Help picking Human Glucose meter for use in Cats

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JaneUA

JaneUA

Member Since 2023
Hi! I’m just looking for some guidance here. My cat is 13 yo, has been on Vetsulin for the past 16 months. He recently had hypo episode and I brought him to the vet asap and his blood glucose was 136 that’s after a morning meal and WITHOUT insulin shot that morning. He’s been on 1.5 u of Vetsulin for the past year or so. His blood work came back normal, the vet wants me to come back for curves etc to see if we should drop his dosage a bit or stay at the same dose. He might be entering remission (that’s what vet said) but need more data to confirm. Please advise which human glucose monitor is MOST ACCURATE as I can’t be spending so much money on vet trips all the time since it was $435 bill just for yesterday. I got a Relion Platinum and same brand strips and his Blood glucose was 248 this morning PRE MEAL ( mind you he didn’t have Vetsulin last night either) and I ended up skipping a shot this morning. His Glucose was always in high 300-400 before. At his last appointment in January it was 400 smth. So I’m really hopeful he might be entering remission path. But I read that Relion shows much higher results than they actually are. Thinking to buy a different monitor to do my own monitoring . Please advise, I will really appreciate any help I can get
 
To be honest Vetsulin isn't the best insulin for cats, it's mainly used for dogs
The human meter numbers are a bit lower than the pet meter numbers.
Most all of us use Relion meters , our numbers are based on human meters .
Just keep asking any questions you might have .
normal on a human meter is 50-120
On a pet meter, it's 68-150
We consider remission when they stay between 50 to 120 (on a human meter) or 68 -149 (on a pet meter) with most of the numbers under 99 (120 on pet) for two weeks with no insulin.

If you would like help
Here is a link helping us to help you link. If you noticed, our members have some basic information about their cat's in their signature. This helps us to not pester you by asking the same questions (your cat's name, insulin type, date of diagnosis, etc.) repeatedly. We also have a link to our spreadsheet in our signature. We are very numbers driven. The spreadsheet is a record of your cat's progress. By linking it in your signature, we can follow along and provide feedback should you need the help.
 
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Yes, most of us use ReliOn meters from Walmart since the test strips are the least expensive.

a word of caution, Vetsulin is a harsh fast acting insulin. Are you feeding then waiting at least 30 minutes before giving the shot? And what food is he eating right now?

last questions, did they do a fructosamine test recently? Are you home testing daily? Was the 136 at the vet?
 
Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA) said:
Yes, most of us use ReliOn meters from Walmart since the test strips are the least expensive.

a word of caution, Vetsulin is a harsh fast acting insulin. Are you feeding then waiting at least 30 minutes before giving the shot? And what food is he eating right now?

last questions, did they do a fructosamine test recently? Are you home testing daily? Was the 136 at the vet?
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Julio( male cat) was 136 at the vets office yesterday. They didn’t do the fructosamine test, although I’m not sure. When the vet called this morning he said blood work is good and glucose level showed 132 on a blood work. He’s always been in the high 300-400s tho! I tested him 3 times today 7AM-248, 2PM-286, 7PM-246 (on Relion Platinum Meter). He doesn’t seem as hungry as he used to be. I just fed him dinner, but he definitely ate less that he used to before. He does seem less hungry these days and he was Always meowing for food. Not even sure if I should give him Vetsulin and how much if I should. Vet recommended I stay at 1.5u or reduce to 1u for just a week or two to see what it does. But since he’s so inconsistent with eating his meals I’m not sure I should give him any right now. He ate half of his usual meal. He gets Fancy Feast Pate and Friskies Pate I just switch flavors… I just started testing him today, never done it before:(
 
Those are higher numbers that require insulin. The danger with diabetics cats who are not getting insulin and not eating well is that ketones may develop and that’s a life threatening condition. I’d recommend you at least give him 1 unit of Vetsulin if you can get him to eat and I’d start testing for ketones daily. You can buy the urine test strips at any human pharmacy tagging @Bron and Sheba (GA) who knows more about it than me.

in the long run, you may want to consider switching him to a gentler longer lasting insulin like Lantus or prozync.
 
Here is a link helping us to help you link. If you noticed, our members have some basic information about their cat's in their signature. This helps us to not pester you by asking the same questions (your cat's name, insulin type, date of diagnosis, etc.) repeatedly. We also have a link to our spreadsheet in our signature. We are very numbers driven. The spreadsheet is a record of your cat's progress. By linking it in your signature, we can follow along and provide feedback should you need the help.

