Recommendations for BGMs in Canada?

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Sprkl

Sprkl

Member Since 2021
Hello,

What are some of the `human' meters that those in Canada are using?

I see that the ReliOn meters available from Walmart (US) are popular for those in the U.S., but since they're not readily available in Canada, what would you suggest?

Our research thus far has identified Accucheck Aviva (soon to be discontinued so I worry about procuring test strips eventually) and the Ascencia Contour Next, but the strips are rather pricey compared to the ReliOn...which may be moot since [it's] not available here anyway. The AC Next appears to allow for reapplying of blood to the same strip (perhaps if the first droplet wasn't large enough?)

In my original thread here on FD, I posted information from an article stating that neither the Accucheck nor the Contour seem to fulfill the ISO standards of accuracy, which members here have stated is somewhat irrelevant since we need to focus on trends. I still do not quite understand how a trend with numbers that may not be as accurate as they should be can provide a solid trend, but...I guess they will.

Thank you
 
Disclaimer. I am brand new on here so have very little experience with cat BS monitoring.

However I am a clinical dietitian who works in a Cdn hospital. Our diabetes clinic uses and recommends the Onetouch Verio Flex for our human diabetic clients, so they kindly provided me with one.

Our diabetic clinic folks feel it is quite accurate, I suspect in part because of its ease of use. And I have certainly found my results to be quite consistent and repeatable, which I think is a good sign.

It is super user friendly, very fast, requires no calibration, and requires just a minute amount of blood (Eg less than what my vets Alphatrak needs as we’ve done them simultaneously). Bluetooths nicely with my phone and has a very user friendly app to record results and track trends.

I’ve checked my verio with the vet clinics meter and has consistently run about 20% lower. So I just have to take that into consideration.

Strips are a bit less costly too, running about $50 for 100 (another reason why our clinic recommends it).
 
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@ Yvonne & Simon, Thank you again for the suggestion. After speaking with our vet we have opted for the Contour Next `One', primarily because it has the `Second Chance' feature that allows adding blood to the initial sample if it's not enough. Since we are still nervous about the whole process, I suspect that there will be a learning curve with the blood collection, so having a second chance may be useful, at least initially.
 
Sprkl said:
@ Yvonne & Simon, Thank you again for the suggestion. After speaking with our vet we have opted for the Contour Next `One', primarily because it has the `Second Chance' feature that allows adding blood to the initial sample if it's not enough. Since we are still nervous about the whole process, I suspect that there will be a learning curve with the blood collection, so having a second chance may be useful, at least initially.
Click to expand...
I think that having the second chance feature is a nice one. I know that I wasted a few strips with mine, before I learned what the minimum sized blood drop looked like.
Best of luck!
 
In Ontario meters are free. The pharmacists don't really care about details, just don't say anything about a cat. Twice I've just mumbled something about my doctor thinking it was a good idea to have one. No one ever follows through.
 
Look for a meter that just needs a small drop of blood. A lot of people used the Freestyle for that reason, it's even smaller requirement than the Onetouch mentioned. Test strips can often be found on eBay for considerable price savings. Depending where you live, some people use their Shoppers Optimum points to buy test strips.
 
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