Glucometers

What is the best glucometer to use for my cat? I am new at this, and did the ear-sticks for the first time last night. I have a Truetrack that my daughter used, but the strips seem like they need a lot of blood. I ended up having to freehand stick, and had to stick my poor cat about 5 times and finally got a good drop, but I hated doing that. Then the meter went off. ugh. What I would like is a good meter that gives accurate readings with the least amount of blood. I would be greatful for any suggestions.

 

I haven't tried them all (at least not yet :roll: ) but in my opinion the Accu Check Aviva sips the blood the best and uses a very small amount of blood. It's probably my favorite.

If cost of strips are an issue you can buy strips on line at eBay just make sure the seller is reputable.

Also, the Wal-mart Relion uses a small amount of blood and the test strips are very cheap at the store. We recently switched over to that.

Others will be able to tell you which meter they prefer. It's great that you're going to be hometesting. That and diet are the best things you can do for your kitty.

 

I started with the TrueTrack and had the same problems that you are mentioning.

Since I don't shop at Walmart, I checked out www.hocks.com (click the link above left, and FDMB gets a commission for your purchase)

I bought the Maxima AST and LOVE it.

it requires 0.5 microliter of blood (half the size that TrueTrack requires)
and test strips cost $16.50 per 50ct. Hocks used to give a cost break for buying 3+ or 6+ at a time, but seems to be one price now.

I have only seen this meter at www.hocks.com -- never in a store, so I have to order a week before I run out.

To get free shipping, I also buy syringes and lancets from Hocks. (>$79 order)

 

well now that i've tried just about all of them :roll: i can safely say the one that takes the least amount of blood with a nice amount of sucking up blood is the cheap contour.
surprising- yes,
i believe the results are as accurate as any.

 

I like the AccuChek Aviva. It takes a teeny drop of blood (0.6 ul I think?), the blood is sipped up quickly every time (never had problems with getting blood on test strips), bg readingis given in like 3 seconds, and overall it's cat-friendly :smile:

But the test strips are pricey, about $25-30 for a box of 50. I bought the test strips from HealthWarehouse.com. There are 3 different "types" listed (mail order, retail, and professional) but they are all the same, just different packaging and price. The mail order ones are the cheapest. You can also buy strips from eBay.

The only other meter I ever used was an AccuChek Advantage per the suggestion of the vet but the meter requires a huge drop of blood (1 ul) which is often hard to get even with ear warming. And it took forever (well, 20 seconds) to get a bg reading. Not an ideal wait if you have a hypoing cat and need a bg reading ASAP.

 

I am a newbie and have only tried one meter but I has served me well. It is the Walmart brand that someone mentioned earlier. It was $12 for the meter and $21 for 50 strips. I think it needs 0.5 blood but it may be 0.6 which I did't have much of a problem getting until my cat got dehydrated. One of the things that I liked is that it is very small. I have small hands and was able to one handedly load the test strips and swoop in to get a drop. It also seemed to stay on a generous ammount of time while I was trying to get a good blood sample. The BG numbers I got were very comperable to the ones the vet had. It is also the same meter that one of their techs use at home on their kitty.

 

I also used the Maxima AST, ordered from Hocks, and have never had any problems with it. Once you get used to testing, the amount of blood you need seems smaller than before (correctly aiming the strip at the blood spot does take some getting used to, but maybe that's just part of the learning to test at all learning curve). Actually, the amount of blood the AST needs is so small that I never needed to warm Max's ear to test--99% of the time I could prick it cold and have no issue. My DH had more trouble than I did, but he didn't do the testing as often as I did either.

I also used a One Touch Ultra Mini, and while that was easy to use, and I liked the shape of the meter because it was easier to hold onto, the amount of blood it required was HUGE in comparison to the AST. And the strips were ridiculously expensive.

 

IMHO, with all the meters I did comparison testing with, the only one that really needed a good drop of blood was the ACAdvantage. They all need a drop of blood and as newbies get into the testing they will learn they can use an even smaller drop than what they are getting now. Be thankful you don't have to get a drop big enough to drop onto the test strip and that all meters now sip the blood.