Best glucometer for cat?

Here are some links for you on testing your cat, including movies
and photos, and some other feline diabetes links.

LeMieux gets a little bit annoyed at having his ear held and warmed
before the test, but has never seemed to notice being pricked by an
UtraFine lancet. The first thing you'll want to do is get a good
look at your cat's ears to familiarize yourself with where the vein
runs around the edge, shining a small flashlight through the ear if
he has dark fur or you can't see it on the inside.

At first, I rubbed a little dab of Vaseline into his ear to help the
blood bead up above the fur, but I seemed to get the knack of hitting
close to or on the little vein pretty quickly, and didn't need the
Vaseline because he easily bled a drop about twice as large as needed
for the test.


Home Testing of Blood Glucose for Diabetic Cats
By Margie Scherk DVM, ABVP
(home testing movie, Windows Media or Realplayer)
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/con...&S=O&C=O&A=605

Harry's Home Testing Page - (good close-up photos)
http://www.sugarcats.net/sites/harry/bgtest.htm

Punkin's Home Testing Movie -
http://tlb.best.vwh.net/bg_punkin/test_bg.html

VSPN discussion on Home Testing -
http://www.vspn.org/Library/Rounds/VSPN_LC011209.htm

DVM the Newsmagazine of Veterinary Medicine
At Home Diabetes Management -
http://www.dvmnewsmagazine.com/dvm/a...l.jsp?id=13315

Blood Glucose Monitoring -
http://www.dvmnewsmagazine.com/dvm/a...il.jsp?id=5336

Feline Diabetes
http://www.felinediabetes.com/index.html

Pet Diabetes
http://www.petdiabetes.org/

Frugal Feline Diabetes site
http://www.sugarcats.net/sites/jmpeerson/frugal.html

--
jamie )

"There's a seeker born every minute."

Hi,

I'm not sure who originated this post, but I'd like to extend an offer to
their cat. I've been recently diagnosed with diabetes, and well my
insurance pays for my glucomteter, needles and strips. I was given an extra
set of everything as a door prize at a diabetic clinic, lol - I still laugh
over that.

Anyhow, if you need a glucomter (sorry, it measures by canadian standards of
mmol and not the american standards) I would be more than happy to send it
by mail to your cat.



"Phil P." wrote in message
...

"Amanda Robin" wrote in message
...
Hi everybody,

I've read some old threads about this, but with new glucometers always
on the market I thought I'd ask again.

The most accurate hand-held glucometer you can buy is the Accu-Chek II
meter. I've compared several meters to my Beckman bench glucose analyzer
(the most accurate glucose analyzer there is), and the Accu-Check II was
the
most accurate and consistant.



My cat, Rusty, spent the night in the ER vet's because he went
extremely hypoglycemic yesterday (20). He's still in the regulation
stage and has been taking a rather large dose of ultralente insulin.

Ultralente is unpredictable in many cats. I've had the best luck with
regular and lente insulin, and PZI in cats that are difficult to regulate
on
human insulin.


Anyway, I think in the future I am going to need to know more than just
a "Negative" urine test. I need to know how low.

Urine glucose monitoring has some very serious limitations for cats.

For one, a "negative" dipstick doesn't let you know if the cat is
hypoglycemic - the sticks don't go below "negative".

Second; cats have a high renal threshold that can vary from 200 mg/dl to
290
mg/dl. So, a "negative" stick could mean the cat is regulated or not
regulated and is still hyperglycemic.

Third: The urine in the bladder is an accumulation of urine over several
hours, so the reading you get does not represent urine glucose at the time
its tested.

Fourth: There's a lag time between hyperglycemia and glucosuria. IOW, it
could take several hours before hyperglycemia shows up in the urine.

Dipsticks are good for detecting ketones in the urine (ketonuria) which
can
lead to ketoacidosis.

Blood glucose testing is much more accurate than urine glucose.

Here's how you check a cat's blood glucose:

http://maxshouse.com/bgtest.rm


The bottom line is that most cats can be regulated and diabetic many cats
have very good quality of life; in some cats, the process of regulation
might involve a bit more work - but its well worth the extra effort.

Good luck,

Phil

Hi,

I'm not sure who originated this post, but I'd like to extend an offer to
their cat. I've been recently diagnosed with diabetes, and well my
insurance pays for my glucomteter, needles and strips. I was given an extra
set of everything as a door prize at a diabetic clinic, lol - I still laugh
over that.

Anyhow, if you need a glucomter (sorry, it measures by canadian standards of
mmol and not the american standards) I would be more than happy to send it
by mail to your cat.



"Phil P." wrote in message
...

"Amanda Robin" wrote in message
...
Hi everybody,

I've read some old threads about this, but with new glucometers always
on the market I thought I'd ask again.

The most accurate hand-held glucometer you can buy is the Accu-Chek II
meter. I've compared several meters to my Beckman bench glucose analyzer
(the most accurate glucose analyzer there is), and the Accu-Check II was
the
most accurate and consistant.



My cat, Rusty, spent the night in the ER vet's because he went
extremely hypoglycemic yesterday (20). He's still in the regulation
stage and has been taking a rather large dose of ultralente insulin.

Ultralente is unpredictable in many cats. I've had the best luck with
regular and lente insulin, and PZI in cats that are difficult to regulate
on
human insulin.


Anyway, I think in the future I am going to need to know more than just
a "Negative" urine test. I need to know how low.

Urine glucose monitoring has some very serious limitations for cats.

For one, a "negative" dipstick doesn't let you know if the cat is
hypoglycemic - the sticks don't go below "negative".

Second; cats have a high renal threshold that can vary from 200 mg/dl to
290
mg/dl. So, a "negative" stick could mean the cat is regulated or not
regulated and is still hyperglycemic.

Third: The urine in the bladder is an accumulation of urine over several
hours, so the reading you get does not represent urine glucose at the time
its tested.

Fourth: There's a lag time between hyperglycemia and glucosuria. IOW, it
could take several hours before hyperglycemia shows up in the urine.

Dipsticks are good for detecting ketones in the urine (ketonuria) which
can
lead to ketoacidosis.

Blood glucose testing is much more accurate than urine glucose.

Here's how you check a cat's blood glucose:

http://maxshouse.com/bgtest.rm


The bottom line is that most cats can be regulated and diabetic many cats
have very good quality of life; in some cats, the process of regulation
might involve a bit more work - but its well worth the extra effort.

Good luck,

Phil