ABSTRACT
Dry reagent strip evaluation of urine is a standard screening and diagnostic test used to assess overall health and help detect or rule out specific disease conditions. A commercial at-home urinalysis reagent strip kit using a smartphone app to evaluate free-catch urine is being marketed directly to dog and cat owners. We compared agreement between simultaneous urinalysis using the commercial kit and standard reference methods in 48 canine urines submitted to our referral laboratory. Agreement was defined by analyte based on clinical impact. Sensitivity, specificity, and Cohen's kappa evaluated categorical data, and a paired t test was used for continuous variables (significance P < .05). The commercial kit had ≥1 disagreement with the reference method per sample and produced results if the test strip was absent or reversed. Specific gravity and pH concurred with the reference method in only 31% (P < .011) and 27% (P < .001) of cases, respectively. The sensitivity was low for all analytes except ketones, which had 77% false positives. False-positive nitrites and leukocytes were also frequent (36 and 19%, respectively). False negatives for blood (27%), nitrites (38%), and protein (54%) were common. This kit is inaccurate; its use for clinical decisions is not recommended.
