Diagnostics Part 2: Urinalysis
Last week I went over blood work; complete blood count (CBC) and chemistry (hematology) in my blog Diagnostics Part 1: Blood Work. This week's blog is part 2 of my diagnostics series and it goes over urinalysis, the tests and functions.
My goal is to help educate my readers a bit, so when you go over diagnostics with your vet you have a better understanding of what all these tests are for and what the results can mean. There is a lot entailed in diagnostics so I'm breaking down diagnostics into several parts so we aren't overloaded with information.
Before Lucy was diagnosed with renal failure I had learned that urinalysis was an important part of diagnosing the stage of renal failure. Specific gravity and proteinuria (protein in urine) amounts help with staging along with a blood chemistry panel. When my vet was going over blood work results and then urinalysis, once he got to the proteinuria I knew that she was in kidney failure. While this sounds sad it was important to know so that I could treat her appropriately.
Grab a cup of your favorite caffeinated beverage and let’s jump right in.
Urinalysis is an important test that can help assess the urinary system, kidneys, metabolic disease, urinary stones, other organ systems and infections.
Urinalysis diagnostics includes physical examination, dipsticks, automatic analyzer and evaluation under a microscope. If bacteria is present in a urine sample a culture will be run to identify the specific bacteria or yeast.
Physical examination of urine includes:
- Color
- Odor
- Clarity
- Volume
Dipstick and automatic analyzer diagnostics or urine includes:
- Protein
- Glucose
- Ketones
- Blood
- Urobilinogen
- Bilirubin
Urine analysis under microscope includes:
- Red blood cells (RBC)
- White blood cells (WBC)
- Bacteria
- Crystals
- Tissue cells
The following chart shows specific tests and the function of that test. This information was gathered from IDEXX, Merck Animal Health and The National Library of Medicine (NLM).
Next week's blog will be about add-on diagnostics and what they are for.
We will also be talking about common diseases that are diagnosed via complete blood count (CBC), chemistry (hematology), add-on tests and urinalysis.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please start a conversation below.
For a printable version of this blog click here.
Until next week stay comfy, don’t stress and you got this!
Michelle Miller-Matlock
AAHA Certified Diabetes Educator
Founder/Administrator of DDO: Diabetic Dog Owners University
Administrator of Diabetic Dog Owners on Facebook
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