home glucose meter vs.vets blood test accuracy?

[notanotherxerox]

Hi! I'm taking my new Relion glucose meter to the vet with me this week to check how accurate it is compared to my vet's blood test and I've been reading a lot about home testing and saw that human glucose meter results could be 20-30 points lower than the vets blood test. If my glucose meter results turn out different from my vets will I just have to learn that thats how many points off it is? For example if it comes up at 150 and my vet's says 170, does that mean if I test at home and the number comes out to be 200, his real blood sugar would be 220? I just made these numbers up as examples.
This is all so overwhelming and the more I read and research how to take care of my newly diabetic cat the more questions I seem to have. Thank you for your time!

 

[Sue and Oliver (GA)]

They are not always different; sometimes they are only a few points different. Sometimes the meters made specifically for animals do run 20-30 points lower than human ones.

If that is the case, you don't need to worry about any variance. We are looking for patterns and trends so human glucometers work fine. And for instance, if your cat tested at 250 at the vet and 270 at home, you would shoot the same amount of insulin.

 

[BJM]

The FDA allows glucometers to read within about 20% of the true lab value.

ex
100 means between 80 to 120
200 means between 160 to 240
300 means between 240 to 360
and so on

There are reference values to use when testing cat blood with a human glucometer so its OK if it doesn't match the vet's lab values. What is important are the ranges on the spreadsheet we have. Getting a test on a human glucometer with a value below 50, less than 6 hours after insulin can mean a dangerous hypoglycemic crisis is starting.

 

[Julia & Bandit (GA)]

They are not always different; sometimes they are only a few points different. Sometimes the meters made specifically for animals do run 20-30 points lower than human ones.

If that is the case, you don't need to worry about any variance. We are looking for patterns and trends so human glucometers work fine. And for instance, if your cat tested at 250 at the vet and 270 at home, you would shoot the same amount of insulin.

Actually, it's the other way around--normal blood sugar for a cat on a human meter is 50-120, and 80-150 on the alphatrak (pet meter).

Due to meter variance, the high your cat's sugar is, the more likely it is there might be a difference in numbers between an animal or pet meter. However, you're not looking for exact accurate numbers, but rather a range of numbers and patterns, as Sue said. So you just shift the range of "high" "normal" or "low" numbers you're looking at.

What insulin are you using? Most dosing protocols are written for human meters, not animal meters, so it's important that you're adjusting for an animal meter if you have one.

 

[knolet]

I have read a lot of posts here that quote either a 20 point difference or a 30 point difference between home meters and pet specific meters. I actually did a curve a couple of weeks ago, using my meter (relion ultima) and the vet's alpha trak and the same drop of blood with all but one test. You can check out Zeus' spreadsheet to see the results, I noted it in the date column. The results varied, sometimes mine was higher, sometimes lower; I think the differences ranged from a couple of points to about 18 points up or down, but it wasn't off the same amount each time. Even if you try your own meter against the same drop of blood, you will probably see a different number the second time due to the acceptable variances that BJM showed you.

I tried a couple of different meters in addition to the alpha trak, and I drove myself crazy trying to determine which number was correct. I think the bottom line is that you are looking for patterns and trends. I finally decided to stick with my relion ultima, and feel much better.

 

[Hillary & Maui (GA)]

What kind of meter is your vet using? There are several vets who use human meters too.

The point is, as long as you are comfortable with your home testing and your meter, use that and don't be concerned about what the vet's meter or any other meter reads.

 

[notanotherxerox]

Thank you all so much for your help! I know my vet uses an animal meter, I think its the alpha trak.

Knolet- Thank you so much, Zeus's spreadsheet is very helpful. I have the Relion Ultima too so it was nice to see someone elses result with that meter.

Ok so I'm going to watch for numbers under 50 and pay close attention to the patterns of his numbers. If it comes up under 50, I'll know that he's low no matter what the point difference between the vet's and my meter is? Thank you again!!!