Glucometers and Test Strips Suggestions

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KPassa

KPassa

Member Since 2012
I've been using the Relion Prime for close to 9 years now (~ a year after Mikey was diagnosed). I feel like in the last year or so, the quality of the test strips has changed and they no longer absorb blood as well as they used to. I've been going through about 2 strips for every test because it either doesn't soak up enough blood or gives me the dreaded error reading even when there is enough blood. So basically, test strips price has now doubled.

I used to use the Relion Micro but it looks like they've discontinued it? Or maybe renamed it? Does anyone have any recommendations for cheapest test strips that work well with cats?
 
I've been using the ReliOn Premier, I believe its the successor that has replaced ReliOn Prime. The premier strips seem to work well and absorb the blood without an issue as long as I have enough blood there. There have been two occasions where the strip would not take in the blood, but that's only 2 strips out of the 200+ that I've used.
 
KPassa said:
I used to use the Relion Micro but it looks like they've discontinued it? Or maybe renamed it?
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Yeah, the meter has been D/C'd (of course....it was the most popular meter in the US so some nitwit decided they should get rid of it). You can still get the strips but not the meter!

The new Premier is their idea of a replacement. The basic meter is $9 but it has several other models with different bells and whistles that (of course) cost more. The strips are the same as the Prime, 50 for $9, 100 for $17.88. It does seem to run a little higher than the Prime (or the Confirm/Mini) did.
 
KPassa said:
Thanks for all this great info!

Does the Premier use the same strips as the Prime?
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They are not the same strips as the Prime, they are specific to the Premier meters. They are in a dark blue box. However, they are exactly the same price as the Prime strips.
 
Just bought the Premier and will be giving it a try tonight! I threw away* my Prime today after the FOURTH strip still didn't soak up enough blood. I have two of them (both cats and glucometers), it happens with both, and I've been using it for 9 years so I know it's not user error.

*"threw away" as in "stuck it in a box" as a back-up :D
 
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So far, the Premier seems to be working much better than the Prime at sucking up the blood drop. I do still prefer the Prime design features better than the Premier (Premier is too bulky for my small hand, the darker-colored test strips make it impossible to see if there's any blood, and the test strip bottle design seems wasteful) but I'd rather deal with bad design than wasted test strips and repeated pokes to Mikey's and Finn's ears.
 
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