Vet wants alphatrak curve. doesnt trust human meter

Status
Not open for further replies.
Mrollie

Mrollie

Member Since 2016
Hey all
We took Ollie in for a checkup today and the vet was not comfortable with my relion micro numbers. Ollie has to have his last fang removed and the vet won't schedule the procedure until we do a curve with an alphatrak glucometer (or pay to have one done there). I argued a little but ended up semi-agreeing to procure the meter.
What do you recommend I do? I hate the idea of having to buy a meter for one day. I really like my relion and thanks to this community, feel very confident about its purpose in treating my cat.
On a good note, he's gained a slight bit of weight and has been responding well to the glargine. Although I'm sure changing from a dry food diet has a lot to do with his drop.
 
They are reliable enough to use in humans, and we have thousands, if not millions, of tests here showing that they are effective in managing feline diabetes successfully. In fact, the Lantus Tight Regulation method was developed using human glucometers.
At the lowest end of the scale, a human meter 68 mg/dL 50 mg/dL is roughly equivalent to 68 mg/dL on a pet meter per internationally known feline diabetes expert Dr Rand of the University of Queensland. The normal range using a human glucometer is 40-120 mg/dL when off insulin.

Otherwise, sounds like time to go vet shopping.

Vet Interview Topics
 
Last edited by a moderator:
If you buy the starter kit for the AT2 which has the meter, 25 strips 25 lancets and the test solution it may be cheaper than paying for a curve done at the vets and will be less stressful for Ollie. Check the pricing for the curve and if it is cheaper to buy the starter kit then you could do that and if your vet ever wants a pet monitor reading you would still be able to do some of those and have a backup meter if ever needed.


ETA You could just continue using your human meter for the rest of the time :)
 
When I asked my vet about AT vs human he laughed and said we used he human meter for years before AT came along.... that being said I do use AT
and I recently got the freestyle strips (25$ vs 60$) and they were either spot on or with 10 points (same drop of blood) and on lower numbers as well--just FYI for you:bighug:
 
jayla-n-Drevon said:
When I asked my vet about AT vs human he laughed and said we used he human meter for years before AT came along.... that being said I do use AT
and I recently got the freestyle strips (25$ vs 60$) and they were either spot on or with 10 points (same drop of blood) and on lower numbers as well--just FYI for you:bighug:
Click to expand...


I do the same with the FS Lite strips.

However if Ollie's vet is refusing to do a dental until a curve has been done with the AT meter, then there are only two choices..have it done at the vet or buy the starter kit. I would be inclined if it were me to buy the starter kit, since at least where I am it would tbe the cheaper option and less stress for the kitty.
 
Thanks all. Ebay was my next stop. I'll probably go this route if I stay with this vet. I just found out there's a $27 charge to analyze a home curve.
 
Get one from eBay. You can get strips from there too - just make sure to get unopened boxes with expiration dates that are not passed.

It is not needed. A CURVE is not needed when you home test enough, let alone one with an AT. The fact that they charge you just to read the numbers also doesn't pass the smell test. Sometimes we grin and bear illogical requests just to get what we want out of them.
 
Mrollie said:
Thanks all. Ebay was my next stop. I'll probably go this route if I stay with this vet. I just found out there's a $27 charge to analyze a home curve.
Click to expand...

If they're charging you $27 to "analyze" your home curve, that's just not right. Dosing with Lantus is based off the daily nadir, not a weekly curve, and I've never heard of a vet that charges to give you advice on your home test data. I would probably save your money find a new vet to do the dental who'll work with the data you have. An informed vet would know that daily numbers are more accurate in determining the effectiveness of the dose than a single office and/or home curve. I was about to recommend that it might be easier to just get the alphatrak for the one curve (even though it's completely unnecessary ) if you like and want to stay with your vet, until I read about the charge to read your home curve.

I am seriously bowled over by the audacity of charging to read your home test data. Bandit goes to Cornell, which can get pricy sometimes with some of periodic (but necessary) tests that we have to do for his myelofibrosis, but his vet is absolutely fine with the human meter and not once have I ever been charged by any vet to look at his blood glucose spreadsheet! If I needed dosing advice when he was on insulin (which was tricky this last time around because he was on steroids), I emailed his vet and he would check out his spreadsheet and get back to me with advice within 24 hours. For free. Can you even imagine if a human doctor charged a diabetic patient an additional fee to look at their home test numbers?
 
