How to interpret Urine Test Strip Results

[whiskysmom]

I am mom to a newly diagnosed diabetic cat, and we haven't been able to home test for BG yet. I know it's very important and we are working on getting set up for it, but in the meantime while we are getting set up and until we can do it successfully and consistently, I have started doing urine tests, because I figured urine tests are better than no tests at all.

I have done lots of reading and understand that urine glucose tests are not very reliable and I will not be making any dosage changes based on the results. I purely want to test to know if he may be getting too high and if I should move up his vet appointment sooner so we can get BG tested (and so I can get some support and more practice home testing BG. (My vet's office is wonderful!)

The ketone urine test was easy to read - especially since it keeps coming up as negative (yay!) but I don't know how to interpret the urine glucose test result. I've included a photo of what the bottle shows, as well as a photo of the urine glucose strips I'm using, made for humans. It appears that his test today matched the chart for the "1/2 g/dL" or "28 mmol/L" marking. I know this means there is glucose in his urine, but how much is too much? It it more important if it is showing higher levels of glucose consistently or is 1 test result enough to know something is wrong?

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Hi Stephanie
I am glad you are working towards home testing the blood glucose levels because they are so much more accurate than a urine test. Please let us know if we can help you with testing the BGlevels.

When you are testing the urine for glucose, you are testing a urine sample that has been in the bladder since the last pee. So it could be from the last 8 or 12 hours. It is not an up to the minute test like a blood glucose test is. So during that 8 to 12 hours the BG level could have gone from normal to high and back again and you would not know what the level is now.....just that there is glucose in it.
What most vets will be concerned about is if there is no glucose in the urine....which means that the BG level is more in the normal range and there could be a risk of hypo numbers if the BG is not checked and the insulin is not reduced.
If you are testing the BG levels it is fine to have the cat in normal numbers as you can see what is happening at any given time.
It is good you are testing the urine for glucose in the interim but I would strongly advise you to start learning to test the blood. It is a much better way to keep Whisky safe.

I think you need to be testing the urine daily at different times

 

[whiskysmom]

Hi Stephanie
I am glad you are working towards home testing the blood glucose levels because they are so much more accurate than a urine test. Please let us know if we can help you with testing the BGlevels.

When you are testing the urine for glucose, you are testing a urine sample that has been in the bladder since the last pee. So it could be from the last 8 or 12 hours. It is not an up to the minute test like a blood glucose test is. So during that 8 to 12 hours the BG level could have gone from normal to high and back again and you would not know what the level is now.....just that there is glucose in it.
What most vets will be concerned about is if there is no glucose in the urine....which means that the BG level is more in the normal range and there could be a risk of hypo numbers if the BG is not checked and the insulin is not reduced.
If you are testing the BG levels it is fine to have the cat in normal numbers as you can see what is happening at any given time.
It is good you are testing the urine for glucose in the interim but I would strongly advise you to start learning to test the blood. It is a much better way to keep Whisky safe.

I think you need to be testing the urine daily at different times

Thanks so much for your message and info! I am currently researching BG testing meters and strips in my area and what options may work well for us, as well as how to do it. This forum is super helpful with all the info it has (though I've been spending more time reading it than working lately, whoops!)

Whisky usually pees about twice a day (usually one of those two times is during the night) so being able to test urine multiple times daily isn't likely. He is unusual in that frequent drinking and urination were not a symptom for him pre-diagnosis, so catching him in action peeing is a challenge! I know we need to get into the BG testing, but for now I figured that any testing at all was better than nothing.

Thanks for your support!

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

When I mentioned testing the urine daily at different times, I didn’t mean multiple times. Just the once. But of course it can only be tested when Whisky pees!!

I would recommend you get a human glucose meter for a couple of reasons. It is much cheaper to buy the test strips for a human meter than a pet meter and our dosing methods are based on the human meter numbers not the pet meter numbers.

You could start another thread and ask for recommendations for a human meter in Canada.

 

[whiskysmom]

When I mentioned testing the urine daily at different times, I didn’t mean multiple times. Just the once. But of course it can only be tested when Whisky pees!!

I would recommend you get a human glucose meter for a couple of reasons. It is much cheaper to buy the test strips for a human meter than a pet meter and our dosing methods are based on the human meter numbers not the pet meter numbers.

You could start another thread and ask for recommendations for a human meter in Canada.

Ohhhh that makes sense!

Definitely I will ask for recommendations of a human meter in Canada and get one. I've been watching videos and now whenever I can I'm rubbing Whisky's ears gently to get him used to me touching them.