? Switched meters - need help

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Julie mueller

Julie mueller

Member Since 2019
My spreadsheet is based off of the AT2 meter and insulinx strips . I ran out of strips so I am using my relion prime meter until I recieve more strips . How do i mark that on my spread sheet and what's the difference? I just did a reading with the prime and it was 126
 
Normal BG using your AT2 would be 68 to 150 while on the Prime normal would be 50 to 120.

As for the spreadsheet, I'd suggest you add a row in above today's readings indicating you are using the Prime meter temporarily. Then when you get the strips for the AT2 again, add another row indicating you are back to using the AT2. Any problems just holler.
 
That's fine. If you do decide to change over to the Prime permanently, then the row with the colour coding can be edited to display the proper light green values for the Prime and you can just leave the row showing when you changed meters on the spreadsheet. :)
 
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
That's fine. If you do decide to change over to the Prime permanently, then the row with the colour coding can be edited to display the proper light green values for the Prime and you can just leave the row showing when you changed meters on the spreadsheet. :)
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Is 248 on the prime considered high ? I'm guessing that it would of been higher if using the AT?
 
I use both Relion Prime and Alphatrak2, someone posted this "rough" conversion and I reference it when I use my Prime meter.

150 and below, pet meter is 20 points higher
200s, pet meter is 25-35 points higher
300s, pet meter is 50-70 points higher
400s, doesn't matter, HIGH
 
DON'T take that as gospel !! those are vague approximations and don't hold up -- several people have since posted experiments where they used meters side by side, there really is NOT any algorithm nor conversion ...
 
CandyH and Catcat said:
DON'T take that as gospel !! those are vague approximations and don't hold up -- several people have since posted experiments where they used meters side by side, there really is NOT any algorithm nor conversion ...
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I usually test 3 hours after shot to make sure hes not dropping too low .. does that seem like the right time to test and what is low enough to be concerned
 
With prime I dont know what the no shoot number is .. what my goal range is .. and I do my PM shot at 10pm so i have been doing the shot and then staying up until 1am to test to make sure he doesnt drop too low .. but now that I'm using the prime meter I dont know what number would be of concern . I am all about saving the money on the strips for sure !! I just feel lost all over again
 
general info handed to us newbies using human meters -- no shoot is 200 unless you know how much cat drops on the usual dose, this gives you a margin of safety
and I've been warned that many cats drop lower at night, perhaps after we go to bed

normal nondiabetic range is 50 to 120, or close approximation thereof -- at least for the recently diagnosed you don't want to get below the 80 to 100 range; those are average ranges and Every Cat Is Different

remember, I'm still a newbie, Catcat was diagnosed about a week after Smokey .. so I'm painting with a broad brush -- we made it once down to 69 with no hypo symptoms, but that was pushing it

did not see what insulin you are on but you are sure welcome to look at Catcat's spreadsheet, shooting Vetsulin and using a ReliOn Confirm meter, so the range you see on my spreadsheet will be quite close to what your Prime will be reading
 
Panic said:
150 and below, pet meter is 20 points higher
200s, pet meter is 25-35 points higher
300s, pet meter is 50-70 points higher
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Those numbers are DEFINITELY nothing more than speculation because I've seen higher and lower differences at all those ranges and have done well over 1200 same drop of blood comparisons. The pet meter will generally read higher with the difference being greater the higher the BG but there is no specific point difference or percent difference.

I don't see the type of insulin in your signature but I presume it's Lantus because you've indicated using SLGS. If that is the case, then your no shoot number would be 90 but you might want to keep that a bit higher (up to a max of 200) until you have a bit more data. Please add the type of insulin to your signature when you have a moment to avoid any confusion.

What @CandyH and Catcat has provided are guidelines for Vetsulin which is a faster acting insulin than Lantus and therefore has slightly different shooting recommendations.

248 would be considered high but not extremely high. Testing at +3 post shot with Lantus will often tell you if it's going to be an active cycle. If the +3 reading is roughly the same or higher than pre-shot, then chances are good it's going to be a quiet cycle and you can call it quits for the night. If the +3 is considerably lower, then it's likely to be an active cycle and another test before nadir (usually by +7 with Lantus) is in order. When to test again will depend on what that +3 reading is and how much of a drop has occurred since pre-shot.

Any reading under 50 or below needs immediate attention to ensure kitty doesn't drop too low. At night, you may choose to give kitty some food at an bit higher reading (under 90 for instance) to boost them up and give yourself the chance to get some sleep. I suggest if you find yourself chasing low numbers, you post for advice.
 
thank you, Linda, for chiming in -- I might have been reading some frantic feeling into what Julie posted, and didn't want her to go all night worrying; that's not good for either caregiver nor sugarcat
 
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
Those numbers are DEFINITELY nothing more than speculation
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I've seen this rough chart comparison thrown around more than once and no one's seemed concerned...if there really is no way to determine appropriate pet numbers out of a human meter then why do we use a human meter at all? What I mean is, how then does everyone determine a good number from a bad one? Are you just looking broadly at it, like whether it's in the 100s or 300s etc? Not arguing, I genuinely want to know since I use a human meter as well!
 
Unfortunately you will see a lot of different attempts to "convert" pet to human meter readings and vice versa on the board. They are 2 totally different "animals" because cat blood and human blood do not carry glucose in the same way. The pet meter reads the blood as if it were cat blood whereas the human meter reads the blood as if it were human blood. So you aren't comparing apples to apples...... you are comparing apples to oranges. That said, either meter is perfectly fine for use with cats using the known normal ranges for the meter you are using.

Human meters have been used for cats for far longer than pet meters and much of the research you find online doesn't clearly indicate whether it's been done based on human or pet meter readings. Pet meters are actually a relatively new technology. Normal numbers for cats with a human meter are well known. Pet meters give you readings that are in line with pet lab values. High is high no matter which meter you use. The only time the difference in readings is critical is when you get into low range where 68 on a pet meter and 50 on a human meter are considered to be the point where one needs to take action to boost BG to avoid kitty going too low.

Pet meters, because they are a specialty item, are expensive to use and many vets offices use human meters. If you graph comparison readings taken with both a human and pet meter, the pattern of the insulin curve will be very much the same for both meters but the human meter readings will generally be lower than the pet meter.

The other caveat to all of this is that those using Insulinx or Freestyle strips in their AT2 meter may or may not be getting accurate pet lab equivalent readings because your meter may or may not be set to the correct code for the strips being used. The strips labelled/packaged for use in the AT2 meter are batch tested to determine the correct meter code and without it, your readings while in the ballpark are not necessarily as accurate as they could be if the right code was being used. I've personally found using the human meter branded strips results in higher readings on my AT2 meter than the properly branded strips but that again could just be a product of the codes I have experimented with.

The important thing is to pick a meter and stick with it because even different human or pet meters will give you different readings when tested using the same drop of blood.
 
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