Do dogs with urinary tract infection need to go through FEME test?
Didn’t you ask a question(s) about this the other day? A basic urinalysis is a simple procedure where the urine sample provided is looked at, probably a vet nurse, to find out whether it is acid or alkaline, whether there are crystals present, white blood cells, and so on. Quit stressing about this – the normal course of action, initially, for a suspected UTI is to check the pee, and proceed from there, depending on what is found. It maybe as simple as putting your b itch on antibiotics to clear up any infection, to more complicated investigation like a bladder scan or a blood work up to check kidney function. And so on. I’m sure your b itch just has a UTI and once treated, she’ll be fine again. Just be aware that if you look too hard on the Internet, unless you are qualified, you’ll frighten yourself half to death – it’s a case of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing.
Absolutely – it’s the only way to know whether there really is an infection, if the signs are due to some other problem, or if there is a primary problem like diabetes or renal failure that’s causing the UTI. Any dog that gets treated for a UTI without getting a FEME to make sure he actually has one is receiving poor veterinary care. If it turns out he didn’t have a UTI or had another problem in addition to the UTI, just getting treatment would cause the real problem to go untreated. In some cases like diabetes, this could risk the dog’s life. FEME = Formed Elements and Microscopic Evaluation. It basically means a urine dipstick that reacts to urine pH, bilirubin, glucose, protein, ketones, hemoglobin, etc. Sometimes the dipstick has reagent pads that react to leukocytes (but they don’t really work well in pet urine) and nitrites (which don’t mean a lot for dogs really). Then a special tool called a refractometer determines how concentrated the urine is by measuring specific gravity. F
