New member/not new to Feline Diabetes - Relion meter?

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macsancats

Member Since 2013
Hi all,
The nice folks at the Feline Diabetes Yahoo group sent me here. I have had two diabetic cats for awhile and, just this weekend, my third diabetic cat was diagnosed. We think his diabetes might be secondary because he also has super high calcium levels which might be a sign of lymphoma. We will know more in a week. We test our cats before each meal. Two are super easy, the newly diagnosed HATES it.

Since we have three diabetics, testing is getting expensive. We have been buying strips on eBay for about half the cost of retail. Recently, we ran out of strips before I could get some more, so I picked up a Relion Prime meter for $15 and 50 strips for $9! WOW, that's a great deal. I started running side by side tests with the One Touch Ultra meter. The Relion IS consistent, BUT it's running about 40 points lower than the One Touch. A few times, it has been off 80-100 points, but this isn't common and I just retest. I'm wondering if the Relion is a good meter to use all the time or if I should just keep it as a backup. 40 points lower is quite a bit and often means two of the cats don't get their insulin at that time. (Two of our cats don't get insulin if they are below 300.)

I tried searching the topics for info about the Walmart Relion Prime meter, but I keep getting an error. I'm going to dig through the messages some more, but if anyone has any input on the Relion meter and/or the running lower than One Touch, let me know.

Thanks!
Karin
 
Many people here use the Relion prime and are quite happy with it. All meters vary a bit.. usually at higher blood glucose which is fine given its the low ones you worry about. Was that 80 points difference at the higher BG (ie over 200)?

Why dont you shoot when the cats are under 300? What insulin are you using? I think we may have some things to discuss here and tweaks to make which may help :)

Wendy
 
You're looking for a meter that is "good enough", not lab equivalent. The FDA allows meters to read anywhere within 20% of the true lab value, so any test result is actually the +/- 20% range around that value (ex. 100 -> 80 to 120)
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All things considered, I'd rather it warned me the glucose might be too low, sooner, so I'd be inclined to stick with the Prime for that reason. Also, test it on yourself or use a control solution (which you might get from Arkray if you call).

Here's a Consumer Reports review of meters. We have found, though, that some with Tru or True in the name tend not to work well for this purpose.
Glucose Meters: Consumer Report Ratings/Spreadsheet(10/11)

I used the ReliOn Confirm, which is actually the Arkray Glucocard 01, just branded for WalMart who sells under the ReliOn name. You can get the ArkRay meters through our shopping partner, ADW (link may be at the top of the page.)
 
The 80 pts (ish) was lower. I don't have the other numbers with me now, but I remember the Relion was 167 and the One Touch was in the 300s. I retested with the Relion and the next two tests were in the 200s. I've always wondered if quick clotting or blood from cold ears made a difference. At 167, I'm likely to test again anyway. I was just frustrated at such a huge difference.

One cat is a transient diabetic and has never been well regulated. He gets 1/2 (!) unit twice a day IF he's over 300. If he gets insulin under 300, he will become hypoglycemic. Our vet said not to give insulin under 300 after he crashed and was unconscious Thanksgiving weekend. (I was out of town, my huband took him to the EC who promptly got his bg back up and saved him.)

I never see our 2nd diabetic under 300, but I would really wonder why if he were.

Our new, 3rd, diabetic is only in the 140-200 range. They think his diabetes might be secondary to something else (thinking lymphoma right now). They also said they don't recommend insulin under 300 on him until we know more. We'll know more next week.

I"m glad BJM explained the +/- 20% range. I knew there was a variance, but not how much. I was also thinking it was better to be too low, but needed another opinion. I'm also concerned that if it consistently runs too low, are my cats at risk of not getting enough insulin. I think that's my only worry in all this. I'll get the control solution and see what it says.

I printed the report to review and keep with me if I buy a different meter. Funny thing, we have used the TrueTrack a few times when we ran out of One Touch strips. I know it's off, but never so much that I was concerned about giving too much insulin.

Karin
 
I use the Prime mostly because it's so cheap. Yes, it seems to be on the high end of that 20% variable, but it works "close enough" to know whether my cat is running high or low or just right. I also don't like there's about a 20 to 40 point difference on back-to-back tests (depending on how high he is, this still falls within the 20% variance). If I'm in doubt, I'll use one of my backup meters (my favorite is the Micro because at least it is consistent with multiple tests at the same time).

I'm curious what type of food you're feeding them as well?
 
I haven't used the Prime but I have the Relion Micro and just today tested it against the Bayer Contour and there was only a 10pt difference. Strips are only slightly higher for the Micro 50 for $20. Love my Micro.

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang
 
The OneTouch is one of my backup meters - my 'normal' is the ReliOn Confirm. The OneTouch reads about 25 points higher in the mid 100's, 200-ish up to 35-40 points higher and above that, it's a BIG difference, the OneTouch being higher. With that said, when it gets down to the 'nitty gritty' numbers, below about 110 and down, they begin agreeing almost exactly. Since this is the critical area, I feel very confident with that meter too. I haven't used the new ReliOn, KT's been doing this sugar dance for over 1 1/2 years now...I do pay $36 for 100 strips so the other is a bit cheaper.