With a diabetic cat you need
  • A low carb wet diet that is 10% carbs or under. Most of us use around 4-7% carbs
  • A suitable insulin such as Lantus or Prozinc which are long acting, more gentle insulins than the old insulins.
  • We recommend hometesting the blood glucose with a human meter…it is not necessary to use a pet meter which is expensive to run and is no better. It will keep your kitty safe and you will know how the dose is working for your kitty. Only testing every so often will not tell you what is happening in between those times and an awful lot can happen in even a day.
This is an excellent site for diabetic cats…it has been around for more than 25 years and has very experienced people to help you.

Keep asking lots of questions.
 
To test for ketones you will
Need a bottle of Ketostix from Walmart or a pharmacy. Collect a urine sample from your kitty and dip the test strip
Into the urine and read the result exactly 15 seconds later. There should be no ketones. The risk of not giving insulin when it is needed is that ketones can develop which can lead to DKA if not treated early, which is very serious. Also make sure he is eating well. That’s important.
It’s great you are home testing. If you could get the spreadsheet set up and add any data you have, we can help you with dosing.
I would drop the dose to 1 unit and see how that goes.
Test the blood glucose before every shot to see it is high enough to give the insulin.
For now, if the BG ( blood glucose) is under 200, I would stall, don’t feed and test again 20 minutes later to see if the BG is rising. You can post and ask for help.
To get a strong remission you need to give insulin as long as it is safe to do so, so you can support the pancreas as it heals.
I’ll tag @Suzanne & Darcy as she is a Vetsulin user.
keep asking questions.
 
Hello. It’s true that the numbers you recorded today with him not having had insulin for the last two days are too high and do require some insulin support. As others have said, normal glucose numbers for your cat would be between 50-120 on your ReliOn meter. It’s also true that Vetsulin is not a good insulin for cats. It is harsh and can drop them too hard and fast — and it’s also not very long lasting in cats which can lead to a lot of steep ups and downs in kitty’s blood glucose. That isn’t a good situation.

Vetsulin is not recommended for use in cats by either the American Animal Hospital Association or the American Association of Feline Practitioners. So you may want to ask your vet about switching to either ProZinc or Lantus (which comes in several inexpensive generic forms.) However, since your current insulin is Vetsulin and that’s all you have, we will have to go with it for now. I would recommend dropping the dose down to .5 (one half of a unit) for the time being if you can get him to eat 30 minutes prior to the shot and if you are able to test prior to his meal (so that you can get a fasting glucose number in order to make sure that he is even high enough to give the insulin.). Then you would need to be able to get a few tests in. I would like for you to get a +2 test (two hours after the shot) and see where he is. Then if he’s doing okay you could get a test another two hours later at +4. I would also recommend feeding him small snacks of his food at +2 and possibly +4 — but until we see the numbers we won’t know exactly when is the best time to give the snacks.

I am suggesting this low of a dose for now because he has just had a hypo — also the numbers you recorded today are not super high — they’re too high but not super high. Was it a symptomatic hypo? How was he behaving when you knew that he needed to go to the vet? By the time he got to the vet, he was certainly in a safe glucose number.

So we need to cut the dose and gather data on how he is responding and what his nadir is. We need you to get a spreadsheet set up so we can track it and see how he is responding. After 7 days on that dose, we can reevaluate the situation and make adjustments.
 
As for him not eating as much lately, that is likely due to the fact that his glucose levels haven’t been as high as previously. Cats are very hungry normally when they’re in the higher numbers (typically 300 and above but it varies by cat.). Many cats don’t eat as much when their numbers come down a bit.

So you see how you can save money by doing your own curves at home and not relying on the vet? It’s much better and safer and it puts you in control. We are here to help.
 
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Suzanne & Darcy said:
As for him not eating as much lately, that is likely due to the fact that his glucose levels haven’t been as high as previously. Cats are very hungry normally when they’re in the higher numbers (typically 300 and above but it varies by cat.). Many cats don’t eat as much when their numbers come down a bit.

