A veterinarian can diagnose many urinary problems by asking about your dog’s medical history and behavior, physically examining your dog, and testing its blood and urine. Questions often include: How much water does your dog drink? How often does it urinate? What does the urine look like? Has your dog been acting differently? Be sure to tell your vet about your dog’s medications and supplements, diet, appetite, weight changes, and past illnesses or injuries.
During the physical exam, your veterinarian might feel your dog's kidneys and bladder (see diagrams in The Urinary System of Dogs) and examine its genital area.
Sometimes, the vet will also check the rectum, the last part of the large intestine, which opens to outside the body at the anus. A rectal exam can provide your vet with useful information about your dog’s health and, in some cases, help identify problems that might affect urination. By inserting a gloved, lubricated finger into the anus (the opening to the rectum), the vet can feel the urethra and, in male dogs, examine the prostate gland. A rectal exam might also help detect abnormalities in or around the rectum, such as swelling, masses, or other changes. Your vet will decide whether a rectal exam is appropriate on the basis of your dog’s signs and the findings from the rest of the physical exam.
If your dog has trouble urinating, a neurological exam might also be needed. The findings of the neurological exam can help your vet determine whether your dog’s urinary problems are caused by a disorder of the urinary tract itself or by a problem affecting the nervous system.
Other tests can include blood pressure testing, urinalysis, x-rays, ultrasound, biopsy (sampling a piece of the dog's urinary tract to analyze it under a microscope), and cystoscopy. In cystoscopy, a small camera is passed into the dog's urethra to look at the urethra and bladder. Dogs are sedated or anesthetized for this test.
Urinalysis is one of the most useful tests for urinary tract disease in dogs. It checks how concentrated the urine is, its color, and its pH. Urinalysis also looks for other abnormal substances in urine, including sugar, ketones, bilirubin, blood, and protein. A microscope is used to check urine for other abnormal components in urine, including cells, bacteria, crystals, and urinary casts (indicative of infection). Fresh urine gives the best results. If you collect a sample at home, refrigerate it and tell your veterinarian when it was collected.
If protein is found in the urine, a test called a urine protein:creatinine ratio test might be needed. If your vet suspects an infection, a bacterial culture (a test to grow and identify the bacteria on a special plate in the laboratory) will likely be done. The preferred way to collect urine for a bacterial culture is by cystocentesis, which samples urine directly from the dog's bladder through the skin using a needle.
For More Information
Also see professional content regarding detection of disorders of the urinary system in animals.
