Alphatrak Test Strips

My Boo cat has been diabetic for about 8 years, and has been given the same amount of compounded insulin twice a day for 8 years. And then about 6 weeks ago I found him in a coma and took him to our emergency vet. At first , they thought his diabetes had reversed, but ultimately decided he only needed a very minute amount of insulin - 1-1/2 - 2 units as opposed to the 9 he was previously getting.

NOW, for the first time, I have to test him before each injection, and his numbers vary wildly. Sometimes we skip the injection, sometimes he gets just a small amount. My vet thinks he will stabilize, maybe even reversing completely, but in the meantime it's a real roller coaster ride.

THAT said, I have never had to buy test strips and I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice as to where to buy them. Thanks for any advice.

 

cheapest strips out there are from walmart with their new meter the relion micro but strips can only be gotten from walmart. there are other good meters, and strips can be bought on line ,e-bay,hocks ect. other meters ,one touch ultra, contour, true trackwct can be found at pharmacy or on line. I am sure others will cjime in. you do not need a special meter. any human meter works fine and is a whole lot cheaper
But need some answers,
1) what food are you feeding
2)how often do you shoot insulin and 3rd 9 UNITS unless your cat is insulin resistant and/or an acro cat is way too much insulin. and I have to bet you feed dry and that is the only thing that more than likely kept this from happening before.
others will be a long and talk to you about food and testing times and dosing. I have the answers but am not very good at verbalizing.
listen to these folks cause they know of what they speak and have saved many cats lives

 

Boo is a very difficult diabetic. He WAS on 9 units for 8 years successfully. Yes, that is a lot, but we have it compounded because he is resistant to all OTC insulin. We have it compounded at BCP. Since I found him in the coma, he is now on 2-1/2 units, but had been on 9 units for 8 years up to that point with decent numbers. According to our vet, his system reverted. At first, they didn't think he would need any insulin at all, but as he recovered they kept him on a much smaller amount.

He does eat dry food, but will not eat the Rx food that most people buy from the vet. He hates it. We buy Orijens -- a very high quality, 0 carb food that we feed to all of our animals. When I test him and give him insulin, I give him a few spoonfuls of wet food -- usually "GO" brand or Nature Organics -- both grain and gluten free. Our vet doesn't have a problem with free feeding, or keeping him on grain free commercial food (we buy it at a holistic pet food store in our neighborhood).

He's a very "strange" cat. He has the "exotic" blood type that only a small percentage of cats have, and he has always made his vets scratch their heads. He was found by a friend of mine as a stray when he was a kitten. But with the strange blood type and his shepherd hood tail (both of which are, apparently, very common in Asian breeds) he is certainly an anomaly. Since he was found in downtown Washington D.C., close to Embassy Row, I've wished there was a way to find out his family history. Which, of course, is impossible.

So, that's my Boo story. My vet, who is a specialist in feline diabetes, compliments me on how healthy he is after having been diabetic for 8 years. But now, he has definitely taken a turn in his diabetes, and I need to buy test strips. I have the meter that my vet was using. It's the one that goes with the AlphaTRAK test strips. So, I think I need to stick to this brand. Or do I?

 

Oh, he gets insulin twice a day.

 

Is it BCP PZI insulin? If so , many here have used it, some are still using it. As for the AlphaTrak meter, many of us were hometesting with human meters years before Abbott jumped on the wagon, figured they'd make some money by designing what they call an animal calibrated meter. I tested it, stuck with my One Touch Ultra. Many here use Walmart's Reli-On meter. When it comes to test strips for the meters, AlphaTrak probably has the most expensive strips to us. If you Google the meter, I'm sure you will find where you can order some but I am surprised your vet doesn't carry the strips.

