Alphatrack 2 Question

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Megan Kochvar

Megan Kochvar

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So I just recently started testing my diabetic kitty at home. I bought the Alphatrack 2 prior to joining this forum and hearing how much more affordable it is to get a human glucometer. I was looking at the test strips on Amazon and saw some comments that the Freestyle Lite glucose test strips work in the Alphatrack meter and are significantly cheaper. Has anyone else heard this? I don't really want to buy a human meter when I just bought this one and I really like how little blood it needs so I am trying to plan going forward how to afford the test strips!
If anyone has any insight or has noticed this let me know!
Megan
 
There are quite a few people who use Freestyle Lite strips in an AT meter. @JeffJ is one of those people. I did it too for quite a while. Every time I opened a new vial of FS strips I did some same blood drop comparisons with AT strips. Leave the AT meter set at the cat code listed on your current AT strip vial.
 
I use the Freestyle Lite strips successfully with the AT meter. I've been buying them on Ebay but will probably get them from Amazon next time (as the ones I bought on Ebay took an age to get to me, so I had to revert to using hubby's meter!).
 
I have been using AlphaTrak2 + FreeStyle Lite strips for 12-18 months, maybe longer. They work perfectly fine. I never even double check them. I always get them from ebay from 1 of 2 sellers. And they always ship fast, with decent packing. Never an issue.

There was a recent thread about FreeStyle Insulnx strips. I'll probably switch to those in the next purchase.
 
There are some old (not really old) threads on this topic. Someone evaluated alphatrak strips vs freestyle. In summary, they are pretty much the same except for one characteristic - price!
 
Megan Kochvar said:
So I just recently started testing my diabetic kitty at home. I bought the Alphatrack 2 prior to joining this forum and hearing how much more affordable it is to get a human glucometer. I was looking at the test strips on Amazon and saw some comments that the Freestyle Lite glucose test strips work in the Alphatrack meter and are significantly cheaper. Has anyone else heard this? I don't really want to buy a human meter when I just bought this one and I really like how little blood it needs so I am trying to plan going forward how to afford the test strips!
If anyone has any insight or has noticed this let me know!
Megan
Click to expand...
After 2 years of using AlphaTrak and Freestyle as "backup" and consulting Zoetis and ADW, I have learned a little but not as much I I would like. That is why I am researching online again to see if anyone is thoroughly testing and comparing results as I have tried to do. I have 3 AlphaTrak meters and often use both strips and perform 6-8 tests each day. Elliott is in remission so doesn't get tested often. Suzie has been on 3 different insulins since August 2017 and she is a DOG. However, my comparksons and conclusions have no bearing on whether cat or dog and I depend on "AlphaTrak" especially at FBG and nadirs. Spending 450$ /mofor AT is killing me+in addition I buy the freestyle lite strips. All control results are exact with all meters and both strips. Switching test strips and meters around, to compare results makes me wonder (at times) if the BLOOD DROP is the issue or if the strip that touches the drop first affects the blood composition for the next strip. However, using separate gtts do not confirm this. I have not tweeked coding but did notice that AT/FS results were only a single digit differences with last AT coding 7. New bottle is 36 with larger differences THIS TIME. Zoetis claims that the coding is based on the temp and humidity in the factory when strips are made. So, I guess we can't know how the strips of either are maintained prior to purchase even if purchased at ADW. I suppose that if someone were to use AT strips or freestyle lite on AT meter along a human meter( like Relion,etc) maybe someone could compare "patterns" whether accurate or not. I would think comparing "patterns" might be beneficial regarding accuracy of all strips..I just don't know anymore. You all probably don't need all of my findings but for Suzie, the accuracy becomes vital when her BG is 100. Any reliable information on determining accuracy of BG results will be greatly appreciated since I have only been able to compare DVM venous results to my AT tests..which were fairly close.
1-When I only had 1 meter and needed to recheck with either type strip, the BG results were much higher on 2nd test. Per Zoetis,"Do not repeat test immediately after initial test."
2-The lower the BG, the more accurate the comparison of BG results using different meters and strips.
3. For the most part, I have found freestyle lite results HIGHER than AT..(not always)
4. Recently if using only one of the strips, bold is AT and plain font is FS..in the rare casethat anyone wants to see comparisons
Suzie ss: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1O1YNDHz-t4REns_tbAN6D_M3AYT6_kgqbHE7JWo6kSM/edit#gid=0
 
If you do a search, you will find many old threads that discuss this. The short answer is that aside from lab measures, there is no precisely accurate home meter, and there is no reliable conversion among different strips and meters.

If you'd like to have a discussion about this, I'd recommend posting in Think Tank where you might get people who have played around with the types of comparisons you're interested in.
 
Thanks for the advice..I just saw your post and just posted more of my research somewhere..will go to "Think Tank" as suggested..
Djamila said:
If you do a search, you will find many old threads that discuss this. The short answer is that aside from lab measures, there is no precisely accurate home meter, and there is no reliable conversion among different strips and meters.

If you'd like to have a discussion about this, I'd recommend posting in Think Tank where you might get people who have played around with the types of comparisons you're interested in.
Click to expand...
 
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