Blood sugar reading

[Stellaisabellarina]

I am reading and watching videos, all of which are helpful. What is a desireable blood sugar level for a cat who is taking insulin? Does an acceptable level mean that the dose of insulin would be decreased or not given that day? Are any home test kits really bad quality and should be avoided. I bought one from Kroger markets when I was testing my own blood sugar just to make sure it was low....I have not ever been near diabetic...and the pharmacist told me to buy a cheap one because my doctor had not specified that I should test. It seemed as if it ran high.....I took it on the morning of an actual fasting blood test to be done a few hours later and it was about 100 when the laboratory test came back at 85 on my own blood sugar. It seemed to me that it should have been more consistent since the only thing that changed between the two readings was time elapsing.

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

What is a desireable blood sugar level for a cat who is taking insulin?

Normal blood glucose readings for cats (with a human meter) are 50-120...pretty much the same as humans.

Does an acceptable level mean that the dose of insulin would be decreased or not given that day?

The protocols we use here made cats "earn" a reduction in dose. If they drop below 50 (on a human meter) at any time, they earn a reduction in dose. The Pre-shot tests are done to make sure they're high enough for insulin at all. At first, we recommend not giving insulin if they are under 200 until you have some experience and data on how your cat responds. As you gain more experience and data, that number starts to come down.

Are any home test kits really bad quality and should be avoided

Most of us here that live in the US use the Relion Prime from WalMart because it's cheap, the strips for it are affordable and you can get them pretty much 24/7 ….but any meter will work. What we look for here are trends more than individual numbers. We test to keep them safe first...then to see how they're responding to treatment. Any meter can do that.

It seemed to me that it should have been more consistent since the only thing that changed between the two readings was time elapsing.

All meters are allowed up to a 20% variance by the FDA. That means they're considered valid tests even if the number you get on the meter is +/- 20% of the number you got from a professional lab test.

 

[Stellaisabellarina]

Then probably I can use the one that I own which is basically new and certainly not overused. Thank you for explaining about the meter.

 

[CandyH & Catcat]

the difference in human meters that makes some sense for use with cats, is how large a blood sample they require to give a reading

some of the older human meters need a fairly good sized drop .. nothing wrong with that, except that when you first begin using a cat's ear to get blood for the test, it's hard to get that much ...

which is one reason (not the main one) that many people are using a ReliOn Prime, since it takes less than half that amount, and the strips are far more economical

what glucometer do you already have? if it happens to be a Freestyle Lite, that is an excellent one, the strips are a bit more expensive, is all

 

[Stellaisabellarina]

It is called OnSync and is made by Kroger market chain. When I picked up Stella's ProZinc at the vet's a couple days ago they handed me a little flyer for iPetPro. As you say, their literature stresses that it only takes a small drop so that must be part of the big picture.