Alternatives to Alphatrak 2

Hi all.

Are there any human meters that can be found at local drugstores Walgreens rite aid cvs
That you use and what numbers should you be seeing for normalcy I.e beneath 200 for alphatrak.

Thank you

 

Hopefully someone from the US can comment on specific meters available at Walgreens, Rite Aid or CVS but many folks from the US use the Relion Prime meter available at Walmart. Normal range for a cat on the human meter is 50 to 120.

 

They all have their own brand of meters so that's one option. I used a Bayer Contour for years. There really isn't an issue regarding what meter to use. I'd suggest looking online for the meters they stock and reading reviews. With other than store brand meters, I would avoid buying a lot of strips at either Walgreens or CVS and instead, buying strips online at Amazon or ADWDiabetes. The price for the strips at a brick and mortar store are outrageous - close to double what you would pay online. Just an FYI, many people use the Walmart ReliOn brand meter as their strips are among the least expensive around.

Also, under 200 is not normal numbers on an AT meter. Normal BG numbers are in the neighborhood of 68 - 150.

 

According to AlphaTrak2 documentation, lower than 65 is consider low blood sugar which is hypoglycemia (deficiency of glucose in the blood). Higher than 250 is considered hyperglycemia (excessive glucose in the blood). https://www.zoetisus.com/products/dogs/alphatrakmeter/pdf/alphatrak-2-user-guide.pdf However, 250 is approximately the point of renal threshold (proximal tubule becomes overwhelmed and begins to excrete glucose into the urine which can cause infection and kidney damage), so being near that is not ideal. The 'normal 'range is approximately 75 to 150 (IDEXX range goes up to 175). Some cats (though I think it's somewhat rare) do naturally run a little higher. Also, meter variance comes into play (reading can be off by 15-20%). So, I can see why someone might have staying under 200 as their goal. Personally, my goal is to stay a little lower with 175 or even 150 being the top. The closer to normal you can keep things, the better the chance for the pancreas to heal.

You cannot directly map AlphaTrak2 numbers to human meter numbers, but the human meters read lower. 50-120 is supposed to be the normal range.

Based on your signature, it looks like your cat has been on ProZinc since diagnosis back in April. If you set up a spreadsheet with your testing results, you could probably get some assistance here in determining whether you may need a dosing adjustment or even if it might be time to try another insulin, assuming your cat is not already very well regulated.