Urine Samples to Monitor Diabetic Dogs and Cats

Testing urine of diabetic dogs and cats can be used to monitor the following:

• Hyperglycaemia in a stable diabetic patient
• Detection of ketones
• Recurrent hypoglycaemia (in diabetic dogs)

Glucosuria reflects hyperglycaemia in the past and does not indicate the current status or reflect hypoglycaemia. Therefore this is not a very reliable method of monitoring diabetes mellitus and should not be used on its own to adjust an animal’s insulin dose.  Certain situations however may necessitate the use of urine samples in the attempt to stabilise diabetic animals.

Urine only tests positive for glucose if the plasma glucose concentration remains above the renal threshold for a substantial period.

Urine monitoring can be used once an animal is known to have a blood glucose concentration in an acceptable range. In this case it is a quick easy method of detecting hyperglycaemia. This should then be investigated further by measuring blood glucose concentrations.

Ketones

Urine monitoring is a quick and easy method of detecting ketones (ketonuria) and hence a potential emergency situation. See diabetic ketoacidosis.

Hypoglycaemia

In diabetic dogs that are well controlled the urine should be free of glucose for most of each 24 hour period.

Monitoring of urine for glucose can be useful in diabetic dogs that are not yet stable and that have problems with recurrent hypoglycaemia. Here it is used to identify the absence of glucose. For example, a dog that has no glucose in morning samples may be at risk of hypoglycaemia.