 

It isn't the standard PZI. It is compounded. I was getting it from a compounding pharmacy that does a lot of veterinary medicine in Alexandria, Virginia. I work in Washington D.C., so once a month I drove to work instead of taking the subway, left work 2 hours to sit in traffic to Virginia so I could get to the pharmacy before 5:30 to pay $119 a month for his insulin. After about a year of this, I begged my vet for mercy and she referred me to a pharmacy in Florida (I can't remember the name -- it's been YEARS) and mail ordered it from them (for about $60 a month) until they told me when I called for a refill that they were no longer custom compounding insulin and referred me to BCP. And I've been using BCP since then (about 5 years). BCP is pretty reasonable.

My "regular" vet recommended that I go to a specialist for Boo, so I take him to a referral vet center called Southpaws in Virginia (ANOTHER drive to Virginia). They are AMAZING. They have saved his life twice. The first time, when he was first diagnosed and my regular vet could not find an insulin that he would respond to and they figured out the right formula, and the second time when he went into a coma a few months ago. But they are very expensive and inconvenient so I don't think they are the best choice for supplies although I don't blink at paying extra for their veterinary professionals. I was hoping I could find a reasonable mail order option for the strips.

How do you use a human meter? Southpaws showed me how to use the vet meter, but I am not sure how that would translate to a human meter. Frankly, the Alphatrak strips are very expensive -- which is why I was asking for advice. I was hoping there was a "generic" strip that I could use with this meter, and if there is not I may be interested in switching to the Walmart meter (although I do HATE Walmart on principle, I'd concede considering how much debt I've accumulated for my Boo Boo. Let's just say the '96 Civic better keep kicking!) He's pretty good about letting me prick his little ear and test him. We've only been at it for a few weeks now, but he's very patient and sweet -- as long as there are treats involved anyway.

 

fwiw, BCP is a compounded pzi insulin. but no worries there. bcp is a fine insulin.

also, and don't hate me for saying it, but no diabetic cat should ever go into a coma if dosed properly in my personal opinion soooooooooo that kinda sums up my opinion of his old dose he was on

anyhow, you have to use alphatrac strips with the alphatrac meter unfortunately. it used to be that you could only get them at a vet's, thus the biggest problem with using that meter....cost & availability but i do believe though that i've seen them online in the last year or so. let me do a quick google search for you. here's one i found
http://www.amazon.com/AlphaTRAK-Blood-G ... B001139V00

as far as using a human meter, you just buy it and use it just like the alphatrac one basically. poke the cat, stick the strip in the blood, and wait for the result.

the walmart meters are the most economically friendly but you don't have to use that if you prefer to steer clear of walmart (fwiw, for those wondering, alot of people have ethical/moral problems with walmart. i won't go into it 'cause i don't myself but that's the gist of some of the comments re: walmart we've seen lately on here)

the manufacturer of the alpha is the same as that of the Freestyle meters for instance and it's a similar meter actually so you could go for that one if you prefer for example. also, you can get strips for any of them online cheaper than in the local stores (except the store brand meters which are obviously store specific )

www.hocks.com
www.americandiabeteswholesale.com
www.store4diabetics.com

are just a few sites people here use for supplies.

 

Well, I never tested him myself before now. He went into a coma after getting the same dosage for 8-1/2 years. It was high, but he is a very bizarre diabetic. I always took him into my vet about every 6-8 months for a blood test, and he was so stable (until he wasn't) that we never saw the need to test him at home. My vet said that unless a cat is not stable, she doesn't recommend it because she said that most diabetic cats end up in emergency care because of wrong dosage due to an incorrect adjustment based on a reading than from wrong dosage due to lack of testing. But now, I do need to test him. He is fluctuating wildly.

The reason we started using the veterinary meter is because supposedly it requires much less blood than that human meter. I haven't used a human meter, so I can't speak from experience on that, but I wanted to do everything possible to make this as easy on my little guy as possible.

Thanks for the information.

 

Hi there!

As far as the difference between human and animal meters it is really negligable (yes there are difference but they are not important for treatment purposes) A BG reading is a tiny "snapshot" of a split second in time (in 1 minute it could be quite different) you have to be on the right street heading in the right direction in the right city before you worry about which house number right? Any human meter can get you that close to your destination.

