Black paste from anal gland

[RandyC]

Thank you so much @Dr. Jeff . It's always a pleasure speaking with you. We are looking forward to our (longer) regular appointment with you next week.

I think we'll collect ChewChew's urine sample at home next week and drop it off at the current vet's office, as we might not find a new vet by next week. That should be ok, right? I assume the vet just sends it off to the lab.

I started a new forum thread to ask for recommendations for an internal medicine specialist. Really would love to find a vet/specialist who someone has good experiences with.

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Great! You may need to mention to the person at the front desk or when you call about sending it to the lab.

Also, I forgot to mention to try and make it a first am, mid-stream sample.

Meaning that you collect his first urination of the day ~30-60 seconds after he starts peeing (collecting midstream will reduce contamination from stuff in his urethra). BTW-urethra is the tube leading from the bladder to the outside.

 

[RandyC]

@Dr. Jeff I called the vet's office after our HMDM call. They actually have a take home urine collection kit. We'll pick one up tomorrow, and collect next week.

Thank you for the tip! ChewChew doesn't usually pee more than a couple seconds at a time. He likes to pee/mark as he sniffs and walks (like pee 10 times during our walk? Never actually counted). So maybe we should collect like his 3rd or 4th pee during our am walk?

 

[Dr. Jeff]

maybe we should collect like his 3rd or 4th pee during our am walk?

Sure!

Since he doesn't have one big pee when you first let him out, then collect the 3rd and 4th little pees.

 

[RandyC]

Thanks for sharing Randy (or Sherry)! As we just discussed, please let me know what happens with your quest to find a local vet to recheck the urine.

Hi @Dr. Jeff The urine recheck result came back today. It's normal (yay). Please see attached report. I'll also email it to you.

Do we stop giving the cranberry supplement?

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Yay!!

Maybe wean the cranberry over the next 1-2 weeks.

 

[RandyC]

Thank you @Dr. Jeff !

I only give ChewChew 1/4 of a 500mg tablet a day (~125 mg/day). By the time we sent in the recheck sample, he only had one full tablet. We wonder if his body did most of the healing work or the first urine sample was contaminated.

 

[Dr. Jeff]

YW!

His body definitely did the healing work.

If the sample was taken by the vet using cystocentesis then no it was not likely to be contaminated. If it was a free catch sample then yes.

If you brought a urine sample in, was it a mid-stream sample?

 

[RandyC]

If the sample was taken by the vet using cystocentesis then no it was not likely to be contaminated. If it was a free catch sample then yes.

I was told they took him outside for the sample (free catch).

If you brought a urine sample in, was it a mid-stream sample?

Yes! we collected from his 3rd and 4th pee.

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Excellent!

I look forward to talking in 15 min...