Human meters vs. animal meters?

[PJ Brown]

I am new to this forum and new to feline diabetes. I just gave Jett his first insulin shot per vet instructions and was online looking to buy a glucose meter for home testing. I stumbled upon the Alpha Trak 2 meter for cats and dogs. There is a review stating that this meter gives drastically different results than the human meter made by Bayer. Which meter (human vs. animal) should I purchase? Do I have to somehow adjust the human meter result to be cat specific? Thanks for your help!
Patti

 

[scoobydoox]

the animal meter test strips are really expensive in the long run. lantus was tested with a human meter. the human meters recommended are the relion confirm or micro or prime. sold at walmart. the prime as cheapest test strips but needs a decent blood drop the confirm and micro use smaller drop. no you dont have to adjust the meter.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

As long as you understand the numbers you're looking at, a human meter is fine....the vast majority of us here us human meters because the strips for the AlphaTrak cost around $1 each!

With as much as most of us test, that's just too much money!!

If you live in the US, the most popular meters we use here are the Relion Confirm or Micro from WalMart...they take the tiniest sample size and the strips are affordable at $35.88 per 100

The protocols we use here were all developed using human meters too, so we're very experienced in understanding those numbers.

 

[Jill & Alex (GA)]

When asked, I usually tell people if they're looking for test results which are *supposed to be* closest to lab values, then a pet-specific meter is probably what they'd like. Although, as mentioned above, the test strips are ridiculously expen$ive!

That said, you might want to take a look at this thread that was started this morning:
Another Alphatrak/glucometer issue

If you're looking for a cost effective meter which will allow you to treat your cat's diabetes, then purchasing a meter calibrated for humans is the way to go. Human meters tend to run a little lower than pet-specific meters, but all protocols and methods used to achieve regulation on the FDMB were written for use with human meters.



FWIW, I used a meter calibrated for humans for many years and followed an appropriate protocol found on the FDMB. My cat did extremely well (link to her spreadsheets can be found in my signature).

Good luck and hope to see you posting often!