Understanding Your Pet's Lab Work: A Guide to Communicating with Your Veterinarian by Sally Suttenfield

Author:Sally Suttenfield [Suttenfield, Sally]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9798215668054
Publisher: Bite-Sized Vet Guides
Published: 2023-01-31T10:43:03+00:00

Nitrites

Nitrites are included on most commercial urine dipsticks. In humans, the presence of nitrites in the urine increases if there are significant levels of bacteria in the urine. This does not seem to be as sensitive a test in dogs, but if the dipstick is positive for nitrites, then a urinary tract infection should be ruled out.

Leukocytes

Leukocytes (white blood cells) are also part of most urine dipsticks, but the urine should really be evaluated through a microscopic examination of the sediment to determine if leukocytes are present, as there are many artifacts that can alter the dipstick results. The presence of greater than 3-5 leukocytes per high power field on the microscope is considered significant. A “high-powered field” is the view through the eyepiece of the microscope on one of the higher settings, without moving the slide. So, if you are looking through the eyepiece of a microscope on 40 X (the strength of magnification), and you identify more than 3-5 leukocytes, then pyuria (pus in the urine) needs to be ruled out. A urinary tract infection is the most common cause of pyuria.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.