? 4/1 Yum: how do you translate between human and alpha trak meters?

[MJW]

Yum's numbers have come down a bit with an increased dose, finally. She's also been taking a dewormer; an antibiotic zeniquin is on hold. The evidence for an infection is not overwhelming.
How do I translate the human meter numbers in the protocols to alphatrak meter numbers? Is there a table?
What does it mean "doses that are too high can cause high numbers"? Is that temporary as in a bounce or something else? Thanks in advance.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Short answer, there is no translation. Take the numbers at face value, except it you are following TR in which case the reduction point is 68 for at AT and 50 for the human meter.

As to doses that are too high, yes it can cause high numbers for a while and sudden drops into low numbers. Which can be missed if you aren't testing appropriately. That is why we increase slowly, so as to not bypass a good dose, and we test enough to know how low a dose is taking the cat before we increase.

 

[julie & punkin (ga)]

Welcome to the group! Lots of good info here - ask as many questions as you have and people will be glad to explain.

If the dose is increased methodically and is based upon test results - answering the question "how low can this dose make my cat's blood sugar go?" before you increase - you can be confident you haven't overdosed your cat.

I'd want to see 3 days at a particular dose, with a preshot test and at least 1 test during the day and one test in the evening, ideally right before I went to bed, before I increased the dose. That's typically enough tests that you can see if the cat is constantly high or if there are some low numbers in there. Many cats drop into lower numbers, which their bodies perceive as a hypo, and then "bounce" into high numbers. Bounces can last 3ish days. There's more of a simplistic explanation of bouncing in the 2nd post in this thread.