We describe a simple adaptation of the Water Pik (Teledyne Water Pik, Fort Collins, Colorado) irrigating device which allows vigorous, direct-vision agitation of the bladder wall. Three groups of mongrel dogs were subjected to cystoscopy and either syringe barbotage, half-speed Water Pik irrigation, or full-speed Water Pik irrigation of the bladder wall. Transitional cell counts were then done on centrifuged aliquots of each bladder wash specimen. The average number of transitional cells per high-power field were similar between the control group and the syringe barbotage group (2.5 and 1.5 respectively). However, both the half-speed and the full-speed Water Pik groups demonstrated statistically higher cell counts (5.7 and 13.7) when compared to both the controls and syringe barbotage groups. We conclude that Water Pik irrigation is an effective method to increase cell yield in bladder wash specimens.