So you see how you can save money by doing your own curves at home and not relying on the vet? It’s much better and safer and it puts you in control. We are here to help.
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The thing is he’s a pretty thin cat now:( he was 8.3 lbs few days ago at the vets office, I weighed him today and he was little under 8lbs on my scale.( he used to be huge cat for majority of his life) He was 8.9 lbs back in January, but when he started his insulin journey back in January 2022, he was this thin as well. Vet said blood work showed he was slightly anemic but nothing concerning. Is there any other spot I can aim for besides ‘sweet spot on his ear. I had hard time getting his blood this morning
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Hello. It’s true that the numbers you recorded today with him not having had insulin for the last two days are too high and do require some insulin support. As others have said, normal glucose numbers for your cat would be between 50-120 on your ReliOn meter. It’s also true that Vetsulin is not a good insulin for cats. It is harsh and can drop them too hard and fast — and it’s also not very long lasting in cats which can lead to a lot of steep ups and downs in kitty’s blood glucose. That isn’t a good situation.

Vetsulin is not recommended for use in cats by either the American Animal Hospital Association or the American Association of Feline Practitioners. So you may want to ask your vet about switching to either ProZinc or Lantus (which comes in several inexpensive generic forms.) However, since your current insulin is Vetsulin and that’s all you have, we will have to go with it for now. I would recommend dropping the dose down to .5 (one half of a unit) for the time being if you can get him to eat 30 minutes prior to the shot and if you are able to test prior to his meal (so that you can get a fasting glucose number in order to make sure that he is even high enough to give the insulin.). Then you would need to be able to get a few tests in. I would like for you to get a +2 test (two hours after the shot) and see where he is. Then if he’s doing okay you could get a test another two hours later at +4. I would also recommend feeding him small snacks of his food at +2 and possibly +4 — but until we see the numbers we won’t know exactly when is the best time to give the snacks.

I am suggesting this low of a dose for now because he has just had a hypo — also the numbers you recorded today are not super high — they’re too high but not super high. Was it a symptomatic hypo? How was he behaving when you knew that he needed to go to the vet? By the time he got to the vet, he was certainly in a safe glucose number.

So we need to cut the dose and gather data on how he is responding and what his nadir is. We need you to get a spreadsheet set up so we can track it and see how he is responding. After 7 days on that dose, we can reevaluate the situation and make adjustments.
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He’s indoor/ outdoor cat. I have two cats so they go out at night ( we live in a private home). So when he came in the morning like they always do he was just acting not his usual self, like sniffing anything and everything non stop for few hours and you couldn’t snap him out of it. He sniffed they food but barely ate and he was just walking slowly around the house continuously sniffing and sniffing which he’s never done before. I noticed his appetite been declining for the past few months . Before he was really loud by the sliding door outside letting me know he’s hungry ( he’s always had great appetite ( diabetic or not), so it’s really worrying for me that he’s not as hungry anymore and that he’s been losing weight again
 
You could ask the vet for an apetite stimulant. Has he been vomiting or does he seem nauseated, as in sniffs the food or licks it or licks Kia lips and doesn’t want to eat?

if his ideal weight is 9 pounds, he should be eating at least 180-200 calories a day.
 
That’s about the amount he eats per day, I do try to give him more he will eat few snacks sometimes (same fancy feast pate just smaller portions few times a day). Before he would just smash all the food I’d give to him. Now it’s totally different. Since he’s slightly anemic, that might explain his poor appetite since that’s one of main symptoms of anemia. Still waiting on a call from a vet….
 
Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA) said:
You could ask the vet for an apetite stimulant. Has he been vomiting or does he seem nauseated, as in sniffs the food or licks it or licks Kia lips and doesn’t want to eat?

if his ideal weight is 9 pounds, he should be eating at least 180-200 calories a day.
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He licks the food. He’s lost 2 of his bottom canine teeth and does have some redness and inflammation on his upper gums . One of his upper canine is on its way out as well. Although vet said should not impact his eating too much . I didn’t notice him vomiting, but I’m not around 24/7 as he does go outside
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Have you tried cerenia or ondansetron? He could be nauseated
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No I have not!
So this week I noticed after he’s been on a lower insulin dose ( 1 unit instead of 1.5 u that he was initially prescribed) his appetite has improved tremendously! I’m not sure if 1.5 u was making him weak and lethargic but I do see a huge difference. I’m new to taking his blood glucose ( and tbh here my cat is still giving me hard time sometimes as well- as it’s new to him too, so I haven’t done glucose curve at home yet). But he’s never been more than 290 on a glucose meter. Even 290 he’s only been once. It’s normally 220 or below. 3 days already ( including tonight) he’s been at 113-123 once a day either morning or evening . This morning’s pre shot he was at 222, I gave him only 1 u then fed him 30 mins later, then gave snacks throughout the day and just now before dinner he showed 123! I skipped the insulin. Should I still give him like 0.5 u when he’s this low? Yesterday or before yesterday he was at 113 at night after 1 u of Vetsulin in am. I’m too afraid to give him any insulin at all when he shows low numbers. Please advice what do I do when he’s showing low numbers? He’s appetite is definitely much better when he’s on 1 u. And I apologize in advance for slow replies sometimes, I do read it all, it’s just with toddler and a baby it’s hard to find time to reply sometimes. Really appreciate all your answers tho!
 
