I have an old One Touch can I use it for testing?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Bear's Mama

Bear's Mama

Member Since 2023
Hello!
My One Touch has been in it's packaging for the last 18 yrs. without using it. I realize my test strips are expired along with the control fluid.

I have not been testing Bear, but am feeling more confident since the vet tech said they only stuck Bear once on his last curve and continued to use the same wound for further testing. And that he was a wonderful pt. LOL he is horrible for me! White coat syndrome I'm sure.

His curve was after being on Vetsulin 2U for 2 wks. and was still hitting 400. So vet bumped him up to 3U. He's been on that about 30 days now and doing well. But still peeing like a race horse and loves to eat his crunchies American Journey (which was better ingredients than the WD vet had him on and much LESS expensive) so I changed his dry food to match all my other 5 cats. He loves his fancy feast grilled also. He as well as the whole family GRAZE dry food. I cannot change that and will not, as I want the whole household to be on the same page. (sorry, its just easier and vet said that was fine) Bear gets his Vetsulin 3U every 12 hrs.

So the question is am I brave enuf to start checking BG's on Bear who is a HORRIBLE PATIENT...STILL GIVES ME A HARD TIME AND HIDES SOMETIMES FOR HIS INSULIN. I've only missed 1 injection and that was just a couple days ago. He was under the bed and I said to myself forget it!!! He was diagnosed on 12/6/22.

My other cat 20 yrs. ago was an angel and I tested him multiple times a day till he went into remission. But Bear is a completely different animal.

Anyway he is due for another curve, the question is do I do it or the vet? how many times do you test him? I have no idea. I wuld drop him off at vet at 9AM after breakfast and his AM dose and pick him up at 5. I've never gotten any paperwork with numbers either.
 
Hi there! So I'm not super experienced as my cat was only diagnosed in November but I can offer a couple tips!
I do know that curves can be 100-200 points higher at the vets office because they're stressed, home testing is definitely the way to go! You can get a relion meter at Walmart for like $8 and the strips here are $17 (I'm in the USA) for 100 of them. Learning to home test is definitely key if possible! What I did for Lando is any time I poked him, I'd give him a piece of plain boiled chicken. Eventually he'd come running when I called for testing or insulin because he knew he'd get something high value out of it :)
When it comes to testing, when doing a curve you want to check every 2 hours and log it. The dosage is based of the nadir which is the lowest point in the cycle, not your preshot tests. You should hold the dose for 7 days or so and run a curve, if your lowest number (for us it's usually between 3-5 hours in) if the number is above 200 I'd increase by .25units. If you really can't ever get him accustomed to testing, definitely do it at the vet but ask for records of the tests so you can log them and know how he's responding to the insulin. More experienced members can help you set up the spreadsheet if you need a hand and teach you how to use it!

I really do recommend trying to switch to fancy feast pate for wet food if you can that's low carb, as some cats can be controlled without insulin if you feed low carb food. There's low carb dry food you can get too which is awesome but pretty pricey! We usually do fancy feast pate and friskies pate :)

When it comes to testing just keep trying at it. Do it in the same place every day. Maybe start slow and when you bring him to the spot for a week over and over, give him a little treat like chicken so he associates the spot with good things! Then you can slowly start incorporating testing. You'll get the hang of it eventually, but until then I'd keep taking him to the vet for curves, just be aware those numbers might be higher then what they are at home. I always test before ANY insulin shot (making sure their numbers are safe to shoot, it saves lives!) At minimum, and any tests you can ever get in between help you know how his body reacts to insulin such as when the nadir is, when the insulin begins to wear off, etc. If you check my spreadsheet in my signature, any place a number is filled in is when I've tested Lando's blood sugar. It was hard at first but now it doesn't bother him at all. We personally do the paw pads the ears were too hard for us to test, he hated that more haha.

I hope he comes around!

Lando's Spreadsheet
 
I'm confused you are talking about your kitty Bear but you have copied @TankNRK post from the private message you hsd with me and her and posted it with her kitty Lando's SS so it looks like you have posted again under your name if you look at your pic of Bear that's to the left

That's why I had asked you to post on the forum because
giving advice in a private message is not allowed since we are a peer-review board and can cause you to be banned from the board
 
Last edited:
Diane Tyler's Mom said:
I'm confused you are talking about your kitty Bear but you have copied @TankNRK post from the private message you hsd with me and her and posted it with her kitty Lando's SS so it looks like you have posted again under your name if you look at your pic of Bear that's to the left

That's why I had asked you to post on the forum because
giving advice in a private message is not allowed since we are a peer-review board and can cause you to be banned from the board
Click to expand...
 
The older OneTouch series of meters were great. However, they have the following disadvantages: Require 1uL of blood whereas the Relion Premier line requires ith 0.5uL and AlphaTrak requires 0.3uL. The cost of the OneTouch strips is almost as much as the AlphaTrak strips. Until about a year os so ago the generic GenUltimate strips were available and used them in my old OneTouch meters. They only cost a little more than Walmart Relion Prime or Premier strips. I have switched to the Premier Compact and Blu.
 
Larry and Kitties said:
The older OneTouch series of meters were great. However, they have the following disadvantages: Require 1uL of blood whereas the Relion Premier line requires ith 0.5uL and AlphaTrak requires 0.3uL. The cost of the OneTouch strips is almost as much as the AlphaTrak strips. Until about a year os so ago the generic GenUltimate strips were available and used them in my old OneTouch meters. They only cost a little more than Walmart Relion Prime or Premier strips. I have switched to the Premier Compact and Blu.
Click to expand...

Thanks Larry, I went out today and got the relion and the strips for it, when I found out how cheap it was. Now the only problem is I did not get control solution for it. I thought it was not needed, like it was for the Onetouch. I called the # for CS and it seems Relion is Walmart.:( and not open 7 days from 8-8 central).

DO you use the control solution? I was also told to get Relion syringes, it turns out they only had a pack of 10 to sell me and they were U100. I found out when I got home. I love my U40's, I can read the numbers much easier with my 66 yr old eyes. However I love the 3/16 size needle on the U100. instead of my 1/2 " needle on my U40.

so now I have to go back to shopping for U40's with a shorter needle. I bought the ones I have for a lot of $$ on here they were $21, compared to $12 at Walmart.

Any suggestions where to find cheaper U40's with a short needle? Thx. I have been rubbing Bear's ear for 2 days to get him used to my handling them and he seems to like it. LOL.

Thx for chiming in. :) Mary
 
Bear's Mama said:
I have been rubbing Bear's ear for 2 days to get him used to my handling them and he seems to like it. LOL.
Click to expand...
I like that strategy!!! I did the same, and also would incorporate ear rubs in the general daily pets and scratches till Kitkat stopped flicking his head away and looking at me like I was a weirdo ..... now he luvs it too :cat:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top