testing for Ketones

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Tina and Gracie (GA)

Tina and Gracie (GA)

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Over the last few days I have read some very sad posts regarding DKA, and Gracie will be tested, as I know it is painful. I want to give her the best life I can.

Gracie has never tested positive; however, this does not mean she never will. I have testing strips and she does not like it when I try to catch urine. In fact she growls--something I have never heard her do before trying to test.

I am totally willing to buy the blood testing kit, as I'm assuming I wouldn't need to test daily. Is this the best option, or are there other techniques I could try.
 
I think it depends on you and your kitty. Sam doesn't mind me sticking the strip under his bum when he pees. He even lifts his butt for me when he sees what I'm doing. So for me, the test strips work fine - I can usually tell when he's headed to the litter box, so I can always get a test on the day I want it. I tested him weekly when he was in lower numbers, and a couple of times/week when he is in higher numbers. When he's having a pancreatitis flare his appetite goes down and odds of getting ketones goes up, so I test him daily.

I think if a cat is more private about their litter box use, or if the bean's schedule doesn't work with the cat's litter box schedule, then the meter is definitely the way to go. Even if you tested every single day (which isn't necessary), it would come out to $365 over the course of the year. A DKA episode can cost $2,ooo-$5,000 easily, so you'd still be money ahead.

So it's just a matter of what works best for the cat and the human involved.

And you are absolutely right - DKA is the by far far far the leading cause of death for our extra-sweet kitties. The urgency of appropriate care in this regard cannot be emphasized enough. Thanks for bringing this up!
 
You can use aquarium gravel in a clean pan. Then you can rinse and reuse again. Also some put plastic wrap over litter and make a little well in it.

I just order the blood ketone meter. Like you Love hasn't had DKA, but since she is newly diagnosed and so far the dose isn't making headway I worry about DKA.
 
If you keep doing it like you are, she'll very likely finally realize you're not doing anything bad and will stop that. KT, my first sugarboy, lifted his butt when I told him to 'pee on my stick'... :) When we adopted Dakota, he was very private with his litterbox habits. I started just walking to the room door looking elsewhere and walking away. After a few days, I'd walk to the box edge then walk away. Within about 3 weeks, he'd 'pee on my stick' too...

Aquarium gravel is a good one, plastic wrap just under top of litter works, you can also softly ball up small pieces of plastic wrap in the top litter layer - if cat pees on any of the pieces, enough urine to test will likely be caught in some of the folds.

Blood ketone meter works fine too!
 
Djamila said:
I think it depends on you and your kitty. Sam doesn't mind me sticking the strip under his bum when he pees. He even lifts his butt for me when he sees what I'm doing. So for me, the test strips work fine - I can usually tell when he's headed to the litter box, so I can always get a test on the day I want it. I tested him weekly when he was in lower numbers, and a couple of times/week when he is in higher numbers. When he's having a pancreatitis flare his appetite goes down and odds of getting ketones goes up, so I test him daily.

I think if a cat is more private about their litter box use, or if the bean's schedule doesn't work with the cat's litter box schedule, then the meter is definitely the way to go. Even if you tested every single day (which isn't necessary), it would come out to $365 over the course of the year. A DKA episode can cost $2,ooo-$5,000 easily, so you'd still be money ahead.

So it's just a matter of what works best for the cat and the human involved.

And you are absolutely right - DKA is the by far far far the leading cause of death for our extra-sweet kitties. The urgency of appropriate care in this regard cannot be emphasized enough. Thanks for bringing this up!
Click to expand...

You have Sam trained well!! Which test strips do you use? I'm guessing they are all the same.

Is the meter just faster? I know I requires more blood.
 
Squeaky and KT (GA) said:
If you keep doing it like you are, she'll very likely finally realize you're not doing anything bad and will stop that. KT, my first sugarboy, lifted his butt when I told him to 'pee on my stick'... :) When we adopted Dakota, he was very private with his litterbox habits. I started just walking to the room door looking elsewhere and walking away. After a few days, I'd walk to the box edge then walk away. Within about 3 weeks, he'd 'pee on my stick' too...

