Actually, I'm not suggesting you keep using the Alphatrak meter at all. In fact, all and I do mean ALL, of our dosing protocols are based on using human meters with human test strips. From data that has been gathered over more than 3 decades. Human meters existed for years before pharmaceutical companies saw a market and came out with more expensive "Pet specific" meters. That would have been ok, if they had kept the price of the test strips reasonable, but they didn't. Not with Alphatrak test strips being $1-2 each. That cost is WAY out of reach for many people. Vets need to understand and accept that fact and work WITH people and what they can afford for home testing.
Most people here that are going to be helping you are much, much more familiar with the human meter range numbers. Neither pet or human meters are 100% or even 80-90% accurate all the time. It's called "meter variance" where a hand held glucometer is allowed to be off by 15 to 20% from test to test. Any meter is going to give you a range of values. You don't look for a specific value each time you test, but look to see where your cat falls within the color range. It's why we use a color coded SS. Look at the top of the SS, where the values are written inside each color coded box at the very top, to see what I'm talking about.
How do you switch meters if you are interested? You simply stop using the Alphatrak and use the human meter, make a note on your SS and go from there. It's that simple.
So we recommend to folks that they purchase a human meter based on the test strip cost. Folks in the US have the option of the Walmart Relion line of meters. Good low cost on the test strips. People in Canada have fewer options with such low cost test strips, but there are still some good meters to use for cats.
A good meter that people in Canada buy is the Contour Next One human glucometer and the matching test strips. It has a really nice feature. It lets you add more blood to the test strip within 60 seconds if your first blood drop was not big enough. So you have a second chance for a good test with only 1 test strip.
I've also found references to the One Touch meter, and the Freestyle Lite meter.
Check out this thread, where someone was recently asking about meters available in Canada.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/spreadsheet.227765/#post-2551329
If you live close enough to the border, people used to come across to shop a couple of times a year to pick up supplies. That option is not available right now, with covid19 impacting travel.
