BANGKOK, June 27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Researchers from Chula Faculty of Science invented an easy-to-use "Cat Urine Test Kit" to screen for the risk of kidney disease, gallstones, and cystitis in cats. The test kit provides fast and accurate results, so cats can be treated promptly.

All cat lovers want to see their beloved kitties happy and healthy.  But cats, like humans, face various illnesses, especially the most common among cats today including kidney disease, gallstones, and bladder infection (cystitis).

If the owners have time and can notice their pets' changed behavior, they can bring them in for early treatment. Unfortunately, many rarely have time to observe their cats' behavior and by the time they realize something is wrong, their cats are already very sick and require treatment that can cause pain, suffering, and piled-up medical bills.

The distress of the cats and their owners was the starting point of the "Cat Urine Test Kit", an innovation for the health and quality of life of beloved pets, and their owners invented by Dr. Lunjakorn Amornkitbamrung, a Postdoctoral Researcher, C2F, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, and Managing Director of Product at Wealthy Moggie Innovation Co., Ltd., in cooperation with Associate Professor Dr. Kanet Wongravee, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, with a research grant from the National Research Council of Thailand under a pilot project entitled "Thai Inventors, World Inventors".

"We hope that the cat urine test kit will be one of the tools to enable the owners to monitor the health of their cat regularly.  And if the risk of kidney disease, gallstones, or cystitis is detected, it can be treated by a veterinarian promptly," Dr. Lunjakorn said.

The cat urine kit is a research paper that has passed the precision test and won the Gold Prize from the Seoul International Invention Fair 2022 Republic of Korea, and the Gold Medal from the Kaohsiung International Invention & Design Expo 2023 in Taiwan area. It is now available for owners to take control of their beloved cat's health.

Indicators of kidney disease risk in cats

According to Dr. Lunjakorn, many domestic cats have a high tendency to develop kidney disease, gallstones, and cystitis, mainly due to their eating habits, name:

1. Low water intake
2. Improper diet, especially from owners who treat cats with human food and various cat treats that are high in protein and sodium causes the kidneys to work harder.

How would cat owners know that their beloved cat is about to start developing kidney disease, gallstones, or bladder infection?  

"Because cats can't talk about their illness, owners need to regularly pay attention to their pet behavior," says Dr. Lunjakorn on cat's changing behavior, for example

1. Loss of appetite, less food consumption
2. Listlessness
3. Some cats may drink more water than usual.
4. More frequent urination than usual or not at all
5. Dark or bloody urine
6. Weight loss 

According to Dr. Lunjakorn, if any of these symptoms are found, the cat should be taken to a veterinarian for a thorough diagnosis and immediate treatment.

"For cats that are diagnosed with diseases at an early stage, the veterinarian will prescribe antibiotics and gallstone breakers. The cost of treatment is about a thousand baht. 

However, for those cats whose owners do not notice the abnormality of the cat until their symptoms become very serious and have a risk of kidney failure, the vet will need to perform surgery to remove the stones and/or dialysis at the same time. The cost of this treatment will be about ten thousand baht or more," Dr. Lunjakorn stressed the importance of observing the cat's behavior not only for the quality of the pet's life but also for the owner's financial health as well.

Check the cat for kidney disease risks, painless and easy in 3 steps

Dr. Lunjakorn shared that veterinarians currently have a way to diagnose cats suffering from kidney disease or cystitis by reading a color band that shows the results of the analysis of compounds in the cat's urine whether it has blood in it. The cat urine sampling process comes in two methods:

1. By inserting a needle into the cat's bladder to draw out the urine.
2. By inserting a catheter to draw out urine from the cat's genitalia.

"These methods of diagnosis are accurate because the samples are taken directly from the bladder and the cat's genitalia, but the procedures can be quite painful. Our research team wanted to solve this problem, so we invented a cat urine test kit to reduce the pain in the diagnostic procedure and from the kidney disease and cystitis symptoms."

A cat urine test is a preliminary screening kit for feline hematuria that can indicate a level 3 (> 2500 RBC/μL) risk of developing urinary tract diseases such as kidney disease, gallstones, cystitis, etc. (There are 3 levels of risk, with level 3 indicating a clear morbidity).

The cat urine test kit is ATK-like, and easy to use. The test kit consists of a kit for collecting cat urine samples from any type of cat litter. Otherwise, the owner can take a sample of cat urine from the point where the cat leaves urine on the floor or wall which has an even higher urine concentration.

Dr. Lunjakorn explained the easy use of the cat urine test kit in 3 steps:

1. Scoop the cat litter in the area of the cat's urine (preferably the part soaked with urine) and mix it with the solution.
2. Drip the solution onto the test strip
3. Wait for 5-10 minutes to read the results. The colors shown on the test kit can be translated as follows:

• Both C and T bands go green means positive (there is the presence of blood cells in urine).
• C comes up green and T comes up yellow means Negative. Everything is normal, no blood was detected in the urine.
• Both the C and T lines turn yellow or only the T line turns green means the result is invalid or unreadable.

This test is 100% accurate, equivalent to a lab test in a veterinary hospital because it uses the same sensors that veterinarians use to diagnose cats and dogs, and it doesn't hurt them during the testing." 

Watch a video clip demonstrating the use of a "Basic screening kit for feline hematuria" at https://youtu.be/xE26pNhX2no

Cat urine test kit – A must-have for cat owners

Easy to use, fast, and accurate, owners can use cat urine kits to routinely check their pet's risk of diseases.

"Cats of all breeds, ages, and genders are at risk of kidney disease, gallstones, and cystitis, so cat owners can use this kit to examine cats in their homes once a month, or more often if they find that cats are starting to behave abnormally.  This is for the peace of mind of their owners and the physical comfort of cats who don't have to risk being seriously ill from preventable and curable diseases with their owners' attention."

Future Development of Cat Health Test Kits

However, Dr. Lunjakorn added that the current cat urine test kit still has some weaknesses that require further development.

"The test is performed on the urine in the cat litter causing the sample to be diluted of the blood in the urine, therefore the test will detect the presence of blood when the cat is in stage 3.  So, if the result is positive, the cat owner must immediately take the cat to the veterinarian," Dr. Lunjakorn said, revealing plans to improve the test kit's sensitivity for detecting small amounts or very diluted blood in the urine.

In addition, Dr. Lunjakorn mentioned the plan to develop a test kit to check for the risk of diabetes in cats by examining the sugar in the urine.

For cat parents and animal lovers interested in preventive testing for kidney disease, gallstones, and cystitis in your pets, you can buy the cat urine test kit (about 130 baht) at pet shops and the Hide and Seek Cat Litter Facebook page

For the full release and more images, please visit: https://www.chula.ac.th/en/highlight/168798/

About Chulalongkorn University

Chulalongkorn University has made the world's top 50 university list for employment outcomes, which reflects both the high employment rate and workability of Chula graduates. The university is also listed as the best in Thailand for the 15th Consecutive Year (since 2009), according to the newly released QS World University Rankings 2024, putting Chula at 211th in the world, up from 244th last year.

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