Choosing a glucometer

[Elodie]

Hello!
I'm a new member from Canada. My cat Zelda has been diagnosed with diabetes about 2 month ago.
We started insulin, low carbohydrate diet and home glucose testing immediately with the Alphatrack2 meter.
Being a little overwhelmed by the diagnosis at the time, I just bought what the vet sold me, without even thinking there might be other glucometers calibrated for cats.

Now, I'm almost at the end of my last box of tests strips and was thinking about buying the Alphatrack3 meter, since it replaced the 2. But then, I see that there are other brands out there, and very little in the way of comparison between meters or accuracy of each brand.
I found a small 2017 study (''Performance of three portable blood glucose monitoring devices used in a veterinary application'') stating that the ipetPro might be more accurate that Alphatrak2, but it's not based on much...

Could you help me make a choice? I would like to stay with a glucometer calibrated for cats. I don't feel confident enough to use human glucometers yet.
If anyone has access to more recent studies, I'd also love to read them.

Thank you so much!

Elodie

 

[Hendrick Cuddleclaw]

Hi and welcome to the group! the whole idea of "calibrated for cats" seems like a scam to me. There's zero reason to use such a meter instead of a human meter, other than a great way to part with extra money! haha. But seriously, if you prefer using one of those over a human meter that's fine, we have some members who still use them, even if most end up switching to a human meter eventually.

I am sure some of our members in Canada will see this thread and hopefully offer some suggestions though, I am in the states so not really sure what options you have for human or so-called "pet" meters.

 

[Red & Rover (GA)]

Waving from Ontario. This forum is the best place you never thought you would ever be.

Offhand, I can't think of any Canadians using a pet meter. The strips are crazy expensive. In a low numbers situation with testing every 25 minutes, you would go through more strips than you think. If you live near the US border, alphatrak strips are roughly half the price in the US.

Tagging a couple of other Canucks for you
@Wendy&Neko
@Christie & Maverick

and @Sienne and Gabby (GA) for any recent studies

If you do switch to a human meter, a lot of Canadians use the FreeStyleLite ($90/100 strips - use PC points if you've got them). A few use the Bravo meter ($40/100 strips plus shipping). The downsides to the Bravo meter are: 1) you cannot go into a pharmacy and buy the strips. They can only be bought online. This means you need to keep a couple of hundred strips on hand in case of a hypo situation; 2) the strips require a large drop of blood.

What insulin are you using?

 

[Christie & Maverick]

When I first switched from AT2 I tried both the Freestyle Lite and the Onetouch Ultra2. I preferred using the Freestyle Lite since it required a smaller amount of blood. I gave up on the Ultra2 since I kept getting errors. There are other Onetouch meters, with different blood sizes available in Canada, but since I had already settled on the FSL I didn’t test out any other human meters. I did see the Aviva accucheck in Canadian pharmacies. Have a look at this info, it may be a little outdated but it shows the blood drop size, there are a few on there that are likely available in Canada. As @Red & Rover (GA) said, you’re probably looking at around $80-90 / 100 strips depending on where in Canada you are. I’m in Alberta and can get them for $80.

http://main.diabetes.org/dforg/pdfs/2018/2018-cg-blood-glucose-meters.pdf

I think there are a few members who are using AT2 still who get the test strips from their vet, but super expensive at the vet’s and with AT2 being phased out, I’d wonder how long that supply will last anyway.

 

[Elodie]

Waving from Ontario. This forum is the best place you never thought you would ever be.

Offhand, I can't think of any Canadians using a pet meter. The strips are crazy expensive. In a low numbers situation with testing every 25 minutes, you would go through more strips than you think. If you live near the US border, alphatrak strips are roughly half the price in the US.

Tagging a couple of other Canucks for you
@Wendy&Neko
@Christie & Maverick

and @Sienne and Gabby (GA) for any recent studies

If you do switch to a human meter, a lot of Canadians use the FreeStyleLite ($90/100 strips - use PC points if you've got them). A few use the Bravo meter ($40/100 strips plus shipping). The downsides to the Bravo meter are: 1) you cannot go into a pharmacy and buy the strips. They can only be bought online. This means you need to keep a couple of hundred strips on hand in case of a hypo situation; 2) the strips require a large drop of blood.

What insulin are you using?

She's on Lantus, with pretty good results so far.
I'm not too far from the border...didn't occur to me to buy strips in the US, thank you for the tip!