Intersand OdourLock MaxCare Cat Litter

How do I analyse Blücare® granules?

The Blücare® granules included in OdourLock maxCare® help detect traces of blood and/or glucose in your cat’s urine. The presence of blood in urine is strongly associated with urinary disorders in cats, including feline idiopathic cystitis, urolithiasis and urinary tract infections. The presence of urine glucose is often linked to feline diabetes.

When using Blücare® granules, it is important to remove urine and stool clumps daily with a litter scoop. If a granule on which the cat has urinated is left to evolve for longer, the test may be falsified.

Observe the granules that have come into contact with your cat’s urine and consult the guide below to help you analyse the colour of the granules.

Note: Granules are not a substitute for veterinary advice. Whatever the colour of the granules, if you have any doubts about your cat’s health, we recommend that you contact your veterinarian.

You only see white granules

You and your cat make a great team!

The granules are negative for blood and negative for urine glucose in your cat. There are no indicators of disease detectable by our granules in your pet.

Continue to keep a close eye on your cat, especially if it is one of those individuals with risk factors for diabetes or urinary disorders (redirect to risk factors blog ”Learn more about risk factors”).

If you’re not sure whether to choose white or blue

Very light blue or pale green granules may appear when, for example, very small amounts of blood or glucose are present in the urine.

Note: Particular environmental conditions (high temperature and/or humidity; direct exposure to sunlight; exposure to an oxidising agent – e.g. bleach) as well as a bias in compliance with conditions of use (forgetfulness of daily cleaning, granules already soiled by urine on which a cat will “re-urinate” etc.) can distort the colorimetric response of granules.

If you’re unsure of the colour, remove all soiled granules from the litter and make sure the litter is clean. If your Blücare granules have been in your litter box for a month or more, clean the entire box and replace it with a new set (litter + bag of granules). In the next 24 to 48 hours, watch your cat’s behaviour and the colour of the new soiled granules.

If your cat’s behaviour is unusual and/or you still notice a bluish discolouration, contact your vet.

You see blue granules

The granules have detected blood and/or glucose in your cat’s urine.

It’s advisable to contact your veterinarian, as these biomarkers may be signs of urinary pathology or feline diabetes. The darker the blue, the greater the quantity of biomarkers detected.

Reminder: Granules are not a substitute for veterinary advice. Whatever the colour of the granules, if you have any doubts about your cat’s health, we recommend that you contact your veterinarian.

Risk factors for Urinary Disease and Diabetes

Risk factors are characteristics which, when present, increase an individual’s likelihood of developing certain disorders.

As with humans, increased surveillance is recommended for cats with certain risk factors. Here, we’ll focus on risk factors for Urinary Disease and feline Diabetes.

These pathologies are progressive (their severity can progress over time): it’s important to detect them early to enable optimal treatment. However, cats are notorious for masking their clinical signs. So it’s not easy to spot these diseases in their early stages. That’s why it’s important to have tools to help us detect these diseases early, especially in cats with specific risk factors.

Urinary diseases

As one of the leading causes of consultation in veterinary medicine, urinary pathologies are unfortunately as frequent as they are dreaded: if we include renal diseases and urinary diseases, they represent the leading cause of death in cats1 (to find out more about urinary diseases, read our article on the subject).

Several risk factors can increase the likelihood of your cat developing urinary tract disease. In the scientific literature, these include

• Stress/anxiety
• Being overweight
• Sedentary/indoor lifestyle
• Multi-cat environment
• Male cats
• Cats eating dry food, non-specialised for the urinary tract and who don’t drink much
• A history of urinary tract disease

If your cat has any of these characteristics, we recommend frequent urinary tract tests, especially to check for the presence of blood. But taking urine samples from cats is not always easy.

We recommend daily use of OdourLock maxCare cat litter, which detects blood in urine simply, reliably and non-invasively at the very first trace (even when blood is invisible to the naked eye).

