best methods for testing blood glucose

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EllenD

EllenD

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Hello,
I am new to the board and wonder if anyone can direct me to a link for the best methods for testing blood glucose in a cat. One vet told me typical meters don't give the best reading...that a specific kind of blood glucose meter is needed for cats. Anyone have experience with that?

Thank you!
Ellen D & Max
 
what Carl said


don't let your vet talk you into buying the very expensive cat meter - from what I've heard from the peeps over there in US, not only is it a LOT more expensive, the test strips also has to be purchased at the vet clinic ---- and that is not a good idea if you run out of the strips and the vet clinic is closed.
 
Re: best meters for testing blood glucose

Thank you!

From what I am reading, best to go with a meter requiring very little blood, and one where the strip remains in the unit while you are picking up the blood. Seems like people like "Relion" from Walmart. I may get that, but prefer not to shop at Walmart...are there any other specific meters that anyone thinks works really well..like Freestyle? I tooled around on the site but didn't find any recent ratings/comparisons of meters.

Ellen & Max
 
I have both a Relion Micro that I use for Maxwell, since he is in remission and I don't test him that often, so I can get his strips in smaller amounts at Walmart, but I also have a Bayer Contour that I use for Musette, her strips are more expensive with the Contour, but if you shop on line you can usually find them fairly cheap on Ebay. Both meters are excellent meters. And I have tested them side by side and they come in pretty close. The best thing to do is great a meter and stick with it unless for emergency situations, so the readings are consistant.

Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang.
 
I have Bayer Ascencia Contour also. The strip sips up the blood itself when held against the blood drop and also requires very little blood to sip. I got the meter for free by the animal hospital, and also have an Abbott Precision Xceed/Xtra meter, which I also got for free from Abbott Sweden. Shop around, since it is as Mel wrote the strips that costs, and here is my cost situation I've written about on my fb over here in Sweden, where I think most stuff we use are more expensive and can perhaps be educational:


"Human diabetics in Sweden gets all their supplies for free, as insulin, syringens/pens, bloodsugar meter and more. Animal diabetics however have to pay the full price and no discounts. But I can live with that, it is my Simba and the only Simba I have.


This is the supply costs we have:

Insulin - Insulatard vial 184 kr/$24

Insulin - Lantus vial 394 kr/$51

Syringes - BD Microfine+Demi 100 pack 165,50 kr/$21.50


Blood sugar meter - Bayer Acsensia Contur 0kr/$0 - Thank you vet hospital

Blood b-ketone meter - Abbott Precision Xceed 0kr/$0 - Thank you Abbott Sweden


Ascensia Contour Microfill 50 blood test strips 362,50 kr/$50

Abbott Precision Xtra 10 blood b-ketone test strips 270,50 kr/$38


Urine testing - Keto-Diabur-Test 5000 50 urine test strips 173 kr/$24

Urinanalysis - Bayer Multistix 10 SG 100 urine test strips 371 kr/$58,56




The Insulatard insulin we used in the beginning, before the hospital was learning about the long term insulins Lantus and Levemir. Besides that they act different the price for Lantus is a huge difference than the price for the Insulatard - and it is insulin we use the most of! Simba's current dose is 5 IE BID and on that we use half a bottle of Lantus every month. Lantus doesn't last as many weeks as Insulatard did, Insulatard lasted for 6 weeks but Lantus for only 4 week.

So take the Lantus cost times 12, a year, that is 4728 kr/$657 for the insulin every year.


The other supply we really need so we can administer the insulin are syringes. They are less expensive than the insulin, and cost for a year 1986 kr/$276.


Now we come to the really expensive supplies and I simply fail to see how the manufactures can justify these high prices on so few strips. A home tester need many test strips, both blood test strips and urine test strips. There is different methods in taking the blood glucose tests. Some do it every morning, in the middle of the day and in the evening, and this they do EVERY day. Let's say they test 4 times a day, every day, 50 test strips won't last long, instead they will need 120. Others don't test every day, but does curves instead over 1 to 3 days. If one do that 50 strips will last. I have my own method to see how Simba's daily BID does function. I can do test at home and do it very seldom, but know from previous testing how he works with his food and insulin. Now I don't test him but govern him by going to the vet hospital and take a fructosamine blood sample every half-year. When he had over 500 in fructosamine I knew his insulin dose was too low and I raised it to a comfy zone at 5 IE BID, which was just right for now he is in 360, which is very good regulated for a diabetic.


