? Ketone Meter

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Sheila and Minky

Sheila and Minky

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Hi, I am looking for a reliable ketone meter where strips are not quite as expensive. I have the Abbott Precision Xtra but strips get quite pricey. Any good cheaper alternatives? On Amazon I see sometimes strips have expired so it gets confusing. Thank you!
 
Unfortunately, pretty much all the blood ketone meters strips are about $1 each, give or take a few cents. The KetoMojo is a popular one but I don't think you're going to save a lot on strips
 
Chris & China (GA) said:
OUCH!!
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Yeah. Makes AT strips seem reasonable. I’m numb now to the price of both. Sheila is in the same expensive boat

edit: when methos was first diagnosed he was on Bexacat which ran about $120 a month for meds, plus the ketone strips, plus labs every month. Switching to insulin actually decreased costs a little (I’d say significantly except his ketones went up so i still test —probably more than I have to—and the AT gets used more
 
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Just a thought - if you're in the US and have a HSA or FSA account, you can use those funds to buy (Human) diabetic supplies. Insulin, test strips, ketone strips, etc. HSA/FSA will not work for pet specific insulin or pet test strips or anything made for pets. You can use the HSA/FSA card to make the purchase or pay out of pocket and submit the receipt for reimbursement. Definitely check your specific plan for details but no one will ever check to see if you're buying the supplies for yourself or for a relative or for a pet.
 
I like the Precision Xtra ketone txest strips since they are individually packaged and thus will last longer with infrequent use vice those that come in a vial like my glucose test strips.
 
I switched to the KetoSens meter and strips, so far so good, I recommend.

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Rae's Family said:
Is there a significant benefit to home testing for ketones if not on Bexacat? Wondering if I should drop the money to test my girl at home since they apparently didn't include it in her last blood panel at the vet...
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For the average cat probably not —but then there can be a time you want to do it and it will take three days or more to get a meter (not carried in pharmacies).

if your cat has a high BG and is acting “off” testing their ketones could give you an idea if they are headed toward DKA. If your cat has a history of DKA I’d say definitely get a meter. You can test urine—it’s cheaper—but usually when you really want to know the ketone number the cat isn’t eating or drinking or peeing. And I find it difficult to get urine from a cat.

ketone strips are pricey compared to glucose—and following ketones daily can make you crazy (don’t be me…I’m crazy…besides there’s a unique reason I do it related to his rare tumor). It could be reasoned that if your cat has a high BG and isn’t eating or looks ill you’d go to er anyway so no need to test. So I can’t logically say it’s something you need. But I like having one and even if I hadn’t bought one because Methos was initially on Bexacat I’d have bought one because I dread the thought of needing one at 1 am on a Saturday. I also make sure i always have meds on hand for vomiting or diarrhea so I’m sort of a doom prepper.

edit: if you got one for just in case you’d probably only use it if your cat had especially high BG or was acting off—if your cat has a history of dka you’d probably test a bit more often just to keep an eye on them if not well regulated.
 
Rae's Family said:
Is there a significant benefit to home testing for ketones if not on Bexacat? Wondering if I should drop the money to test my girl at home since they apparently didn't include it in her last blood panel at the vet...
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For instance, I don’t know about Jason and Kona, but Sheila tests Minky because Minky was hospitalized with DKA and I test Methos because his tumor churns out high doses of steroid so he’s always in bad control and has been ketotic but thankfully not acidotic. Because he probably couldn’t survive the stress of a hospital stay I’m a bit (too) fanatical about trying to lower his ketones when they rise.
 
Rae's Family said:
Is there a significant benefit to home testing for ketones if not on Bexacat? Wondering if I should drop the money to test my girl at home since they apparently didn't include it in her last blood panel at the vet...
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SmallestSparrow said:
For instance, I don’t know about Jason and Kona, but Sheila tests Minky because Minky was hospitalized with DKA and I test Methos because his tumor churns out high doses of steroid so he’s always in bad control and has been ketotic but thankfully not acidotic. Because he probably couldn’t survive the stress of a hospital stay I’m a bit (too) fanatical about trying to lower his ketones when they rise.
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Kona has no history of DKA and I have no other reason to test for ketones other than me just being a paranoid parent. Whenever she gets 300+ for extended periods of time like around 8 hours or more, I test for ketones and often see it at 0.1-0.3, which is nothing.... I think the most I've ever seen her test at was 0.5 and that was when she was fresh out the ER for gastrointestinal reasons and hit 400+

Sometimes I test Kona's ketones for absolutely no reason at all, when numbers are good. This is typically when there's extra blood and I just want to do a routine test... The strips expire as well, so I don't mind testing for no reason.

Moral of the story, when Kona is in higher numbers, it's the only thing that gives me piece of mind. That's worth $1 per test, every time.
 
Jason - Kona's Dad said:
Kona has no history of DKA and I have no other reason to test for ketones other than me just being a paranoid parent. Whenever she gets 300+ for extended periods of time like around 8 hours or more, I test for ketones and often see it at 0.1-0.3, which is nothing.... I think the most I've ever seen her test at was 0.5 and that was when she was fresh out the ER for gastrointestinal reasons and hit 400+

Sometimes I test Kona's ketones for absolutely no reason at all, when numbers are good. This is typically when there's extra blood and I just want to do a routine test... The strips expire as well, so I don't mind testing for no reason.

Moral of the story, when Kona is in higher numbers, it's the only thing that gives me piece of mind. That's worth $1 per test, every time.
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And see, Rae's been getting up into the 500s (highest ever was 615)! So lots of people on here have suggested I test. The vet did not test her for whatever reason... so now I also need that peace of mind, I get where you're coming from!
 
Rae's Family said:
And see, Rae's been getting up into the 500s (highest ever was 615)! So lots of people on here have suggested I test. The vet did not test her for whatever reason... so now I also need that peace of mind, I get where you're coming from!
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Could they have checked and you don’t realize it? Did they do a urine test? Ketones is part of a regular urine test, even if they didn’t do a blood test.

I think testing when your cat has a high blood sugar is important but not if you’re an anxious sort who will become ill over results. It will give you some peace of mind and some hint of potential problems BUT you should never rely on the results alone. In either direction.

if the cat has ketones in the “unlikely to be DKA” range and is vomiting/won’t eat they should go to vet/er regardless. If the cat has ketones in the “borderline” area (say 1.0 or 1.6) but is eating, drinking and acting normal you could go to er but they will likely say “your cat is fine”. I went for 1.0 when he wasn’t eating and $800 later was asked “why are you here?” Now I just watch him at home and hope it goes down.

I still test and I get anxious when it’s 1.0 and will push more food and give fluids when ketones are higher but to be honest I don’t always see an effect from that. I work on not being anxious.

as I said before I think having a meter is a wise investment if you can afford it but I’d pay as much or more attention to how the cat is doing. And try to relax about the numbers. Good luck!
 
SmallestSparrow said:
Could they have checked and you don’t realize it? Did they do a urine test? Ketones is part of a regular urine test, even if they didn’t do a blood test.
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They did do a blood test, but did not do a urine. No ketone test in the blood panel, even though they already suspected FD.... I'm not the biggest fan of this vet and have an appointment with a different one on Friday when I'm going to politely demand they test for ketones, lol
 
Larry and Kitties said:
A blood ketone test done by the labs such as Antech amd Idexx is an add-on test and not part of normal bloodwork.
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I just thought it was weird because they knew it was likely FD and since that's such a big part of FD concerns I figured they would do it purely based on the suspected diagnosis.
 
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