BG meters..

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Steph&BigKitty

Steph&BigKitty

Member Since 2017
Ok, so I learned from everyone here I can definitely use a human meter on my Kitty. I was wondering the difference in the reading with a human meter vs pet meter?
Yesterday was my first in home test. He was 425. Is it possible he was lower than that, but reading higher on the human meter?
 
Human meters typically read lower than pet meters.
9-14-2014

I just did two tests with my original AlphaTrak and my human Easy Gluco Plus meter. Both comparisons used same drop of blood from two different cats

Dulce OTJAT = 72

Easy Gluco Plus = 54The AT is 133% of the EGP value

The EGP is 0.75 of the AT

BadgarAT = 377Easy Gluco Plus = 331

The AT is only 113% of the EGP value

The EGP 0.88 of the AT


With your reading of 425 the difference does not make any difference how yo determine dose for a cat.
 
Stephanie, there is no direct conversion of human to pet meter readings. The difference is not linear (constant # of points) or a percentage and there is also FDA allowed meter variance of 20% to take into consideration which just muddles the difference that much more. The only concrete statement is that the human meter will usually read lower than a pet meter and the difference between the readings will get larger the higher the BG. At low readings the numbers will be fairly close or could even be almost equal. The only numbers you need to be concerned with are the low reading warning number of 50 on a human meter. If readings are high, they are high no matter which meter one uses.

It would be helpful if you could add the name of the meter you are using to your signature so it's available for anyone offering assistance.:)
 
A 20% difference!!! Look, I'll pay the extra nickel to get that down to 5%. These things just pour off an assembly line in China. And we're talking about human meters, not the ones for "just a cat". That's disgraceful. What if your chemotherapy had a 20% variance? Someone would be in jail. Oh brother!
 
FYI, in Canada, Health Canada allows only a 15% variance for human meters so we are already ahead in that regard but it also probably restricts our meter choices to some degree like our inability to get the Relion meters so prevalently used in the US.
 
Are Relions more accurate cat wise, at least at low numbers? Can we order / Amazon them? Priorities all mixed up. Two years ago I waited in emergency with 3 broken fingers (old man softball) behind a couple who kept repeating "We should have used the Black&Decker, oh the humanity!". I get that some slivers are really big but maybe if they had to pay something they would have yanked it out at home. On the other hand I could have gone to THE BIG CLINIC off QEW and had a cat MRI the same day, which I actually did once. That's screwy, if you pay the cat goes to the front of the line. Previous diabetic cat Nigel once metered 4.0 on a Bayer, tail up in the air, leaping from table to countertop with perfect balance, "Feed me". My vet didn't know what to say. I switched to Aviva Accuchek after that. Yes yes, we're talking in Canadian secret code! Igloo cold, fur warm!
 
Human meters are not tested for accuracy/precision on cats so no one can tell you which is more accurate for cats. Some meters will read higher at low ranges and low at high ranges or vice versa and some will be fairly accurate/precise across the board but they all have to read within the variance allowed in the country they are marketed in.

Noah & me said:
Previous diabetic cat Nigel once metered 4.0 on a Bayer, tail up in the air, leaping from table to countertop with perfect balance, "Feed me". My vet didn't know what to say. I switched to Aviva Accuchek after that.
Click to expand...

Actually Nigel was sitting pretty at a reading of 4.0 on the Bayer meter (well within normal) and your description of his behaviour seems to suggest he was feeling good. I think the key is to know your meter and pay attention to the cat's behaviour when it comes to low numbers. I recently did a comparison test of a new pet meter against the old standard AT2 pet meter. The new one consistently read high on low numbers and low on high numbers but within a 20% variance allowance. I really don't care if a meter is reading a bit low on high numbers because high is high but on low numbers, I'd rather have a meter read a bit low rather than high in the low ranges so I will react faster if trouble is brewing. Some vets use human meters in their practice but the vast majority don't have a clue about the "normal" range of readings for a cat using a human glucometer.

As for the emergency room, well, you don't want to get me started on the public misuse and general state of our health care in this province. Suffice to say, as a retired member of the medical community, I am nothing short of appalled.
 
My vet is a close friend and when Nigel was diagnosed she was on the phone with us AM and PM 2 weeks straight. So as far as "established" science, food and readings went she was pretty flexible and knew no 2 cats are alike. There are huge differences in litigation law between Canada and US which gave her the courage to tell us "This isn't working, start feeding him whatever he wants, whenever he wants" and he bounced right back to a normal weight and textbook curves. I was okay with Nigel at 4 but a little freaked we were so close to 3 or 3.5. If we were mean enough to record our phone conversation and if Nigel had gone downhill we probably could have made her life miserable in some legal way but where would that have gotten us? The health system, oh boy. When they poked around in my brain I had the usual EKG etc and with the time left over the anesthesiologist and I told jokes. Flash forward 5 years, I need major dental surgery and I tell them all my whacko conditions. They hum and haw, can we put this guy under? Then the dental surgeon looks at his watch, "Times-a-wasting, lets go". I also had to have a simple endoscopy in a hospital because no one wanted to be responsible if I croaked in some filthy industrial park. I can't find a local MD out here because they first want a meet & greet and you've ever stepped on a nail they want nothing to do with you. So back on point pet-wise. I had someone do a Start a Conversation with me who was flustered with advice given to her here when her vet said "No, do this". I said I sometimes just wing it. Then I corrected myself and said I'm using the charts and tables hardwired into my brain. No common sense anymore, everyone has to consult the legal department or it's just easier to ignore you. When I had a brain aneurysm that leaked a bit the neurologist said I'd be okay, just take it easy, but if you get another headache like that it's 911. We kept a go-bag at the front door but eventually stopped going to emergency. "I may be having a stroke!" Just sit over there and we'll call you. Where's Marcus Welby MD when you need him?
 
