Collect Fecal Samples from a Cat

There are many reasons for a veterinarian to request a fecal sample from your cat. This includes screening for parasites such as roundworms and tapeworms; bacterial infections such as campylobacter; or coccidian infections. These can affect the cat's ability to digest food and result in ill thrift or give the cat diarrhea. If your cat tends towards diarrhea then the vet may want to rule out infectious causes before proceeding with more invasive investigations such as blood tests, endoscopy, or bowel biopsy.

Basic Collection Method

 * 1) Use the correct type of container for collecting the sample. Your veterinarian may supply you with a special fecal specimen pot. These plastic containers are usually color coded with a blue lid and come with a collecting scoop attached to the underside of the lid.[[Image:Collect Fecal Samples from a Cat Step 1.jpg|center]]
 * 2) *Where possible use these containers. Not only are they leak-proof and smell-proof but they are specially designed for the job. This makes it is easier for the lab technician to retrieve the sample from the pot for analysis.
 * 3) *Theoretically you could use a glass jar with a tight fitting lid, but this presents the lab technician with a problem when it comes to scooping the sample out, so where possible be considerate to their needs and use the special pot.
 * 4) Label the container. Before you start collecting the sample, clearly label the container with the cat's name, your surname, and the date.[[Image:Collect Fecal Samples from a Cat Step 2.jpg|center]]
 * 5) Collect a sample from the litter tray. The easiest way to collect a fecal sample is to harvest it from the litter tray. It is fine to use cat litter as normal.[[Image:Collect Fecal Samples from a Cat Step 3.jpg|center]]
 * 6) *Wearing disposable plastic gloves, use the scoop from inside the fecal pot to break off a small nugget of feces and drop it in the container (a half inch square is plenty).
 * 7) *If the cat has diarrhea then scoop up a teaspoon's worth into the pot.
 * 8) Store the sample correctly. The vet will usually require you to collect multiple sample over a number of days. This means that you will need to store the samples you collected earlier.[[Image:Collect Fecal Samples from a Cat Step 4.jpg|center]]
 * 9) *Be mindful of hygiene. Never store feces in the same room where food is stored, prepared, or eaten.
 * 10) *Place the fecal pot inside another container such as a clean ice-cream tub with a lid, or a heavy duty plastic bag.
 * 11) *Keep this in a cool dry place such as a garage or outside cupboard. Do not allow the sample to freeze or expose it to high temperatures.
 * 12) Deliver the sample to the vet. Fecal samples are more robust than urine samples. Whereas the latter need to be taken to the clinic as soon as possible after collection, there is no great urgency with fecal samples.[[Image:Collect Fecal Samples from a Cat Step 5.jpg|center]]
 * 13) *Although it's preferable to take the sample on the same day, if you happen to collect the last sample on a Sunday, don't worry, dropping it off on a Monday is just fine.
 * 14) Understand that you may need to provide a pooled sample. Sometimes the veterinarian requests a "pooled" fecal sample. This refers to putting 3 fecal specimens in the same pot, collected over 3 days.[[Image:Collect Fecal Samples from a Cat Step 6.jpg|center]]
 * 15) *A pooled sample is more likely to give a reliable result. Some pathogens are only excreted intermittently and are not present each time the cat has a bowel movement.
 * 16) *It is therefore possible to get a false negative result from a single sample, if the sample happened to be on a day when the pathogen wasn't shed.

Troubleshooting

 * 1) Figure out how to collect a fecal sample in a multi-cat household. Simply collecting a sample from the litter tray is easy if you own one cat, but if you have a multi-cat household things can get more complicated. However, there are a couple of things you can try to ensure that you collect the sample from the right cat.[[Image:Collect Fecal Samples from a Cat Step 7.jpg|center]]
 * 2) *Keep the cat in a separate room. To ensure you collect feces from the correct cat, keep that cat isolated in another room and provide a litter tray.
 * 3) *If the patient has a problem, such as diarrhea, but the other cats' feces are normal, it is fine to keep arrangements as normal, but only sample the diarrhea.
 * 4) *If you can't separate the cats and the feces all appear normal then feed the other cats sweetcorn for 2 – 3 days prior to sampling, and continue until you have the required samples. Sweetcorn passes out undigested, so you can easily avoid collecting feces containing sweetcorn.
 * 5) Collect a sample from a cat who doesn't use a litter tray. This is a tricky one, however, most cats will use a tray if given no other option. Try keeping the cat confined to one room, with food, water, and a litter tray. Eventually, rather than soil his living space most cats opt to use the tray.[[Image:Collect Fecal Samples from a Cat Step 8.jpg|center]]
 * 6) *An alternative would be to watch the cat and see where he deposits feces outside. Many cats mark their territory by "middening" or passing feces to act as a scent marker for other cats. Places to look are the boundaries of your property and garden.
 * 7) *Cats usually have a regular toileting area so once you have found the feces; watch to check it is your cat that is toileting there.

Sources and Citations

 * http://pets.thenest.com/collect-stool-samples-cats-7309.html
 * http://mybrownnewfies.com/2012/10/16/5-tips-for-taking-your-pets-stool-sample-to-the-vet/
 * http://www.smithsstationah.com/stool-sample-collection.pml

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