Jane, for us to help you, we really need you to set up the signature…it only takes a couple minutes and it gives us information about your kitty. We can’t keep scrolling back through the threads to find out information we need before helping you. We want to help. You but we need to have information readily available. You will find how to do the signature in the link in post 2 above.
Also is there any reason you are not setting up a spreadsheet? We can help you with that and it will give us the data to be able to help you. Without it we can’t help you much.
JaneUA said:
This morning’s pre shot he was at 222, I gave him only 1 u then fed him 30 mins later, then gave snacks throughout the day and just now before dinner he showed 123! I skipped the insulin. Should I still give him like 0.5 u when he’s this low? Yesterday
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With vetsulin you feed the meal 30 minutes before giving insulin not after. Vetsulin is a harsh, fast acting insulin and your cat must have food aboard before you give the dose. Otherwise it is not safe. If his preshot is 123 I would skip the dose.
In saying all this I am very uncomfortable giving any dosing advice without seeing a spreadsheet.
I can appreciate you are very busy with a baby and toddler, so please let us help you set up the spreadsheet for you. @Bandit's Mom can do it in a couple of minutes.
Are you giving snacks during the cycles as well as the preshot meals.?
Please keep posting.
 
From the Vetsulin forum:
  • The proper sequence for dosing insulin is: Test/Feed/Wait (30 – 30 min for Caninsulin/Vetsulin and an hour for N/NPH)/Shoot. In the beginning, if your cat’s BG is not up to at least 200 mg/dL {11 mmol/L}, if your schedule allows, you can stall (without feeding) for 20+minutes, then retest the BG. You are looking for a number that is rising, not falling and up to 200 mg/dL {11 mmol/L}. If you stall once, but can’t do another round of stalling and your cat hasn’t reached a BG of 200 mg/dL {11 mmol/L}, you’ll need to skip the dose and wait until the next cycle. NOTE: Because pet-specific meters (such as the AlphaTrak2) often read higher than human meters, you may want to adjust the NO-SHOOT/Ask for help number to 225 mg/dL {12.5 mmol/L} or even 250 mg/dL {14 mmol/L} This gives you an added margin of safety when using an AlphaTrak2 or other pet-specific meter.
  • IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not feed your cat within the two-hour window right before your pre-shot test time; doing this can raise your cat’s blood significantly, giving you a higher BG number based on food. This could result in your giving insulin when you should not, or giving more insulin than you should. (We realize this may sound confusing. You want to not feed your cat 2 hours prior to your pre-shot test. Test and THEN feed your regularly scheduled meal, wait (depending on which insulin you’re using) and then shoot.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Jane, for us to help you, we really need you to set up the signature…it only takes a couple minutes and it gives us information about your kitty. We can’t keep scrolling back through the threads to find out information we need before helping you. We want to help. You but we need to have information readily available. You will find how to do the signature in the link in post 2 above.
Also is there any reason you are not setting up a spreadsheet? We can help you with that and it will give us the data to be able to help you. Without it we can’t help you much.

With vetsulin you feed the meal 30 minutes before giving insulin not after. Vetsulin is a harsh, fast acting insulin and your cat must have food aboard before you give the dose. Otherwise it is not safe. If his preshot is 123 I would skip the dose.
In saying all this I am very uncomfortable giving any dosing advice without seeing a spreadsheet.
I can appreciate you are very busy with a baby and toddler, so please let us help you set up the spreadsheet for you. @Bandit's Mom can do it in a couple of minutes.
Are you giving snacks during the cycles as well as the preshot meals.?
Please keep posting.
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It was my mistake, sorry, YES I ALWAYS FEED 30 mins PRIOR to giving insulin, not after. And yes, I do give few snacks to him during the day because he started loosing weight again. Snack are still same Fancy feast just like 1/3 of a can for a snack.
 
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