HOME TESTING with RELION PRIME

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Randy1989

Randy1989

Member Since 2016
Hello, I am new to this board and would like to hear any and all advice and suggestions. My 11 year young Ragdoll cat Timber was diagnosed diabetic early September of this year. My wife and I started home testing on Sept. 9 while also working on getting his diet lower in carbs. When he was about 9 he weighed a solid 14 lbs, but I emphasize solid. His brother Toby from the same litter weighs a solid 16 lbs now and doesn't have diabetes. Timber now weighs 10.5 lbs but has been down to 9.5 when first diagnosed. First of all we transitioned both Timber and Toby off of dry food and let them keep eating their favorite wet food for years, Fancy Feast Medleys.

We have been using the AlphaTrak Meter 3 times daily, 6:30am/12:30pm/6:30pm on Timber and administering ProZinc as needed 6:30am/pm but we just weren't getting consistent BG readings, they were all over the place. Our vet started us off with 1-2 units of insulin at first but upped it to 3 units when we couldn't get BG readings under 400 so I started reading about different wet foods to try that had lower carbs. We switched to specified Friskies pate flavors that are all under 8 carbs. (Neither of them will eat DM wet foods.) Both of them love the Friskies and we started getting consistently lower BG readings with Timber. Once we switched to Friskies, Timber's BG readings dropped and our vet lowered his insulin to 1-2 units depending on his reading.

The scheduled units are as follows: BG reading under 175=0 units / BG 176-200=1 unit / BG 201+=1.5 units. Timber has been on this schedule for 10 days and today for the 1st time each reading was under 175 so no insulin today! Yeaaaa! We are switching from AlphaTrak to Relion Prime but we have a question. Our vet says as long as the BG readings are within 20% from both meters we should be ok. We have done several meter comparisons at Timber's 12:30pm test time (the nadir). Five days ago we got a BG of 362 w/AlphaTrak...259 w/Relion Prime. That much difference concerned us, so we waited. Yesterday his BG was 251 w/AlphaTrak...172 w/Relion Prime. Today BG 172 w/AlphaTrak...130 w/Relion Prime.

Any advice/suggestions are most welcome! Thank you all.
 
The reading variations between the Alpha Trak 2 and Relion look about right with the Relion always reading lower than the AT2. Although there is no direct scientific reference for the % difference many of us have compared AT2 and human meters and found that the differences are much wider at higher numbers and closer at lower numbers. The numbers comparisons that you have listed look about "normal" for comparisons that I have done with AT2 and FS Lite meters.

It is a matter of getting used to a slightly different system. The differences at higher numbers are not that important since a high number is a high number. Once you are in lower numbers there is less of a difference between the two meter types and the protocols on here are listed with numbers for human meters.
 
Thank you for your response and the chart. That really helps and has eased my mind. When I take his BG reading in the morning with the Relion Prime, I will add about 35% to get closer to his true reading with AT2. I appreciate you bearing with my long story but I will get all the terms down for the future.
 
Randy1989 said:
Thank you for your response and the chart. That really helps and has eased my mind. When I take his BG reading in the morning with the Relion Prime, I will add about 35% to get closer to his true reading with AT2. I appreciate you bearing with my long story but I will get all the terms down for the future.
Click to expand...

You are most welcome and welcome to the board. Big kudos to you for starting home-testing..that and setting up a spreadsheet to record your data are two important steps in keeping your kitty safe and helping him on the road to a healthier life :bighug: :bighug:

Here are the instructions for setting up a spreadsheet

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

And when you get a moment you can add some information to your signature such as the type of insulin you are using, brand of meter, food you are feeding, name of kitty and yours as well if you would like, where you are from..general area so we know the time zone...any other medical conditions, when diagnosed and I am sure I am missing something, :oops: This just makes it easier for people to see this information without having to ask each time you do a post. ;)

Information on editing your signature and other preferences

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/editing-your-signature-profile-and-preferences.130340/

You' ll have the hang of the forum and the jargon in no time. ;)
 
You don't need to add the 35% to the readings. Lots of people here use the relion meters or any human meter. it's not an exact science the actual difference in the readings between meters it's more the patterns & hi & low numbers to look for.
 
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