BIG HUGS!!! WOW! 3 Extra sweet kitties!
 
Let's see if I can answer/reply all in one message. :)

We're using Lantus pens. We were using the vials, but one cat is .5 unit 2x/day, the other 1.5 2x/day, and the new one rarely gets insulin. We were throwing away more than half a bottle. Btw, we use a vial/pen for about six weeks before both kitties numbers start getting all wacky. I know other people use it for longer, but maybe mine are just extra "special"!

We feed dry Orijen and Felidae and the diabetics get Fancy Feast twice a day to make sure they eat when getting insulin. We only fed the Felidae because one of the cats went on a hunger strike and refused everything else. She doesn't eat it now and the last 3 bags have been super crumbly, so we're considering switching. Hunger strike kitty likes California Natural. We have another cat who went into Fatty Liver and refused anything but Fancy Feast. FF saved her life! So, to make things easier, we just feed it to the diabetics too. We have mulitple cats plus foster, so our feeding situation is a bit complicated.

I like hearing multiple positive comments about the Relion Micro. Since I already have the One Touch, I think I will get the Micro as another backup. I sure like the price of the Relion strips, even if the Micro is more than the Prime. If I'm patient, I can get One Touch strips on eBay for $40-50 for 100 strips. With three diabetics, I could use the savings. I'm so glad for the feedback on the Relion meters. And the detailed info on the results for the One Touch in the 100s, 200s, etc is a huge help. The point difference I'm seeing is exactly what you saw.

When I saw my vet this weekend, he was floored that I had a third diabetic. He said of all their clients, they only have about 20 diabetic cats AND I have 3 of them!!

My new (3rd) diabetic is in the kitty hospital again today. He had been losing weight and screaming for food, so I tested him last Saturday on a whim and found he was diabetic. The vet ran bloodwork to check other values before beginning insulin. He acted fine. By Sunday night, he was going downhill and by Monday morning he was super dehydrated and clumsy. They found super high calcium and a slightly high ALT level. He was so dehydrated, he took 7x the normal amount of fluids to rehydrate him. He went in for three days for iv fluids, home one day, now back for more fluids. I understand high calcium is not good and they feel the diabetes is secondary to something else. I just don't understand how he is getting so dehydrated in a matter of a half a day! My boy is 17.5 yrs old and I have a feeling this is all not good. :(

Thanks for all your feedback.
Karin
 
Since you are testing, please pop over to Cat Info to read about feline nutrition, and to get the PDF file of nutrition info for a variety of foods.

While each cat is different, and some will refuse to eat what we'd like, we do recommend that the food be 10% or less calories from carbohydrates. There are very few dry foods that come close to this - Wellness Core and Evo Cat and Kitten are 2 of them. We also recommend that the food be canned or raw - which may be difficult for you with the picky, refuses to eat at times kitty. There are tips there on transitioning which may be helpful. In general, cats fed a dry diet tend not to drink enough water to compensate for the lack of moisture in the diet. This may put extra strain on the urinary tract, promoting the development of renal disease.

The Fancy Feast Classic Pates do fall in the low carb category, as do most of the classic Friskies pates (and Friskies is about $0.90 +/- $0.10 for a 13 oz can, if cost is a concern)
 
Re: dry vs canned. I know canned is preferred, but with the multiple cats we have, it's cost prohibitive. Only the special needs and senior cats get canned. Of course, the other cats get to eat the leftovers. The cats eating dry do not have medical issues. Our part of town has too much phosphorus in the water and puts all cats at risk for urinary issues. Because of that, we give them distilled water (at the suggestion of the emergency vet we were seeing once a month for a blocked kitty). I also drink the distilled and feel so much better than with tap.

We used to feed Evo (none of them liked Core) until I found a large mangled piece of plastic in it. My dad said it was a piece of machinery. Another rescue friend of mine found plastic (blue gloves) in her canned food, twice. Soon after Natura foods (Evo, Innova, etc) was purchased by Proctor & Gamble, they changed the formula and, in my opinion, the quality. The cats coats looked terrible and even the short-haired cats were getting mats. We switched to Orijen which is similar to Evo/Core. I'm happy with that food. I'm not happy with the Felidae, but again, that was a change out of necessity. I will look at the feline nutrition. When my picky girl stopped eating again recently, we bought California Natural at the suggestion of the food store staff. She likes it and she has gained back some weight and her coat looks great. (Btw, she refused canned. She's 16, deaf, and entitled to get her way.) It might be a contender for the dry food kitties. We feed two different dry foods for various reasons.

We feed FF pates as the main meal, then a roasted and a gravy shared between them to get them to eat a little more. We have to watch the canned foods because the fatty liver cat is allergic (hives, vomits) to fish. We tried Friskies to reduce costs and I have never seen so much loose poop in my life! It wasn't worth the vet bill.

Off to read the nutrition info.
Karin
 
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