Beauregard - at home blood test results

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The 10:30 test was an 86!!!!

I also did a test with control solution before doing the test on Beauregard, and it was smack-dab in the middle of the 'range' the control solution should report. So, I'm fairly confident that the meter is functioning properly.

I stopped at the vet's office on the way back to work and mentioned to her the +/- issue. She explained it to me as the AT meter is really, truly accurate for the kitteh. She said her understanding of the meters for humans are +/-, as a precaution for someone who might be home alone and have to either give themselves another shot or have a candy bar. Of course she said that her understanding is somewhat limited since all her experience is with animals, and some of her patients who use the human meters for the kittehs.

She also indicated that the machine in her office would give a more accurate reading than the AT, and of course a lab would be even more accurate, but then you get into the issue of stress-caused spiking of the BG, so it's kind of a trade off re doing it at home.

At any rate, Beauregard was doing marvelously when I saw him at 10:30. He was napping when I got home, but woke up and started nibbling on the dry food as he usually does. Then he was super still for the poke test, and I did it with ONE POKE!! Yaaay!!!! :RAHCAT

Oh yeah - I'll be testing every morning and evening, and if the test is <200, no shot; 200-250 gets 1/2 unit, over 250 will get 1 unit. So that's the plan for the next few days.
 
Good report!
If you wanted a test from the vet, a fructosamine (spelling probably wrong!) test will give an average BG reading over a two week period. With that test "vet stress" isn't a factor. A one-time test at the vet will most likely be inflated by stress.

Oh, do you know how to see "PMs" that you are sent? If you look at the top left of the page, you should see a link to your control panel, and next to that "1 new message" (or more) should be there. I just sent one to you, and possibly others have too.

Carl
 
Great news all round. Glad he is coming up and it's wonderful that you are getting better at the blood tests.

If you can wean him completely off any dry, it may be that he will not be needing much insulin or any at all. :thumbup
 
Soo nice to hear/see....been watching this post all day long nailbite_smile .
Gooood going Beauregard & mommy bean
 
In my mind the numbers on either meter (alpha trak or human) are 'correct' neither is wrong or right. As the vet says the AT is very accurate but that is not really the problem here. The accuracy is not the issue AT ALL.

You must use the proper DOSING CHART for the meter you are using--this is where all the confusion comes into it. And it is very important to reconfigure BG numbers targets for your meter

On this site everyone tends to think in terms of the table of recommendations for the human meters.

I would get a human meter to avoid confusion. They are so much more cheaper.

For the those that keep coming on board and who already have an alpha trak the above information has to be given over and over to avert a possible hypo.

I am no expert on these meters but once I read that you have to configure the numbers I always worry about those who do not do this or acknowledge in their posts or threads they know to do it.

What is obvious is that substracting 30 doesn't appear to work all that well either. IE as you get a 36 and substract 30 and you get a worrisome 6 but your vet says not to worry he must be going by different BG number targets. What did he say your target numbers would be with the AT and with what lows should you be concerned?

Anyway , glad it all worked out. Hope you continue to see great numbers.

Elaine
 
Sue and Oliver (GA) said:
Great news all round. Glad he is coming up and it's wonderful that you are getting better at the blood tests.

If you can wean him completely off any dry, it may be that he will not be needing much insulin or any at all. :thumbup
Click to expand...

Weaning from the dry food is definitely the goal!

I'm going to have to try some different methods with the canned food feedings, I guess. Right now, he's getting 1/2 can in the morning and 1/2 can in the evening (Purina DM cans, about 190 calories total per can). He nibbles on both breakfast and dinner over the course of two or three hours, so I have to find something other than dry for him to nibble on between meals. I'm hesitant to change anything else in his diet until we get consistently good BG readings, and one thing that everyone seems to agree on is that the kittehs need to have access to food most of the day if possible. At the same time, removing the carbs in the dry food from his diet could help lessen the insulin requirements. It a circular argument in my head that I can't get to stop! Should I remove carbs now, and add something else for snacks? What could I feed as snacks if I'm at work all day?

And are there any good resources on how many calories a kitteh should have in one day? How many protein cals, fat cals, carb cals??
 
Lots of us freeze the wet and let them nibble on it. I use an automatic feeder which I fill with frozen food. By the time it opens, it's thawed. Just divide what you are normally feeding into smaller, more frequent meals.
 
DEF said:
In my mind the numbers on either meter (alpha trak or human) are 'correct' neither is wrong or right. As the vet says the AT is very accurate but that is not really the problem here. The accuracy is not the issue AT ALL.

You must use the proper DOSING CHART for the meter you are using--this is where all the confusion comes into it. And it is very important to reconfigure BG numbers targets for your meter

On this site everyone tends to think in terms of the table of recommendations for the human meters.

I would get a human meter to avoid confusion. They are so much more cheaper.

For the those that keep coming on board and who already have an alpha trak the above information has to be given over and over to avert a possible hypo.

