Which glucose tester? Human or pet?

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sadie bryde

sadie bryde

Member Since 2014
Hi I can't see my previous posts, not sure how to use this board. Only accessible posts are general or somehow specific, need further post info. Anyway most recently was ready to send Bobby on to his next life, I thought that insulin would provide fairly quick return to health and reversal of his neuropathy and massive water intake with excessive peeing everywhere, but that isn't the case. I am old and trying to deal with hauling out all that clay kitty litter daily was very hard on my back. So 2 fixes for that: a new pine-paper clumping kitty litter, very light weight, and pee pads distributed in all his favorite spots. Since he started on insulin (2 units of twice daily of ProZinc) his water intake has dropped from over a quart a day to about a pint a day or less. His neuropathy seemed to coincide with the beginning of his insulin treatment, however when I stopped for 2 days there was no improvement. So not sure what that's about. Maybe he was just degenerating anyway and it finally got to that point.
About his vet: very expensive, can't afford regular visits at $250-$450 for labs. I have another day long curve testing sked for this week. Vet doesn't recommend home testing and has given me very little practical care advice. So I am trying to educate myself on how to proceed. Looking online I see several types of pet blood glucose testers, but in the videos I've watched human testers are used. What is the deal on that? Looking at glucose meters the ipet seems the cheapest.
Second question: I've seen posts on the different types of insulin, and that one of them is more effective for persistent diabetes. Which one and why?
Okay, I'm going to order that supplement for neuropathy now, looking forward to feedback and further post instructions. Thanks.
 
Hi I can't see my previous posts, not sure how to use this board.
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At the top of the main page, on the left hand side, you should see "User Control panel". Just to the right of that, you should see "view your posts". If you click on that, it'll bring up a page that shows you every post you've ever made.
 
We suggest using an inexpensive human glucometer with pet-specific reference numbers. One many of us use is the WalMart Relion Confirm, or Confirm Micro, which is also sold at American Diabetes Wholesale as as the Arkray USA Glucocard 01 or 01 Mini (same manufacturer - Arkray USA). It uses a tiny blood droplet and the cost is significantly lower for test strips (like $0.36 each).

Comparing a human glucometer to a pet-specific glucometer is like reading temperature in Celsius vs Fahrenheit. Both are correct. You just need to know the reference ranges to interpret what the numbers mean.

[Glucose reference ranges are unsubstantiated and have been removed by Moderator]


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Examples of using the chart:

Ex. You are a new insulin user and you test your cat before giving insulin. The test is 300. It probably is safe to give insulin.

Ex. You are an established user of Lantus, following the Tight Regulation protocol. You've tested around +5 to +7 to spot the nadir. It is 200 mg/dL. You probably need to increase the dose, following the instructions for the protocol.

Ex. Your cat is acting funny. The eyes are a bit dilated. You are concerned and test the glucose. The number is 35 mg/dL. ACK! The cat may be in a hypoglycemic state. You quickly follow the HYPO protocol linked in the glucose reference values chart. (which we really, really, suggest you print out and post on your refrigerator.)
 
Don't just figure the cost of the meter in your calculations of what to buy, human or pet. It's the cost of the test strips that will be the ongoing expense.

I'd estimate that around 95 percent of the people here use a human glucometer.

With 4 tests a day, 30 days a month you will easily go through 120-150 test strips. There will be those times when your cat just isn't acting right or you get low numbers and need to test more. It's always a good idea to have spare test strips on hand.

Pet glucometer like Alphatrak $1-2 per strip times 120 = $120 - 240 per month
Human glucometer like the Relion Confirm or Micro 36 cents a strip times 120 = $43 a month.

You can see the huge price difference.

Sorry to hear your vet does not encourage home testing. It's one of the best ways to help our kitties and see how the insulin dose is working. It also helps us to save money because we can do those curves at home. Where your vet wants to charge you $250-450 for lab tests, you can test yourself for a lot less. A curve is 6 tests, at 36 cents a piece would be $2.16. Lot's less as you can see.

We've taught many people how to test over the internet. Do you think you might be interested? We could provide you with a shopping list of supplies and testing tips. Let us know.

P.S. Where do you live? There may be someone that lives close to you that would be willing to come to your home to help you learn how to home test.
 
Hi. And thanks for all the info. Still feeling out of my depth after about 6 weeks or so of treatment and not a whole lot of improvement. Haven't managed to put a profile together except for Bobby's piccie. I live in the North Bay Area of San Francisco, Marin County. Bobby was born under a dresser in this house, it's in the Blackpoint oak forest and he grew up playing with skunks and raccoons and catching mice and bats. Yes, bats. They make a strange whistling clicking noise as they die, their sonar. Now he just stays close to the water bowls and pee pads and lurches around, always hoping for a delicious tidbit. Still very talkative.
Any and all info you can provide re: testing is appreciated. Holy mololy had no idea the strips were SO expensive. Of course I will use human. He has another glucose curve tomorrow at vet's, after that I plan on learning how to do it myself.
 