Mrollie said:
Thanks all. Ebay was my next stop. I'll probably go this route if I stay with this vet. I just found out there's a $27 charge to analyze a home curve.
Click to expand...
What?!? :eek::confused:o_O That's ridiculous! I gave my vet the link to Squallie's spreadsheet, he looks at my daily testing and curves all the time and doesn't charge a cent! I'm sorry, but it sounds to me like that vet is more concerned about the almighty dollar than he is your sweet kitty. :mad: I would definitely be interviewing for a new vet! Check out @BJM 's Vet Interview Topics, that was a huge help to me when I needed to find a new vet. :)
 
Squalliesmom said:
What?!? :eek::confused:o_O That's ridiculous! I gave my vet the link to Squallie's spreadsheet, he looks at my daily testing and curves all the time and doesn't charge a cent! I'm sorry, but it sounds to me like that vet is more concerned about the almighty dollar than he is your sweet kitty. :mad: I would definitely be interviewing for a new vet! Check out @BJM 's Vet Interview Topics, that was a huge help to me when I needed to find a new vet. :)
Click to expand...
I agree. My vet will constantly look at Lily's sheet and discuss over the phone without charge. I get lots of over the phone consultation for free. IT is only when the vet needs to see the cat in person I will get charged.
 
BJM said:
At the lowest end of the scale, a human meter 68 mg/dL is roughly equivalent to 68 mg/dL on a pet meter per internationally known feline diabetes expert Dr Rand of the University of Queensland.
Click to expand...
I think what BJM meant to say was:

"At the lowest end of the scale, a human meter 50 mg/dL is roughly equivalent to 68 mg/dL on a pet meter per internationally known feline diabetes expert Dr Rand of the University of Queensland."
 
Update! We took Ollie to a different vet and all is well. The new vet understands the difference between human and pet bg meters and isnt demanding we buy an alphatrack. They also support home curves and don't seem threatened by us doing their work for them. What a relief. Also, the tooth might stay as its his last fang and might not be as bad as originally thought. Thanks to all who responded, it helped us get to a good spot in his treatment quickly.

Question? We had lowered his dose to one unit twice a day prior to the visit and he seems to be responding well. We're going to do a home curve and see how he looks after ten days on one unit. If his numbers stay around 100, what would his dosage program look like? I'm maybe getting ahead of myself, but have seen a significant lowering of his numbers and on nights when we weren't able to shoot him, he was fine the next morning. I'm just wondering what the future holds based on his spreadsheet or at least what I might expect as far as dosage goes. Are there cats on one unit twice a day for years or is there a point where a wean begins?
 
Glad to see that Ollie is responding so well to insulin treatment.

Is there any chance you could add details of the insulin you're treating him with and also the type of meter you're using to test his BG into your signature, please? (It helps members to properly understand Ollie's BG data and therefore provide you with better info. :) )


Mogs
.
 
Mrollie said:
I'm just wondering what the future holds based on his spreadsheet or at least what I might expect as far as dosage goes. Are there cats on one unit twice a day for years or is there a point where a wean begins?
Click to expand...
As I mentioned above, Ollie is responding really well to his Lantus treatment. Looking at his numbers they do suggest that his pancreas is healing and that he's a strong candidate for remission; his numbers appear to be improving by the day. :)

If you follow the tight regulation protocol then there are defined criteria for when Ollie should receive a dose reduction (when he goes below 50 on a human meter or stays in healing numbers for a continuous period of 7 days). I suggest that you start posting in the Lantus and Levemir subforum and the experienced members there will be able to offer you suggestions to guide yourself and Ollie toward potential diabetic remission. Looking at Ollie's numbers I strongly recommend that you get a PM+2 every night; he seems to run lower at night (as many cats do). If his numbers are lower at PM+2 than PMPS then that's a signal for you to monitor him closely; you need to continue testing during that cycle to keep Ollie safe and potentially catch a low number that signals a dose reduction is in order. (FYI - Following TR protocol doses are typically reduced by 0.25IU at a time.)

Here's a useful forum sticky about how to handle low numbers (pre-shot and mid-cycle) if following TR plus another sticky about which foods/carb sources to include in your hypo kit:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...regulation-shooting-handling-low-numbers.147/

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/jojo-and-bunnys-hypo-tool-box.2354/


Mogs
.
 
Last edited:
Wow, Ollie's spreadsheet looks great! He definitely looks headed towards remission! You got some good advice above about testing and reductions, and definitely post in the Lantus forum for dosing advice if you need it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top