Another supply we have is the Keto-Diabur-Test 5000 which is a urine dip stick. It measures urine glucose level and a-ketone level. It DOES NOT measure the crucial b-ketone level, no matter what advice others give. Moreover it cleary state that in the information sheet that is in the box. To get into the biological technical stuff, the b-ketones are from the long fatty chain and they are so long they can't enter into the urine, but float around freely in the blood system.

The acetone or a-ketones that are what is measured in the urine, are the short fatty chain that has already been broken down.


The only thing that measure the crucial b-ketone level is the blood meter Blood b-ketone meter - Abbott Precision Xceed 0kr/$0. Abbott gave mine for free. I can understand that they can give the meter away for free, when they charge 270,50 kr/$38 for a pack of only 10 blood test strips!


The last supply we have is Urinanalysis - Bayer Multistix 10 SG 100 urine test strips for 371 kr/$58,56. This is the same as the vet hospital use for their urine analysis there. I have used it for screening at home, first learning what is normal on us all three, I, Gustav and Simba, so I can determin when it is not normal and something the vet hospital needs to check.



Through it all, since 2006, Simba is my hero. He is an expert on himself and he has been the teacher and I have been the student."
 
My cats are diet controlled and I only check them from time to time with a human meter..However, my vet said that there is now a cat meter out there. The difference between my people meter which shows under 100 and when they take a blood test at the vets is huge.. about 90. That bothers me a lot. Maybe you can ask your vet if he ev er heard about the cat meter which seems more accurate.
 
are there dog meters too?? I will bring that up on Friday, when I go with civie to the animal hospital, it is the 4th largest animal hospital in Sweden, and they use nothing but the same human meters for both cats and dogs as we do. I'll even contact the scientist Tove Fall again, and ask what meters the scientists use ( http://www.slu.se/hunddiabetes and here downloadable pdf with instructional pics for cats http://www2.hunddiabetes.se/kattbroshyr.pdf --- on glucometers "Inom humanvården finns blodglukosmätare för blodglukosanalyser i hemmet, så kallade glukometrar. Under de senare åren har metoder för blodglukosanalyser i ätare som hemmet utvecklats även för djur och idag används samma som inom humanvården."
Translation in short: today the same the glucometers used at home are the same as those within human diabetes.

In the references at page More Information, as number 8. www.felinediabetes.com is mentioned ;-)

That concludes that at least all diabetic cats in Sweden are tested with the same human glucometers on the market as the humans does.
 
The AlphaTrac animal meter has you enter different codes into the meter depending upon the animal you are testing. From the package insert for the strips;

NOTE: Use appropriate code recommended for each species in the table below.
Species CODE Recommendation
CAT See AlphaTRAK Test Strip Vial for CODE CAT.
DOG See AlphaTRAK Test Strip Vial for CODE DOG.
FERRET CODE 7
HORSE CODE 5
MICE CODE 7
RAT CODE
 
But Larry, the AlphaTrac - is it so it can only be purchased at the vet clinic and also the same with the strips?
And the cost for the meter is? And the strips?


Good info though.
 
woopee! I am falling backwards, $175 is gigantic 1092 Swedish crowns and for that I can get at least 7-8 glucometers for here!

But very good info, we should make a sticky with the Alpha track meter info since so many come here saying their vets has told them to buy them ... so they know what they actually are buying in money comparison.


(Larry's excellent info)
"The AlphaTrac animal meter has you enter different codes into the meter depending upon the animal you are testing. From the package insert for the strips;

NOTE: Use appropriate code recommended for each species in the table below.
Species CODE Recommendation
CAT See AlphaTRAK Test Strip Vial for CODE CAT.
DOG See AlphaTRAK Test Strip Vial for CODE DOG.
FERRET CODE 7
HORSE CODE 5
MICE CODE 7
RAT CODE


Anyone can purchase the AlphaTrac meter and strips.
http://www.amazon.com/AlphaTRAK-Blood-G ... B0010WDRL6
$175 for meter
$60 for 50 strips."
 
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