Food and injection routine

After re-reading the second post I must mention that his eyes often seem to be very dilated. I have absolutely no idea what is going on. As previously mentioned, I stopped giving him insulin for 48 hrs to see if his neuropathy and somewhat lethargic state improved, and his water intake immediately went up, with no other notable changes. I have not received any exact idea of when to administer the insulin, the only instructions I received were to give him shots at 12 hr intervals, at 8:30 with hour leeway plus or minus. He eats sporadically during the day. There are 4 cats here, and bowls of food out in the kitchen and downstairs where he lives. Wet food. I give him cut up chicken and water pack fish for treats.
His mother has been very healthy until recently. Now that I'm giving him more attention, she is constantly screaming to be fed and she is getting fat and more thirsty. I am concerned she might be "crossing over" to diabetes. We are an anxious family. So bottom line is there is no set feeding time, just a set injection time that can vary according to my sked. How do I control the food/injection routine? How does it work?
 
Are his eyes dilated and unreactive to light? I ask because that was one of Wink's most obvious symptoms when his BG (blood glucose) was too low.

As far as injection time goes, you need to pick a time roughly 12 hours apart that would work with your schedule. Some people do 6 am and 6 pm where other people may do 9 am and 9 pm. It's up to you to find what fits best into your life and other responsibilities.

You might want to share the AAHA Diabetes Management Guidelines for Dogs and Cats with your vet. They highly recommend home testing, especially since cats BG levels are too often elevated by stress and therefore inaccurate in a vet clinic situation. Here are a couple of quotes from that vet journal article.
The pressing concern for the newly diagnosed and treated cat is the development of hypoglycemia in individuals that may quickly go into remission. Cats on long-acting insulin may not show overt signs of hypoglycemia until the BG is dangerously low, so it is important to identify impending hypoglycemia by home glucose testing whenever possible.
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##Home monitoring of BG is ideal and strongly encouraged to obtain the most accurate interpretation of glucose relative to clinical signs.
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To get you started with home testing, you'll need to pick up some supplies. Here is a link to a document you can print out and take with you shopping, or save on your smartphone.

Basically, you need a glucometer (like the Relion Confirm from Wal-Mart), matching test strips, lancets, ketone test strips, and some treats for you and for your kitty. The treats are one of the keys to home testing. ;-)

I have 2 links for you on testing.
1. This first one is the how to's of home testing.
2. This second one is how to make you cat more comfortable with the process.

It's a good idea to take the testing process and break it down into little steps to get your cat comfortable with the process. Touch his ears, rub his ears and be sure to give him a low carb treat reward each time you test. Then add the rice sock or rub his ears to get the blood flowing. Treats. Next, add a pretend poke with the lancing device. It makes a clicking sound so you may want to click it near his ear to get him used to the sound. Treats. If the noise really bugs him, you can always free-hand the lancet. Then add an actual poke. Try to sip it up with the glucometer test strip, which you have ready and waiting with a test strip ready to go. Treats.

Some cats are more cooperative than others. Some take a bit of time to adjust to the changes in their routine. We say 3 tries at poking and then stop and come back and try later. Always give a treat, successful test or not. Lots of us use freeze dried treats but anything pure protein would work well.

If you talk to your cat and explain what you are doing and why, it can help to calm him down. Other people sing to their cat. The Hokey Pokey song is very popular. :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
What wet food? Only a few a low carb.

Friskies pates are < 10 % calories (not weight) from carbohydrates as are Fancy Feast Classic Pates. Both of these are inexpensive.
 
The fact that he is drinking less shows that the insulin is working. He was drinking more because his body was trying to flush out the high blood sugar. He still sounds like he is drinking more than he should though.

Food is a key thing in high blood sugar, I also would be interested in what you are feeding him. Once you get the test kit we can work on a food change if needed.

Wendy
 
My signature link Secondary Monitoring Tools provides a list of some supplemental assessments you may find useful.
 
Thanks for all the information. We are all tired, me and my kids (mom NIna and son Bobby). From almost a solid year of massive water drinking (all night long). Bobby slept next to the water dishes on my dresser next to the bed, and every 15 minutes it seemed like, or even more often, would be at them. He developed a play strategy of splashing water everywhere (and on me) and ringing the glasses and dishes, like playing bells, and hopping on and off the bed. His mother and I were at wits end. That and hauling out the litter everyday. Anyway, had a glucose curve last Tuesday, and increase of insulin to 3 units of ProZinc twice daily. Night and day - the crazy water drinking instantly STOPPED. His water intake is about maybe a quarter of what it was. He sleeps normally now. Not next to the water dishes. He is still peeing on his pads, looks like quite a bit, as his legs are still shaky too hard climbing in and out of the boxes. Giving him the B12 supplement and a VetIonix homeopathic supplement. He is already looking less ragged. I feed him Friskies wet food and canned tuna in water, or salmon for a special treat. Sometimes cut up chicken. He pretty much stopped eating the kibble but I have replaced it for the other cats with a low carb type for when he staggers upstairs to sample their food.
This week I plan on getting the glucose testing equipment. I will start the ear handling routine tomorrow, the sock and so on. He is pretty used to me forcing him to submit to my ministrations at this point I think he knows he hasn't a choice, and might feel better after. He actually purrs now when I give him his shots. So that's about it for now. Will update when I get to the testing part.
 
It can be tough (it was for us), but you'll get the testing down. Our kitty is not the purring, doesn't even notice, type for sure. He gets PISSED when he knows we are going to prick him for a test (though he doesn't mind the injections really). However, as WE have gotten better (it takes less sticks, the sticks are less painful) he is calming down about it. I had to physically restrain him for the first few days, now we can just hold him semi-tightly and he doesn't REALLY try and bolt. I expect he'll just sit still for it eventually. It's hard on the bean (I mean we don't want to cause them pain), but you have to push through it.
 
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