Early detection can greatly facilitate treatment, reduce costs and can often prevent major complications of urinary disease.

Talk to your vet: Blücare® is recommended by veterinary surgeons specialising in feline medicine!

Feline diabetes

A hormonal pathology increasingly common in cats, feline diabetes is a progressive disease. Unlike in humans, if diabetes is detected early and properly monitored, 70% of cats can be completely cured2!

To find out more about feline diabetes, read our article on the subject published in collaboration with our associate veterinarian, Dr. Élodie Khenifar.

Several risk factors can increase the likelihood that your cat will develop diabetes (note that you’ll find some that are common with urinary tract diseases):

• Age (over 6 or 7 years)
• Being overweight
• Sedentary/indoor lifestyle
• Male sex
• Breed (e.g. certain lines of Sacred Birman, Tonkinese, Norwegian)
• Treatment with glucocorticoids (=anti-inflammatory drugs such as prednisone or cortisone) or progestagens (=contraceptive hormones)
• A history of diabetes or chronic inflammatory disease

If your cat has one or more of these characteristics, we recommend regular urine testing for glucose.

We recommend frequent use of OdourLock maxCare litter, which detects glucose in urine (one of the first signs of feline diabetes) simply, reliably and non-invasively.

Detection within the first few weeks can greatly facilitate treatment, reduce costs and can often lead to complete diabetic remission.

Talk to your vet: Blücare® is recommended by veterinary surgeons specialising in feline medicine!

In conclusion, whether we’re talking about veterinary medicine or any other field, “prevention is better than cure” remains the watchword for responsible action. Favouring prevention rather than having to treat a complication in an emergency is generally advantageous, for the animal’s well-being, for your peace of mind and from a financial point of view.

Why is screening key in feline medicine?

Common diseases: Urinary diseases are one of the 1st causes of consultation, and diabetes is one of the main feline hormonal diseases.

Silent evolution: Often, the early stages of these pathologies go unnoticed: clinical signs may be visible only at a later stage.

Very good results if treated early: Early treatment can greatly reduce complications and costs!

1Piyarungsri, Tangtrongsup et al. 2020

2Roomp and Rand 2009, Roomp and Rand 2012, Hafner, Dietiker-Moretti et al. 2014, Scherk, Buffington et al. 2020

This article was written in collaboration with Élodie Khenifar, Veterinary Doctor, M.Sc. (clinical pathology), Medical Director of Laboratoires Blücare. Élodie is a graduate of the École Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse, did her specialty training at the Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort and her Masters in Veterinary Science at the Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire de Saint-Hyacinthe, Université de Montréal.

Litter box maintenance

Pour 10 to 12 cm of litter into an empty, dry tray. Spread the bag of Blücare® granules evenly over the litter. Remove urine and faeces clumps daily with a litter scoop. Wait 2 minutes after urine has come into contact with the granules, then observe the result. If the granules are WHITE or YELLOW, the test is negative. If they are BLUE, the test is positive: Blücare® has detected blood or glucose in your cat’s urine. Contact your vet for further tests.

Do not flush granules or litter down the toilet. Change the litter and clean the tray every 40 days. Test results may vary according to conditions of use and other factors such as the cat’s diet and medication**.

For more information visit https://www.bsbproducts.co.uk/intersand/maxcare/

Important:

OdourLock® maxCare™ detects blood and glucose in cat urine. It is not a therapeutic product, and should not be used to diagnose, treat, mitigate, or prevent a health problem with your cat.

OdourLock® maxCare™ should never be used as a replacement for proper veterinary care. Regardless of the results obtained using OdourLock® maxCare™, consult your veterinarian if your cat demonstrates any abnormal signs.

Storage:

Store in a dry place away from direct sunlight. Keep out of reach of children. OdourLock® maxCare™ has been tested by veterinarians. Safe and non-toxic for animals and humans in normal use conditions.