what is the fructosamine test?

[Rainey]

I noticed someone else's kitteh just had the fructosamine test. Does anyone know what this is and does? What it looks for? My vet -- the one adamantly opposed to insulin for a cat with a 440 blood glucose -- says it's the only test my newly-diagnosed diabetic cat needs. Plus, the fructosamine test only needs to be done once a month, it provides an overall view of the cat's blood sugar history, and I won't need to perform the insulin blood text/nick before I administer insulin, as long as I have the fructosamine results.
Now, not to criticize my vet, but that just doesn't make sense. Perhaps I misheard her, I hope I did, but I don't believe that monthly test will tell me what I need to know before giving The Velvet Elvis his daily dose of insulin.
I get the feeling the vet is opposed to insulin except in the most dire of cases.

The Velvet Elvis has been home now for 24 hours, and is a new cat! He's perky, demanding, and -- OH, JOY!!! is only pooping twice every 24 hours!! I think the Purina DM is sticking to his skinny little ribs. The insulin is easy to give -- I set him up with a good-size snack and stick him while he's eating. Doesn't even notice it. The regular vet will do blood testing on Tuesday and show me how to do insulin blood testing on his ear.
The results of tests on his thickened intestine will be back next week, but I'm so happy with his recovery that I'm not going to think about that yet.
What I though was a 'coma' the night we took him into the ER was simply that he was too weak to lift his head, according to the ER vet. Once he got his insulin, he never collapsed again.
Poor little guy has been through so much; we're spoiling him with attention and brushing. The others are jealous, so we have to spoil them, too.
Joke: How do you know someone is a real animal-lover? They record time and date of pooping and post it proudly on the fridge.
-- Rainey

 

[Sue and Oliver (GA)]

A fructosamine test is the definitive test to tell if a cat is diabetic. It is a blood test that will a picture of the cat's blood glucose levels over the previous weeks. Generally we suggest a fructosmine test to see if the cat is diabetic at initial diagnosis.

From then on, your daily numbers are much more important. They give you a picture of what is happening everyday in real time, so that you can adjust doses as needed. You need to know, before each shot, what his number is. It won't help to know his average number over the past 2 weeks.

I am glad Elvis is feeling better. It sounds like you are feeling much better too!

We can teach you how to home test today. We have taught hundreds of people over the Internet.

 

[Blue]

The fructosamine test is just an average of your cat's bg numbers over a few weeks or so.
When you are testing your cat at home, your BG meter will likely have a function in it to give you an average.

That's why people tell you it's a good thing to have done before you start giving insulin and testing yourself.
The test will let you know how your cat's BG has been without any added insulin, just running on your cat's own steam.
All sorts of issues can cause a raised BG, like infections and dental issues, as well as a poor diet, and they should be ruled out before saying your cat is diabetic and needs insulin.

ETA: Ask your vet if human diabetics test daily before their shots. When your vet answers yes, then ask why is it not important for your cat. Shooting insulin into your cat blindly, without testing, is dangerous. Without testing, you have no idea if your cat's BG is too low for the shot. So that monthly costly fructosamine test at the vet would be useless.

 

[Larry and Kitties]

However, the BG values and fructosamine values are not directly comparable. The following site give two conversions:
http://www.sugarcats.com/infirmary/fructosamine.asp

The fructosamine test is just an average of your cat's bg numbers over a few weeks or so.
When you are testing your cat at home, your BG meter will likely have a function in it to give you an average.

That's why people tell you it's a good thing to have done before you start giving insulin and testing yourself.
The test will let you know how your cat's BG has been without any added insulin, just running on your cat's own steam.
All sorts of issues can cause a raised BG, like infections and dental issues, as well as a poor diet, and they should be ruled out before saying your cat is diabetic and needs insulin.

ETA: Ask your vet if human diabetics test daily before their shots. When your vet answers yes, then ask why is it not important for your cat. Shooting insulin into your cat blindly, without testing, is dangerous. Without testing, you have no idea if your cat's BG is too low for the shot. So that monthly costly fructosamine test at the vet would be useless.