I am no expert on these meters but once I read that you have to configure the numbers I always worry about those who do not do this or acknowledge in their posts or threads they know to do it.

What is obvious is that substracting 30 doesn't appear to work all that well either. IE as you get a 36 and substract 30 and you get a worrisome 6 but your vet says not to worry he must be going by different BG number targets. What did he say your target numbers would be with the AT and with what lows should you be concerned?

Anyway , glad it all worked out. Hope you continue to see great numbers.

Elaine
Click to expand...

Thank you. It really is great to see anything above the 30s!!

I'm not adjusting or reconfiguring anything, and I'm not clear on what targets you're talking about that needs to be reconfigured? The vet didn't tell me not to worry; she told me to test more, and gave me instructions for whatever the results of the tests will be. She knows I am using the AT meter, so I'm assuming (hoping? maybe I should remind her!) she is taking that into consideration.
 
Lisa,
Eventually you would get to a point, using the alpha track, where you need to making dosing adjustment decisions based on the numbers you are getting. If that day comes, you should make it obvious, maybe by adding a line to your sig, that you use the AlphaTrack so that people know your numbers are from that type of meter.

When you say "150" for instance, people who use human meters will think "okay, that's 120 to me", and advise based on that.

It's really two separate issues..... ONE, your meter will read higher than "our" meters by about 30 points consistently, so dosing advice would need to take that into account.

And TWO, when something like this morning's low numbers occur, you have (and we have) to be aware that a reading on an AlphaTrack and a reading on a Relion (for instance) are definitely two different things when it comes to "hypo" numbers. Your 31 or 36, (given that your meter reads 30 points higher than mine usually) sounds impossible because on my meter, kitty would be 1 or 6, or some insanely low "kitty-shouldn't-still-be-conscious" number. Obviously, BooBoo wasn't in that bad a shape.

Carl
 
carlinsc said:
Karen,
I did a "search" for Alpha Track - and all 3 pages of threads feature one of two things:

Alpha Track's are outrageously expensive and aren't needed as long as you realize the human meter numbers will always be different

Alpha Tracks will always read higher than a human meter (20 to 30 points seems to be the consensus)

But I couldn't find a thread that just compares the two and gives guidelines for use. Maybe on the old board?

Carl
Click to expand...



Hmmmm...so one should ADD points to a human BG meter ???

I would still think you would NOT SUBTRACT points from an Alpha Trak meter, since
those are supposed to be calibrated for cats' blood.
 
I would still think you would NOT SUBTRACT points from an Alpha Trak meter, since
those are supposed to be calibrated for cats' blood.
Click to expand...

It depends on what you are using the number for, from what I gathered reading. Apparently, all the dosing protocols on board are based on the numbers you would get on a human meter. Lots of those threads were in the lantus forum, and the point seemed to be that you needed to equate the readings to human meters so that the dosing guidelines were correct. So it was important for anyone using an AlphaTrack to let people know that in an obvious way, like putting it in their sig.

Carl
 
Hi Karen,

You don't need to add points to the human meter because you are using a dosing protocol based on human meter readings.

Unless the chart says it is configured for an Alpha Trak you are fine using the meter numbers as they read out.

The cats blood is what it is no matter what meter you are using as long as you use the same one consistently and it is a good meter you are fine.

But what do you do with those numbers? You look at a dosing chart. You make all your decisions based on BG readings and what the protocol says to do.

The guideslines or recommendations you use must be based on the type of meter you are using. (human vs feline ALpha TRAK)

This link has an Alpha Trak Table. (2nd one in the paper not the first) The paper is by J Rand.

http://www.uq.edu.au/ccah/docs/diabetesinfo/link4.pdf

They don't change all the figures by 30 but they do change the lower range ones.


On the FIRST chart or table for the human meter it says
DO NOT USE THESE TARGET GLUCOSE CONCENTRATIIONS IF USING A METER CALIBRATED FOR FELINE USE ( ALPHA TRAK)
Click to expand...

But the question , as Carl points out too, what is too low on the Alpha Trak. When do you need to be very concerned and treat as hypo situation? ? I would find out what a vet says that uses an AT so you can be prepared.
 
Thanks the 'splaining, Elaine and Carl. I wasn't aware that there were tables available. I'm just taking what the vet told me about the readings, and she indicated that 100-140ish was ideal for insulin and tester I'm using. She was concerned about the 30s readings, but not overly so since he didn't have any unusual behaviors, and seemed confident that we just needed to decrease the dosage depending on his pre-shot test results.

The evening test was 284, so he got 1 unit. I'm to call her tomorrow if it's over 300 before the morning shot.
 
OK, so all in all, an exciting day that ended well! It sounds like you and your vet have a good working relationship, and what you just posted seems like a good plan. And I think that everybody now is more aware of the differences between meters and why they are important to know.
So yeah, a good day for Beauregard!

Keep us posted, and have a great and peaceful night!
Carl
 
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