Blood glucose meter for cats

We have a diabetic cat who has been on insulin for several years. The
vet now wants us to start daily testing his blood sugar with a special
cat-calibrated glucose meter, which the vet will gladly provide for a
mere $220. People-calibrated meters cost about $60.

Is there a special meter? Is $220 a reasonable price? Can you test a
cat with a people meter?

He holds still really well for the shots, but I don't know how
cooperative he will be for testing sugar.

"Richard Evans" wrote in message
...
We have a diabetic cat who has been on insulin for several years. The
vet now wants us to start daily testing his blood sugar with a special
cat-calibrated glucose meter, which the vet will gladly provide for a
mere $220. People-calibrated meters cost about $60.

Is there a special meter? Is $220 a reasonable price? Can you test a
cat with a people meter?

He holds still really well for the shots, but I don't know how
cooperative he will be for testing sugar.

It doesn't sound reasonable to me, so I would suggest some research on this.
I agree that you should start testing his blood sugar (in fact, that should
have been done long ago). Everyone I know uses the same meters that are
used for people, and most select one that will accept a tiny drop of
blood -- OneStep Ultra, FreeStyle, etc. Here is a site that discusses how to
do home testing: http://sugarcat_simon.home.att.net/hometest.html. They
talk primarily about Bayer, but you could use the information from that site
even if you use a different meter. Testing a cat is done by pricking the
year. I have never done that myself, but I have friends who test
regularly and they tell me that the process is very easy. Cats seem to
barely feel the prick as blood is taken. Here are some good photos of the
process:
http://www.sugarcats.net/sites/harry...l#anchor144779

MaryL

IMO That vet is trying to make a buck the meters are the same as us
humans most meters are $25 to 99 dollars the internet is full of them.
Some sites even give you one when you purchase of a certain amount

My cat rumble is recently just 2 weeks ago diagnosed diabetic they use
the same meters, strips, diabetic syringes and lancets ( extra fine) for us
humans

We go Wednesday for a glucose curve Mary I don't know if you saw Rumble
went from 437 to 215 in a week on one unit 2 twice a day and a change in
his diet to fancy feast


"MaryL" -OUT-THE-LITTER wrote in message
news:UVWrg.25851$8q.6758@dukeread08...

"Richard Evans" wrote in message
...
We have a diabetic cat who has been on insulin for several years. The
vet now wants us to start daily testing his blood sugar with a special
cat-calibrated glucose meter, which the vet will gladly provide for a
mere $220. People-calibrated meters cost about $60.

Is there a special meter? Is $220 a reasonable price? Can you test a
cat with a people meter?

He holds still really well for the shots, but I don't know how
cooperative he will be for testing sugar.

It doesn't sound reasonable to me, so I would suggest some research on
this. I agree that you should start testing his blood sugar (in fact, that
should have been done long ago). Everyone I know uses the same meters
that are used for people, and most select one that will accept a tiny drop
of blood -- OneStep Ultra, FreeStyle, etc. Here is a site that discusses
how to do home testing: http://sugarcat_simon.home.att.net/hometest.html.
They talk primarily about Bayer, but you could use the information from
that site even if you use a different meter. Testing a cat is done by
pricking the year. I have never done that myself, but I have friends who
test
regularly and they tell me that the process is very easy. Cats seem to
barely feel the prick as blood is taken. Here are some good photos of the
process:
http://www.sugarcats.net/sites/harry...l#anchor144779

MaryL

"Matthew" wrote in message
...
IMO That vet is trying to make a buck the meters are the same as us
humans most meters are $25 to 99 dollars the internet is full of
them. Some sites even give you one when you purchase of a certain amount

My cat rumble is recently just 2 weeks ago diagnosed diabetic they use
the same meters, strips, diabetic syringes and lancets ( extra fine) for
us humans

We go Wednesday for a glucose curve Mary I don't know if you saw Rumble
went from 437 to 215 in a week on one unit 2 twice a day and a change in
his diet to fancy feast




Yes, I saw that. It's a great start, and I'm glad you're going to have the
curve done. As I mentioned earlier, a number of people have seen been able
to bring their diabetic cats back into normal range with a change in diet,
so I hope to see even *better* numbers soon. Good work!

MaryL

Cat calibrated? I wonder what he means by that. Blood sugar is blood
sugar, I got a monitor at Wal-Mart for our cat.

If you haven't tried this -- join the message board at
www.felinediabetes.com. They have great info and helped me with all of
my questions about my cat.

Good luck,

Rhonda

Richard Evans wrote:
We have a diabetic cat who has been on insulin for several years. The
vet now wants us to start daily testing his blood sugar with a special
cat-calibrated glucose meter, which the vet will gladly provide for a
mere $220. People-calibrated meters cost about $60.

Is there a special meter? Is $220 a reasonable price? Can you test a
cat with a people meter?

He holds still really well for the shots, but I don't know how
cooperative he will be for testing sugar.

wrote:
Rhonda wrote:


Cat calibrated? I wonder what he means by that. Blood sugar is blood
sugar, I got a monitor at Wal-Mart for our cat.

If you haven't tried this -- join the message board at
www.felinediabetes.com. They have great info and helped me with all of
my questions about my cat.

Good luck,

Rhonda

Richard Evans wrote:

We have a diabetic cat who has been on insulin for several years. The
vet now wants us to start daily testing his blood sugar with a special
cat-calibrated glucose meter, which the vet will gladly provide for a
mere $220. People-calibrated meters cost about $60.

Is there a special meter? Is $220 a reasonable price? Can you test a
cat with a people meter?

He holds still really well for the shots, but I don't know how
cooperative he will be for testing sugar.


Vets don't take capillary blood so the scales are different.

Hmmm, so the vet would sell a blood meter for them to use at home that
does not take capillary blood? How would the cat owners extract the blood?

Rhonda

Rhonda wrote:

Hmmm, so the vet would sell a blood meter for them to use at home that
does not take capillary blood? How would the cat owners extract the blood?

No, you still would take capillary blood, but the reading is converted
to have some relevance with the reading the vet gets from lab work.
That way you are not comparing apples and oranges.

-mhd

"Richard Evans" wrote in message
...
We have a diabetic cat who has been on insulin for several years. The
vet now wants us to start daily testing his blood sugar with a special
cat-calibrated glucose meter, which the vet will gladly provide for a
mere $220. People-calibrated meters cost about $60.

Is there a special meter?

Yeah- Its called the AlphaTrak. My AlphaTrak readings are a little higher
than my AccuChek's because the AT favors glucose in the RBCs whereas the
AccuChek averages the glucose in the RBCs and plasma. There's more glucose
in RBCs than plasma so the AT readings tend to be a little higher- but the
difference is nowhere near the 40% that Abbott claims- but then again,
Antech conducted the tests and they will produce any results you want.
Remember, Antech is the lab that gave us the usless "FIP Specific" test that
they *still* promote as accurate.


Is $220 a reasonable price?

I don't know- I didn't pay for mine.



Can you test a
cat with a people meter?

Absolutely! Thousands if not millions of people have been using humam BGM
with cats for years without any problems with readings. Based on my
experience, I don't think the difference in readings is great enough-
although there are big differences between human meters. The AccuChek
readings are the closest to bench BG readers- I've been using AccuCheks on
cats for years without any problems.



He holds still really well for the shots, but I don't know how
cooperative he will be for testing sugar.

Its easy as long as *you* don't make it a big production

http://www.maxshouse.com/bgtest%5B1%5D.mpg

Best of luck,

Phil