Cat’s Urine Specific Gravity Too High or Too Low? Ron Hines DVM PhDĬauses Of Most Abnormal Blood & Urine Tests For midstream urine collection instructions refer to Health Facts for you:Ī comment will indicate high levels of SEC. Clean catch (midstream) urine collection may reduce the possibility of contamination. SEC may indicate the possibility of other contaminants such as bacteria. **** Squamous Epithelial Cells (SEC), present in a urine specimen likely enter from sites distal to the bladder. The presence of bacteria is not necessarily indicative of urinary tract infections. Higher levels will be reported as PRESENT or MANY. *** If bacteria are undetected or present at very low levels, bacteria will be reported as NEGATIVE. Included in non-ionic solutes are urea, glucose, and protein. Included in ionic solutes are sodium, chloride, sulfate, phosphate, and ammonium. The refractometer method includes both ionic and non-ionic solutes. For both ionic and nonionic solutes order “Specific Gravity, Urine”.The refractometer method is routinely included in urinalysis performed at the UH and TAC Laboratories and is the method used when "SPECIFIC GRAVITY, URINE" is ordered. If a specific gravity is performed via colorimetric test strip, the following comment will appear: Only ionic solutes measured. * All UW Health Laboratories may use a screening method for specific gravity, based on a colorimetric test strips which reports only the ionic solutes. None Seen or Present calcium oxalate Present amorphous urates or phosphates Samples held at room temperature for more than 2 hours or samples refrigerated for more than 24 hours are not acceptable. Transport with coolant pack if coming from clinic location. Transport specimen to the laboratory immediately. For midstream urine collection instructions refer to Health Facts for you - Male HF #4247, Female HF # 4236 located on UConnect. Indicate whether specimen is midstream, indwelling catheter, single catheter or other method of collection. Refrigerate if transportation to lab is delayed. Urinalysis | Urinalysis with Microscopy UWHC Lab Test DetailsĪutomated Urine Chemistry and Microscopy Analyzerįirst morning void preferred.
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