I assume it was some years ago that you got the AT meter, and since then human meters have advanced 10-fold. I was using a Freestyle lite meter which is identical in design to the Alphatrak (both from Abbott) it also uses just 3ul of blood and test strips are cheaper and more availble than the alphatrak.

I have no experience with PZI insulins but certainly 9 units is an unusual dose. I assume the test your vet preformed every few months was a fructoseamine (comparable to the HbA1C in humans) which can give an estimate of the average BG level over the past several weeks. It is IMO not a subsitiute for regular testing (the average of 500, 40, 100, 400, 20 is 212 which is an acceptable number) but only one of those is a safe number for the cat to have.

As far as giving a dangerous dose based on one number I would have to disagree with that theory. We generally don't make any changes to dose based on a single number and the changes we make are always very small amounts (less than half unit) and because we usually test several times per day should any dangerous readings come to light we can respond before the situation gets bad.

I don't know if you reasearched other insulin options, but in the last 10 years there have been many new choices on the market and many people are having great results. Lantus and Levemir are 2 "newer" human insulins that work very well in most cats. They differ somewhat from PZI and require that you do test before each shot and more often (but it looks like you are needing to now anyway). After the intial frustration and learning how to use Lantus most cats can acheive very stabil BG levels and do not experience such wild swings. Maybe it's time to try something new.

The high doses you required before could lead to the possibility of an "insulin resistance" which is not nessisarily a permenent condition and could "dissappear" suddenly causing the event you experienced. Did your vet or anyone ever suggest testing for conditions which could be causing the need for 9 units? Such things would be IAA (auto insulin antibodies) or IGF-1 (Acromelgely) or cushings synrome.

 

We did everything including a liver biopsy trying to rule out any other issues. (We did find out that he has that rare blood type that only about 10% of cats have -- whether that has an impact on his diabetes I don't know.) He's been very healthy for over 8 years, until that problem about 2 months ago when I almost lost him. I'm very grateful I didn't, but he emerged a very different diabetic. Maybe the resistance you describe might be the reason. We actually always did leave him for a curve when we brought him into the vet for testing.

I will look into alternate insulins. When he was first diagnosed, he almost died while they were trying to find the right formula insulin for him. We were even confronted with the possibility that we might have to put him to sleep if they couldn't find the right formula. I took him to 3 different specialty vets, and finally ended up at a referral only clinic with a vet who specializes in feline diabetes who saved his life. She's since left the practice, but I still take him to that vet. And that was almost 9 years ago, so maybe it's time to explore options again. I appreciate your advice.

 

seriously, what you describe actually is not abnormal, sad to say. for the first year or so i was here on this board i bet 50% of the people who found it and posted had the same story......tough kitty to figure out, not responding to insulin, etc........most vets don't deal with this disease every day morning and night and they just don't know. but that's getting better. unfortunately due to the increasing number of cats being diagnosed with diabetes and feline diabetes getting the publicity it has in recent years.

personally, i don't see a problem with the insulin you are using and if you do the testing yourself at home where numbers are more accurate and diet is correct (although i don't believe there is a 0 carb dry food out there), you shouldn't have anymore problems.

one thing though to keep in mind is that often long term diabetics who suddenly require less insulin are often diagnosed with cancer soon thereafter. cancer eats glucose, thus lower numbers. buttttttttttttttttttt, i personally doubt that this is your problem rather the problem has been the way dosing has been decided, etc....in the past. so don't panic just yet

 

You can switch anytime to testing at home using nice cheap test strips with meters such as the Relion or the Freestyle or the One-Touch Ultra. They work great for cats and use half a microlitre drop or less (same as the alphatrak).

And now it's a good time to educate yourself on home testing, diet, and dosing technique. Please read our FAQ's and come back and ask some questions. Some of your diet and dosing information (and maybe your vet's) is out of date or wrong, so it will be good to read up some.

http://binkyspage.tripod.com/faq.html

The best place to buy test strips is usually on ebay. The best place to buy a new meter is your local drugstore or Wal-mart.

Welcome home!