Aquarium gravel is a good one, plastic wrap just under top of litter works, you can also softly ball up small pieces of plastic wrap in the top litter layer - if cat pees on any of the pieces, enough urine to test will likely be caught in some of the folds.

Blood ketone meter works fine too!
Click to expand...

I think I'm going to keep trying. Although if she really prefers to be left alone--I'll buy the meter.
 
Squeaky and KT (GA) said:
you can also softly ball up small pieces of plastic wrap in the top litter layer - if cat pees on any of the pieces, enough urine to test will likely be caught in some of the folds.
Click to expand...
I'm so going to try this! Chuck doesn't dig to pee unless there's plastic wrap down. Then he pulls it out of the box or to the other side and pees where he normally does.
 
Can anyone provide me with a link for the correct monitor to buy? The one recommended on the FDMB site through Hock's Pharmacy is no longer active.
I looked on Amazon and I find some, but I'd ideally like the one that tests for BG and Ketones at the same time.
 
Teenuh said:
Can anyone provide me with a link for the correct monitor to buy? The one recommended on the FDMB site through Hock's Pharmacy is no longer active.
I looked on Amazon and I find some, but I'd ideally like the one that tests for BG and Ketones at the same time.
Click to expand...
I shared a link on Chloe's thread, #19 I believe. The ketone and blood strips were both available at Walmart but the I only found online.
Here's a kit with meter and 10 strips for $50

https://www.adwdiabetes.com/product...MIv7ra_NCm2QIVGa_ICh0GIAVYEAkYASABEgJnLfD_BwE
Extra strips are $19 for ten
https://www.adwdiabetes.com/product/3398/nova-max-plus-ketone-test-strips

I order syringes from adw diabetes so I know they're a reliable company.
Here is a link to one of them: $28 for the meter
http://www.familyotc.com/mobile/pro...79e0a2&gdfms=EF4DE61C409941EA96896151B29408F5
Here's a link to the strips: $20 for ten strips at Walmart.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Precisio...0702&wl11=online&wl12=162293700&wl13=&veh=sem

There might be cheaper ones out there.
 
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I'm so glad you're going to test for ketones! It's very important...DKA is treatable, especially with early detection and vigilance of the bean. We generally recommend the blood meter once a cat has gone DKA before as ketones do show up earlier in blood than in urine...but of course you can get the blood meter if you want! I probably would have ended up going that way myself in time as it was just easier to get blood than to get urine while working. :)
 
Baby urinates straight back since her UTI & diabetes dx! Does anyone else have a cat that pees this way? I wonder if she had the UTI so badly that it messed up her peepee’er.? Anyway it’s a perfect stream to stick a test strip in! I’m fast & wave it like a flag & voila! But honestly I wonder why she pees as if she’s marking territory. My grandkids lived here for awhile & my other cat Lizzie was also going through breast cancer. The vet said it was possibly a marking territory type thing? Anyone else have this in a female kitty. Non squat, perches on litter box - straight back pee?!?
 
Becky & Baby Girl Kitty said:
Baby urinates straight back since her UTI & diabetes dx! Does anyone else have a cat that pees this way? I wonder if she had the UTI so badly that it messed up her peepee’er.? Anyway it’s a perfect stream to stick a test strip in! I’m fast & wave it like a flag & voila! But honestly I wonder why she pees as if she’s marking territory. My grandkids lived here for awhile & my other cat Lizzie was also going through breast cancer. The vet said it was possibly a marking territory type thing? Anyone else have this in a female kitty. Non squat, perches on litter box - straight back pee?!?
Click to expand...

Cat's do weird things--hard to say. Gracie doesn't do that, but if I'm using clay litter she sometimes go through phases where if there is any old #1 or #2 in the box she goes just outside of it. She hasn't done this in a long time. I thought for sure it was UTI back then but she was tested. If I'm home I scoop 2x a day.
The territory thing makes sense though. The good thing is, is you are able to test for ketones!
 
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