? Should I return my AlphaTrack3

heavenlydogs

heavenlydogs

Member Since 2026
Hi
I bought the AlphaTrack3 because I thought my vet would except the results better from a Zoetis product. My vet never recommended I test. I'm hoping I can run a glucose curve at home and my vet will except it and not have to stress the cat out. Our appointment is February 19 to do a glucose curve at the clinic. I'm realizing now that running curves and checking as much as I have is going to be expensive with this meter! Should I buy a human one (which is best?) to do all the day to day and maybe keep AlphaTrack3 for vet curve? Or just return it all together? Do the human ones have good apps? How do you share the numbers of a curve test with your vet?
Thank you for your help
 
Hi Toni! You’ve come to the conclusion about the AT3 that I think a lot of people have regarding cost…

Do you think your vet would be OK with you sending them information from a human meter? If not, your plan about keeping it for the vet or even just as a backup seems sound. That’s what I did, I think I still have the AT3 in a drawer somewhere. Turns out our vet saw what I was doing with the spreadsheet and how involved I was on the forum learning, and eventually our talks shifted away from BG numbers. But, totally up to you how you handle that.

ReliOn is popular in the US. Good local availability and inexpensive. But there are lots of brands, I wouldn’t say there is a best.

Not sure about apps, I think the ReliOn has some limited memory on board but I would just log the reading on the spreadsheet on my phone right after the test. Too easy to forget and get confused when a number was from 😌
 
I'm not sure how well vets factor in costs for caring for a diabetic cat. This is particularly the case if you test a fair amount. The minimum number of tests per day is 4 -- your two pre-shot tests and at least one test during the AM and PM cycles. If you are using at AT meter, that will cost $4 per day since the AT strips are about $1.00 each. Testing with a Relion meter runs roughly $0.70 per day (about $0.17 per strip).

And please, get PM cycle tests!!
 
heavenlydogs said:
Hi
I bought the AlphaTrack3 because I thought my vet would except the results better from a Zoetis product. My vet never recommended I test. I'm hoping I can run a glucose curve at home and my vet will except it and not have to stress the cat out. Our appointment is February 19 to do a glucose curve at the clinic. I'm realizing now that running curves and checking as much as I have is going to be expensive with this meter! Should I buy a human one (which is best?) to do all the day to day and maybe keep AlphaTrack3 for vet curve? Or just return it all together? Do the human ones have good apps? How do you share the numbers of a curve test with your vet?
Thank you for your help
Click to expand...
It really does not matter which meter you use at the vet, curving at the vet will still result in higher BG numbers due to stress, The ReliOn meter has a memory of a 12 hour testing, it has the last night's test and all other tests during the day
 
The strips for the AlphaTrack are vey expensive and when you begin to get the hang of testing there can be many strips lost, even now after 4 years, sometimes testing Corky every 3-4 hours sometimes I use in just one test 3 strips, it just happens, so is up to you weather you want to return it, we mostly base our numbers on human meters, it is what you are more comfortable using or spending, not your vets
 
CORKY said:
The ReliOn meter has a memory of a 12 hour testing, it has the last night's test and all other tests during the day
Click to expand...

The Relion meter has a 30 day memory.

I don't know how your vet would deal with it, but generally, you can't return blood glucose meters (or strips), even if they've never been opened. They are considered a "blood product" so can't be returned. (I accidentally bought the Relion Premium strips instead of the Premier and even though I hadn't even left the store, they wouldn't take them back)
 
Very true it happened to me at first buying strips I have the ReliOn Premier and I bought tge classic premiers, I noticed at the register and the pharmacy would not take them back, it is what it is
 
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