Here is some info I found:
Meters for animalsEdit
Some people prefer to buy animal validated meters, like these[31] [32], especially for canine patients. This page[33] presents the opinion of the developer of one animal-specific meter as to why human glucometers are not appropriate for use on animals. On the other hand, some recent testing[34] by volunteers from the FDMB found no significant difference in accuracy between the Abbott AlphaTrak and leading human glucometers, on feline blood.
Animal-specific systems are far more expensive than glucometers and test strips made for humans. A vial of 50 test strips for one model is $75. Alterations are made to the human test strips to produce a result.
When the system appeared in 2004, the FreeStyle meter was offered with the altered strips. Those animal-validated strips are no longer available, but caregivers can purchase/use standard FreeStyle test strips in that meter. The currently offered meter with animal-validated strips is the EasyGluco[35]. You cannot use the EasyGluco strips in the FreeStyle meter. Many from the Canine Diabetes Message Board[36] have tried the animal-validated strips; no one except the person mentioned in link below was able to obtain consistent, reliable results.
In March, 2006, Abbott began marketing its AlphaTrak[37] animal-validated glucometer. It basically operates similarly to those above, with the validation process being accomplished through obtaining blood glucose test results over a period of time from dogs and cats and validating through averages of them[38] as compared to Antech Laboratories' results. Over 200 dogs and 200 cats were tested to validate the AlphaTrak meter--in each group, only slightly more than 50 were diabetes patients.
In the AlphaTrak system, it's the meter which is validated; the two systems above are validated through the test strips. Knowing that the validation was applied to the meter and not the strips, it's interesting to note that Abbott's latest glucometer for people, the FreeStyle Freedom described below, also is able to use the tiny 0.3 microliter blood sample as well. All blood testing was with venous, not capillary, blood[39].
These threads from FDMB offer both a graphed[40] and a numerical[41] comparison of the Abbott AlphaTrak glucometer for pets against some of the more popular meters made for humans.
You can compare the variance between your home meter and the vet's lab testing easily enough. Take your meter with you when vet blood tests are being done. By using a drop of the same blood sample, you will be able to see how much difference (if any) there is between your vet's equipment and your home meter[42]. Regardless of the brand, most find their glucometer is quite accurate when compared this way[43]. (Note that some vets, when testing blood glucose and not also other blood values, use a human glucometer instead of their lab equipment.)
My opinion:
I don't think we would argue that human meters are more accurate than pet meters. We think pet meters are ridiculously expensive as are the strips and not always locally available. Many of us have taken our human meters into the vet's office and tested the same drop of blood with both meters and they are a few numbers apart. Since we are looking at trends and patterns and ranges, a few numbers difference is not an issue. Whether Fenner tests at 100 or 117, he is still too low for insulin and in normal numbers. That's why we say non diabetic cats off insulin can range from 40 -120. For some cats, 40 is normal. For others, 85 is normal. The meter allows you to figure out your cat and react.
Not sure if that helps.....
