Can I use a human glucometer and if so how ?

[Paula Nowak]

Hi this is Paula Nowak with Elvis The Cat. My pet glucometer is broken because it is giving me readings all over the place from high to low one minute to the next. I heard I think on here that I can use a human glucometer and I was wondering how do I figure out what his blood glucos reading is from a human glucometer and do I have to add numbers on or take numbers away I'm not sure but that is even if I can use a human glucometer. I'm supposed to be in the process of creating a spreadsheet but now that this glucometer is not proving itself but it does sometimes. I know that I feel right now a little crazy because I'm really sort of stranded right now and cannot get out to get another glucometer until Friday so I am a little bit frazzled at this point but I am going to be going to Walmart on Friday by way of a door-to-door transportation that I have to use because I do not have a car and I am disabled and have congestive heart failure and so I was able to get this door-to-door transportation service to assist me because of what I am personally going through with my health but my cat comes first and that's why I am so upset at this point. He is on Lantus insulin but I do need a glucometer so that's why I'm writing in here and have heard that you can use a human glucometer I just don't know how to use it for a cat!

 

[Kris & Teasel]

Yes, you can use a human glucometer. Walmart in the US had a few very popular models under their ReliOn brand nane but the preferred models aren't available any longer. You want a meter that will give a reading with only a very tiny blood drop, doesn't give "error" readings often and has cheap, readily available test strips. Post a new thread asking American members for recommendations.

There's no way to convert between pet meter and human meter numbers. Human meters will read lower. People who give advice here know how to interpret those numbers. The main number to remember for a human meter is the "take action" number of 50. That's when BG is running a little low and you would intervene with small snacks of wet food.

If you're going to use a human meter make sure you use the US version for a human meter.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

The next thing that it's important to do is start reading on the Lantus forum about the way this insulin works, what the depot is and ways to dose it. All that is in the list of yellow stickies at the top of that forum's main page.

It's really important to try to stay calm and not panic over details. This is hard, especially at first, but it's much more difficult if you get wound up into a frenzy. Slow and steady ... read and digest ... ask a ton of questions.

 

[Erin & Scott]

Yes, you can use a human glucometer. Walmart in the US had a few very popular models under their ReliOn brand nane but the preferred models aren't available any longer. You want a meter that will give a reading with only a very tiny blood drop, doesn't give "error" readings often and has cheap, readily available test strips. Post a new thread asking American members for recommendations.

Actually, Relion still makes a very good inexpensive model. I use the Relion Prime meter from Walmart, I find it easy to use and it takes a drop of blood about the size of a small seed bead. The meter itself cost $9, and test strips are $9 for 50, with a slight discount for larger quantities. I order online, and usually get them within 2-3 days. If you buy the 2-pack of 100 strips (i.e., 200 strips), it comes to $35.76, so you can get free shipping.

 

[Paula Nowak]

Actually, Relion still makes a very good inexpensive model. I use the Relion Prime meter from Walmart, I find it easy to use and it takes a drop of blood about the size of a small seed bead. The meter itself cost $9, and test strips are $9 for 50, with a slight discount for larger quantities. I order online, and usually get them within 2-3 days. If you buy the 2-pack of 100 strips, it comes to $35.76, so you can get free shipping.

Wow, thanks so much I was really wondering about all of this and with the fact that my advocate PET test has been acting crazy and giving me all these different numbers so I think that my pet test is not working right so, thank you so much and I glad that I am going to Walmart on Friday but you did say about ordering it online and that's also a good thing but then again I don't get my money until the first on my social security card and the first I am going to Walmart so I guess I'm going to see if I can get one there I like you said they do have them so thank you again. sorry for the run-on sentences but I'm just a little frazzled right now about all of this because of my meter acting up and not giving me what I expected. I was all happy about starting a spreadsheet but then when I saw the numbers jumping around like that from minute to minute giving me different readings I was like oh my gosh I have to start all over again and also I was not writing down in the past the units that I was giving my cat but then again at that time I was going to the vet and getting tested and I just got them PET test meter and have been writing it down but it hasn't been like that all the time because all this has been a diabetic since November and like I said I was getting results only once or twice a week from the vet. I know this is probably scary to all of you because and here they say that testing a cat's blood glucose is Paramount and now I realize it is and it guess it seems pretty scary that I never did it all the time before because I just never knew until I found this site, thank God!!!

 

[Erin & Scott]

Glad to be of help! First of all, take a deep breath . . . if you've been giving insulin since November and everything is going well, then you can relax a bit. I have friends with diabetic cats who are very casual about shot times and who never test at home - and their cats are doing just fine.

I happen to be a very data-driven person, however, and I want to see my boy in remission, so I test and track numbers almost a little obsessively! I believe that it is ideal to test regularly, and I acknowledge that the consequences of not testing can be severe - but it's probably not going to hurt to maintain the status quo for a few more days. You know Elvis better than anyone, and you can recognize if his behavior seems off and intervene.

So please relax, knowing that your pet is in good hands, and that on Friday he'll begin receiving platinum-level care. We all do the best we are able to do, when we're best able to do it. It's scary, yes, but please don't panic - all will be well.

 

[Veronica & Babu-chiri]

Hi and welcome!!

As they said take a big breath and don't beat yourself about what happened before, or what you didn't do you did the best you could with what you knew, most of us arrived here just like you and sometimes with more scary results than yours , take things one small step at a time, it seems you already have a plan and as soon as you get your new meter you will be good to go and in the mean time do give yourself a time to read the stickies in the Lantus forum they will help you a lot (http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/lantus-basaglar-glargine-and-levemir-detemir.9/)

I have no recommendations regarding an specific bran of meter to use since I'm not in the US but in my experience the best meter is the one that uses the smallest amount of blood (I think if you read the box that would be around 2 micro liters of blood) and that the strips are cheap and easily available ( I made sure that the pharmacy that is a few blocks from my house and open 24 hours had them) in case you start to run low, there are also a new models that allow you to get some extra blood on the same strip if the first sample wasn't enough that could be a plus