? Ketone Urine Stick is grey. Means what?

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Cat Caregiver

Cat Caregiver

Member Since 2020
Oliver was in hospital on Nov. 5 & 6 because of sudden vomiting and diarrhea. Vet said Oliver's blood was 1.8 for ketones where normal is <0.5. Today I'm getting slightly GREY on urine sticks for ketone test. The KEY shows pink to red color changes so I'm not sure what grey means, although I'm sure he has ketones since he did just a few days ago in hospital. His stool is still very loose but not pure liquid. Should I give pumpkin? He's on 7-day course of antibiotics for high WBC. Yesterday I got a lot of BG's and even a blue one!
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Do you still have the urine sample, CC? If yes, try testing again with a fresh strip. Also I suggest checking the expiry date on the strips. If you get a duff result again I'd suggest getting a fresh pack of test strips. If the test results on the new pack are valid and the expiry date on the first pack hasn't been reached, perhaps go back to the seller and ask for a refund.


Mogs
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Huh.... well, the ketone sticks need to be read within a specific time frame (usually 15 seconds), after which they darken. Maybe the darkening explains the gray, but that to me looks like a negative reading if anything. Agree with Mogs, re-test if possible, and check the expiration date. Regardless of date, they also go bad if the package has been open for a while.

There are various scales for ketones, so I'm not sure what scale the 1.8 is on. But on the commercially-available blood ketone meters, a 1.8 would be OK for a cat-- we really only start to worry when they get to mid-2's. See Ketones, Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA), and Blood Ketone Meters for more info.
 
Age, expiration, timing the read--all should not be an issue.

Before Oliver got sick with the diarrhea and vomiting and was in hospital, I always had perfect matches with the "negative" on the KEY. But since coming home from hospital, they are now GREY the past few days. Maybe the antibiotics? Who knows. Thank all y'all for the links and advice.

I'll check with the vet on the color of the strips and whether to add pumpkin.

Oliver is on 0.9 ml liquid Orbifloxacin (30 mg/ml) once daily for 7 days. Vet said his WBC was high (37 on a 2.87-17.02 normal range) so vet said pancreas and/or urinary track probably inflamed.
 
Cat Caregiver said:
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Before Oliver got sick with the diarrhea and vomiting and was in hospital, I always had perfect matches with the "negative" on the KEY. But since coming home from hospital, they are now GREY the past few days. Maybe the antibiotics? Who knows. Thank all y'all for the links and advice.\
Click to expand...

That's an idea... haven't heard of that, but I can certainly imagine that there might be some biochemical changes to urine from antibiotics or some other med that could change the reaction conditions on the strips. Hmmm. I'll be interested to hear what the vet says about that!
 
Thanks for the link about strips turning gray. Bottom line: "If one uses a keto strip that turns gray, they should not immediately make an assumption on whether or not they are in ketosis."

So, I tested the strip on my own urine and it was the light pink for normal. Not gray. Strips work. They were opened about a month ago and are well-within the 90-days-after-opening expiration date.

I asked the vet and she was not concerned. She liked the BG numbers Oliver is having and will be watching Oliver's spreadsheet link to see if he needs an increase in Lantus in the next couple of days. I'm so glad to have access and training to the spreadsheet from this forum to help my vet! Thanks y'all.
 
Update: after four days of "grey" Oliver's urine ketone stick is back to the normal "peach". Go figure. Apparently someone posted the exact same thing on this site years ago. Also, it's a common question in Google searches. Some temporary blood chemistry change must be doing it I guess.
 
How bizarre! Given it appears to be a common issue you'd think they might put some sort of warning notice on the ketone strip packaging about what to do if strips turn grey.


Mogs
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