Sometimes I’m given the task of obtaining urine samples from some of our animals for veterinary purposes. Some of our animals require routine urinalysis so that we can monitor the progression of various issues. Most of the time I spend my time trying to get urine from our three Red-ruffed Lemurs, which is surprisingly easy to do. For the most part the Red-ruffed Lemurs will pee in a cup for me! Some animals, like our former goat Chummix, are a bit more difficult to get urine from. Since Chummix had horns and at times didn’t appreciate anyone in his personal space I needed a way to get his urine without getting too close to him. So I developed the Urine Retrieval Device (URD)!

Unfortunately Chummix was afraid of the URD and I had to quickly run into the yard while he was urinating and try to suck up the urine before it soaked into the ground. This is by far not the best way to obtain a sample, but at the time I would take anything I could get from him. Since his passing I put the URD on the shelf never thinking I would get a chance to use it again until our two current goats Rocky and Patches needed to have urinalysis run on a regular basis. Luckily neither Rocky nor Patches minded the URD and almost on cue urinated into my ladle so that I could get a much cleaner sample then one from off the ground. I am so excited how well the URD works and it even doubles as a toy for Rocky and Patches.

Patches demonstrates the URD.