2015 ACVIM Forum Research Abstract Program

Consecutive urine samples from dogs and cats submitted for urinalysis that were yellow and had <5 RBC and WBC per hpf on sediment exam were used. Sample supernatants were pooled to obtain a final volume of ≥ 7 mL; 30 pools were evaluated from each species. Canine or feline whole blood was added to an aliquot of each pool to obtain a 1:20 dilution of blood in urine. Serial dilutions (1:2) were performed with the remainder of each pool. The undiluted pool and the 1:20, 1:40, 1:80, 1:160, 1:320, 1:1280 and 1:5280 dilutions were evaluated (Siemens MultiStix 10 SG Reagent strips) in a randomized blinded fashion per manufacturer instructions and were visually inspected. The greatest dilution resulted in urinary sediment with 80-100 RBC/hpf. The color of the urine sample was recorded (light yellow, dark yellow, light pink, dark pink, or red). Specific gravity (SG) was measured with a handheld refractometer (Reichert TS 400). For statistical comparisons, the results for the light and dark yellow were averaged and called "yellow." and the results for the light and dark pink and red were averaged and called "colored." A repeated measures ANOVA on ranks was used to compare the readings for each analyte between undiluted, "yellow" and "colored." Post hoc comparisons were made with the Tukey test. Significance was set at the P < 0.05 level.