Reading urine strips and freshness of urine sample?

[Avery]

I've gone through the FAQs and searched the board, but I haven't found a definitive answer to two questions, though I'm sure I could have missed it....

1) When testing for ketones with urine strips, do you go strictly by color? The "negative color" on my vial is kind of a golden yellow, then it goes up to pink,then darker pink, then brown, etc....

Turtle's result was a golden-yellow color but a darker shade of yellow than the "negative" yellow color on the vial. Is it OK for it to be a darker shade as long as it is the same color? It's definitely not pink.

2) How fresh does a sample actually have to be? I've only caught Turtle in the act once, the other times 10-15 minutes has passed before I realize she's peed and I can dip the strip in the puddle. How long can urine sit around and still be good to test for ketones?

Thanks!
Avery

 

[Hope + (((Baby)))GA]

Avery, what test strips are you using? The Ketostix (ketones only) start out kinda beige and the KetoDiastix(Glucose and ketones) the glucose starts out as green. I don't have any that start out yellow and I don't have a bottle of Chemstrips to look at.

As for how long the urine holds ketones if there are any, I did a test on Mishka when she was throwing them again. I caught a good cup of urine, tested, put it in the garage for over 36 hrs. and took her to ER but when I retested that urine it still showed the same amount it did when I caught it fresh. I certainly wouldn't worry about urine sitting there for a short while.

 

[Vyktors Mum]

Don't the instructions with the strips tell you how old the urine can be? I am using Keto-Diastix and the instructions tell me that if the testing can't be done within an hour of the sample being collected you should cover it tightly and refridgerate the sample until it can be tested (but let it warm back up to room temperature before you test it). On this basis I don't think a 10 or 15 minute delay is going to affect the results.

My understanding as to the colour results is that you will see definite pink tones if there is ketone present so it seems like all is good for you in that department.

 

[Avery]

Ummm, obviously I've picked up my husband's bad habit of not reading instructions...

They do say: "Color Chart blocks may give approximate values; actual colors may be slightly darker or lighter than color shown on chart..."

So that answers my question about the color. However, the instructions don't say anything about how old the urine can be. However I'm pretty sure these are just the CVS version of the Keto-Diastix ("Ketone Care, acetoacetic acid reagent strips for urinalysis"), so they're probably the same in that respect.

(Edit - I just realized your instructions referred to Keto-Diastix. My Strips I think are the CVS version of the "Keto-Stix." So perhaps the instructions are different. I'll look into it but I'm not going to sweat it too much.)

So I'm definitely not going to worry about a sample that is 15 minutes old.

It's nice to have one less thing to worry about....
Thanks very much both of you!
Avery