The paperwork · FAQ

Asked in the waiting room

How does sand keep urine on top — won't my cat just bury it?

The coating is genuinely hydrophobic: liquid cannot soak between the grains, so it beads and pools on the surface. Burying just puts dry sand over a liquid bead — sweep the sand aside and the pooled sample pops back up whole. That physics is the patent.

Will my cat actually use strange new litter?

Most do without ceremony, because it is 100% natural sand — no perfume, no crystals, no chemical smell. Picky cats may circle it for a few hours first; give them a clean, dry box, no alternative litter available, and a day of patience. A refusal after that is rare enough that we wrote a returns page about it.

Is a strip result a diagnosis?

No, and we will keep saying so. Strips are an early-warning system: they tell you something is worth a professional look days or weeks before symptoms would. One mild abnormal on a healthy-acting pet means retest in 48 hours; a repeat abnormal, any strong positive, or any reading plus symptoms means a same-week vet visit — with your readings in hand.

How fresh does the sample need to be?

Strips want a sample under an hour old at room temperature. For a vet drop-off, refrigerate the capped vial and deliver it the same day — urine chemistry starts fiction-writing after about 24 hours even when cold.

Which kit should a first-timer start with?

For a cat: the CheckUp kit — sand plus the four-indicator strips covers the questions vets ask first. For a dog: the CheckUp dog kit with the pole. Go Pro (ten parameters) when there is a specific watch-list: a senior, a diabetic, a kidney or UTI history.

Why is the sand a one-time use? That seems small.

Because a urinalysis wants one clean, uncontaminated collection — and sand is heavy, so we portion exactly what one collection needs to keep the box affordable to ship. All three bags go in at once, the depth feels normal underfoot, and the box does one job perfectly rather than three jobs badly.