When I was nursing, we had students from U of T nursing program doing clinical on my floor. We as all hospitals were short staffed so things like washing patient's hair, sometimes took a back seat to necessities. One day a student came to me and asked if she could wash a patient's hair that I had been trying to get to. I jumped on the opportunity and admitted I had been trying to find time for couple of days. The student's instructor overheard me say this and berated me for making things sound so hard. I looked at her and said something to the effect that it was better for her student to realize nursing isn't what it appears to be on an episode of Dr. Kildare or Ben Casey and better she do a reality check now than later.

I was summarily dismissed from my Mother's GP's office and told she could come back but he never wanted to see me in his office again. If he had a two grey cells to rub together, he would have realized she needed me to get there! My crime.......I questioned him about requiring an old woman in a wheelchair to attend his office every three months to get her BP checked when it was being taken daily at the retirement home she resided in and they were known for calling me to take her to the doctor if she sneezed two times in a row! He quoted me medical association guidelines as if they were legal regulations with seemingly no sense of what the difference was between a guideline and a legal requirement.


All medical professions have their good and bad eggs whether for humans or our pets. My rule of thumb is that if the professional seems devoid of any personality, is so full of themselves that they get bent out of shape when questioned and is belting out orders like Hitler, run quickly for the hills. Unfortunately, this is becoming the norm rather than the exception these days and finding a qualified medical professional with a brain and a conscience is like trying to find an extinct animal. I personally wish the 2 vets I deal with were human doctors. The world would be a better place at least for me.
 
A really good doctor! Anyone following this thread must be thinking "Who are these two? They're off topic". My sister told me once that surgeons love to operate, it's what they do. ALWAYS get a second opinion. First time I had Hemorrhoids I woke up one morning and thought I had sat on a piece of broken glass. Years go by, pain comes and goes. My chiropractor in TO who was also a Holistic whatever (very unregulated back then) tells me to get some Witch Hazel, located in Witches brew section, soak some toilet paper with it and insert over night. I wake up, pain is gone and has been for 15 years now. I still have Hemorrhoids but it's now just a nuisance, zero pain. I mention this to family MD and she refers me to funny and creepy old hospital, Gardiner near High Park. The elevator? A broom closet with those brass scissor like doors. Surgeon is honest, procedure will be extremely painful and 50/50 chance of success. That's my idea of a great doctor. A year later he fixes my hernia, arrive at 9AM, home at 2PM, no complications. I phone his receptionist to say thanks for everything etc. LONG PAUSE "Are you being sarcastic?" Turns out no one has EVER said thank you to her or the surgeon. 20 years ago I had an outdoor wooden staircase collapse under me and I "mushroomed" my wrist bones. When I showed the admitting nurse she didn't need to see my card, whoosh! Morphine, CT scan etc. I was warned I may never bend my wrist again. Had a 2 hour operation with external fixator, good as new. I just recently looked up the hospitals directory and the surgeon is still there. I e-mail him "You won't remember me but I never had the chance to thank you personally and this is something I should have done long ago". He was honestly, deeply moved that his great work did not go unnoticed. I always believed in Karma but just saying it is not the same as practicing it. Now everything has to be run by the legal dept. Our frozen pizza says "Cook before eating" and our car manual has a section on "This is the gas pedal, this is the brake pedal". Need I say more? We better end this thread before the moderator spanks us.
 
We're OK! Did another BG test today. 485. Makes me sad that he feels crappy. I hate to see him running so high! We see the vet again Monday. I feel like he's always starving and always high. I upped his shot tonight by 1/2 a unit.
It's funny because he has no symtoms. Just thirsty. You'd never guess this was happening. But I'm sure he feels crappy. He's the love of my life, we've been together 13 years and I feel like I'm failing him. I guess it will take time, I just hope he has it. I worry that he won't love me anymore because I hurt him everyday with needles. Lol I sound childish I know..I swear I am just emotionally drained from this past 9 days. Thanks for being there for us ❤
 
Stephanie, the hunger and excessive thirst are symptoms of his diabetes. Is he still losing weight? A diabetic cannot utilize the food they take in properly so they don't get all the nutrition and energy they need unless they take in more food. Many folks here feed multiple meals per day rather than just two meals prior to shots. Feeding a decent size meal with each shot and then some smaller snacks in each cycle up to 2 hours before meal/shot time may help to level out the hunger and perhaps help with the BG numbers too.

I see you have some other threads on the forum so won't respond further here because it will likely be a repeat of what others have already said. I'll check out the other threads. :)
 
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