Examination of the MALDI BioTyper system with MALDI-TOF MS for rapid identification of microorganisms causing bacterial urinary tract infection from cat urine samples

Abstract

Several studies have reported urinary tract infection of felines with LUTD accounting for 2–10% of cases. We performed direct identification of bacteria in urine using pretreatment kits for the direct application of positive blood culture bottles to MALDI-TOF MS. Urine samples collected from 43 cats with bacterial cystitis brought to Maeda Veterinary Hospital between August 10, 2015 and March 31, 2016 were used in the study. The MALDI Sepsityper Kit correctly identified 23 enteric gram-negative bacteria (92.0%) and 6 gram-positive cocci (37.5%). This method employing the MALDI Sepsityper Kit for pretreatment is a quick and reliable method for the identification of bacteria from infected urines.