Tracking Diabetes in Your Cat’s Urine
Your vet may ask you to check your cat’s urine in order to monitor glucose and ketone levels in the urine. If there is a suspicion that your cat is going into diabetic remission (which means that the insulin requirement is greatly reduced or is not needed) then an early morning urine sample is a very useful monitoring tool.
Collecting Urine
Tools for Collecting
- A clean litter tray
- Special cat litter that doesn’t absorb the urine (this can be obtained from your veterinary clinic) or cleaned aquatic gravel
- Urine dipsticks from your veterinary practice
- A place to record results
How to Collect
- Prepare the clean cat litter tray and place either the special non-absorbant cat litter or cleaned aquatic gravel within it. Make sure any previous litter has been removed!
- Make sure only your diabetic cat has access to this tray and keep them indoors so that they have no option than to urinate within the prepared litter tray.
- Examples of non-absorbant cat litters that can help with urine collection include Katkor (little spherical litter beads which don’t absorb the urine) or Kit4Cat (which is a hydrophobic (non-absorbing) sand).
- Once your cat has urinated within the litter tray use a pipette to transfer the urine into a sample pot (this is included within the special cat litter kits).
Using Urine Dipsticks
![](https://www.caninsulin.co.uk/cats/wp-content/uploads/sites/120/2021/10/Screenshot_33.png)
Step 1
Read instructions for dipsticks you are using to ensure test results are completed successfully.
![](https://www.caninsulin.co.uk/cats/wp-content/uploads/sites/120/2021/10/Screenshot_34.png)
Step 2
Remove one test strip and fully immerse in urine to ensure all pads are soaked.
![](https://www.caninsulin.co.uk/cats/wp-content/uploads/sites/120/2021/10/Screenshot_35.png)
Step 3
Immediately remove the test strip and tap to remove excess urine.
![](https://www.caninsulin.co.uk/cats/wp-content/uploads/sites/120/2021/10/Screenshot_38.png)
Step 4
Read the result after the time specified on the dipstick bottle.
![](https://www.caninsulin.co.uk/cats/wp-content/uploads/sites/120/2021/10/Screenshot_37.png)
Step 5
Hold the stick against the chart on the dipstick container to compare colors.
![](https://www.caninsulin.co.uk/cats/wp-content/uploads/sites/120/2021/10/Screenshot_36.png)
Step 6
Record the results. Include time of collection and time of Caninsulin® given on that day.
Tracking Results
![](https://www.caninsulin.co.uk/cats/wp-content/uploads/sites/120/2021/10/img-promo-diabetes-tracker-app.jpg?w=796)
Recording your cat’s results is important to properly manage care. Keep track using the Pet Diabetes Tracker app or download a copy of the diabetes diary.
Tracking Tools & Resources
1. Pet Diabetes Tracker app
Review and keep important information to manage diabetes.
![](https://www.caninsulin.co.uk/cats/wp-content/uploads/sites/120/2021/10/img-button-app-store.png?w=170)
![](https://www.caninsulin.co.uk/cats/wp-content/uploads/sites/120/2021/10/img-button-google-play.png?w=170)
2. Blood Glucose Curve Tool
Review and keep important information to manage diabetes.
3. Helpful Downloads
Additional resources to understand and manage cat diabetes.
Next Article: Monitoring Blood Glucose >
Further Reading
![](https://www.caninsulin.co.uk/cats/wp-content/uploads/sites/120/2021/10/lead-test2.jpg)
Talk to Your Vet Today
to learn more about pet diabetes, and how cats and dogs can lead a happy,
healthy life with proper management