Glucose meter

[Zoey & Carol]

I have been using a One-Touch Mini to test Zoey's blood, but the test strips are so expensive that I just bought a ReliOn Prime. The test strips are about 1/7 of what the others cost!

However, I just did a test with both meters, same blood, and got two drastically different numbers! The One-Touch that I have been using read 381 and the ReliOn read 295. Now I'm not sure which to believe. Has anyone had such a wide difference in two different meters?

 

[Hillary & Maui (GA)]

Meters are allowed to have a 20% difference in numbers. That being said, both meters are decent ones. I used to use the OTU and changed to a Bayer Contour (as it takes smaller blood samples).

The relion meters are good and inexpensive which is why many use them. My suggestion is to pick one meter and stick with it. Don't try to compare meters or you will make yourself crazy.

 

[julie & punkin (ga)]

Human glucometers are allowed by law to have a 20% variation in their test results. No idea why that is, but if you test the same drop of blood with 2 different meters, or 2 different strips in the same meter, it's very likely you'll have different numbers.

20% is a larger amount when you're in high numbers, of course. So a 400 might read as 320 or 480 (+ or - 20%).

At 50, the 20% variance would mean that 40-60 is essentially the same number.

Fortunately, the most important thing that anyone needs to know with a diabetic cat is "is my cat in low numbers?" The difference between 300 and 400 doesn't really matter with feline diabetes. You just want to know if Zoey's going to get into low numbers (under 50 on a human meter) and need intervention.

 

[Zoey & Carol]

Thanks. I was going to raise Zoey's dose by .5 tonight, but I think I'll give it a few more days on the new meter before I raise it.

I really, really appreciate everyone responding so quickly when I have questions. I don't know what I would do if I hadn't found this wonderful website! I may have given up!

 

[BJM]

See my signature link Glucometer Notes for feline specific reference ranges using human or pet meters, and mg/dL or mmol/l.