Jimmy's #'s Relion Micro Verses AlphaTrac

[angela&jimmycat]

Hi everyone. We bought a Relion Micro a few days back and have been comparing it's numbers to our AlphaTrac. Relion Micro is showing anywhere from 70 to 90 points lower. I have updated Jimmy's Spreadsheet with both numbers. A = AlphaTrac and R = Relion Micro. Thank you Nancy for the advice on entering #'s on the SS and color coding them, very helpful. We are getting much better numbers now, no 600+ ps. Hoping we are finally getting his dose where it needs to be. Today #'s are very incouraging. I do have a question concerning bad breath. Jimmy's breath has started to smell bad, not acetone like, maybe just can food like. I just wondered what everyone's experience with this might be. Thanks for the support.

 

[Nancy and Cody]

wow were did that blue come from! I guess you are seeing that settling time in action. Did you feed or doing anything differently then?

Pretty soon, after you have a good amount of comparison data, you probably should just switch to one meter, or you will drive yourself crazy... (remember the idea is to save $ , not test twice :lol: )

 

[FurballLover]

The bad breath is a bit of an issue at times for us too. Since the switch to all wet, I notice it a little more. Usually, its right after he's eaten. I think some of the smell actually comes from his fur (like the food gets in there a little and smells til he's groomed well).
Have you had your vet check his teeth lately? My civie has really bad breath due to dental issues; she's already had a few teeth removed, and will probably lose a couple more at the end of summer.
Just in case you don't know, dental issues can have a great impact on bgs; so if you haven't had his teeth checked lately, it might be time.

 

[Joanna & Bix (GA)]

Yeah, Bix is a bit of a stinky-breather too. :twisted: It seems like he doesn't know how to clean up with canned food, lol, there are always little bits around on his face that I have to clean off - so I'm guessing he's not flossing well either :lol: . I hoped it would improve after he had dental work, but it was sweet & fresh for like 2 days and then back to stinky, oh well. If your vet hasn't looked in his mouth lately though I would definitely recommend a check - could be a sign of a problem brewing in there (probably time to get Bix rechecked too...).

I have a Relion Ultima & and iPet (similar I guess to the AlphaT). I have found that most of the time the Ultima runs lower. It's a little unnerving, especially when you get a number like 100, which could be perfect, or not perfect, depending on whether or not the meter is right. The only part that I think is super-important is when you get to the lows. The literature I have seen on it (which is all but non-existent) says that for human meters you use 50 as the low end of good #s, while for pet meters you use 80. It's not flawless, but I use that as my guideline depending on which meter I am using.

There is debate though as to whether or not that is really true - what I did was test a civie with each meter (which I recommend to everyone for whatever meter you use - it's a great way to get a sense of what a non-diabetic #s looks like on that meter). My civie was 56 on the Ultima, and 81 on the iPet, so that seems pretty in-line to me with what I've read. Of course it's just one reading, and could be different another day (and I didn't read the same blood drop, which would probably be the more informative way to check it).

Anyhow, what I've found is that it's simpler to use the human meter since that's what most people use and are used to interpreting the #s from that perspective. That said though, right now I'm using the iPet as I feel more confident in the readings, though I don't really know for certain how accurate they are (which is true of any meter - the amount of variation can be kind-of unnerving!!!).