Glucose meters

I have an old One Touch Ultra Mini that has some strips left, though very expired. I'm not sure if I should buy new strips for it, or go with an entirely different set up. My vet recommends the pet specific one of course, but I'd like to keep costs low if I can, without sacrificing my girl's health.

Does anyone have experience with that meter, and can give me some advice? Oh, and in Canada it seems that we have different measurements on our meters.

 

I don't have experience with that meter, but will say that our vet also wanted us to use a pet meter. So I bought the AlphaTrak 2.
I had to order the strips from Amazon, and they are expensive. I tried to keep enough on hand, but you have to wait for delivery after ordering. Not ideal. I decided to use a human meter from Walmart, the ReliOn Confirm. It takes the same very small sample of blood, and we can get strips whenever we need them, at a more affordable cost.
Turns out it was a good decision as now DH is pre-diabetic and his Dr. wants him testing first thing in the AM. We don't test Idjit very often now that he's in remission, but he and Dad share the meter. The spreadsheet we use to document the insulin shots and BG readings has world measurements for Canada, UK..heck the rest of the world LOL, and a tab for US measurements. When you enter the readings you get in the world tab, it automatically translates to US numbers in the US tab. You don't have to do anything but set it up and start recording. I responded to your post in the Welcome forum and provided the link for the signature. Here is the link for the spreadsheet: SPREADSHEET If you have trouble setting it up, there are members here who can help.
We have lots of Canadian members, and members in other countries too, Mexico, Spain, Sweden, UK, Italy and France to name a few.

 

I have no experience with the One Touch Ultra Mini however one thing that I noticed is that it takes a fairly large blood sample (1.0 microliters) compared with many of the newer models. For testing purposes with our cats, it's ideal to find a meter that takes the smallest blood sample (0.3 microliters).

The other consideration is that the strips are the largest cost you will incur so my advice is to find a meter with reasonably priced strips and a small sample size to make things easier on the budget and easier on you and your kitty.

If you check some of the big name companies like Abbott, AccuCheck etc. you are likely to find one where they will give you the meter free when you buy a package of strips. You just have to fudge a bit of info on the coupons so they think the meter is for a human instead of a cat.

 

A lot of us Canucks use the FreeStyle Lite meter. It uses a small amount of blood. Strips for any meter are more expensive in Canada than in the US. If you have a PC/Shoppers Optimum card, you can use your points to pay for the strips. If you are a senior, or have a senior handy, you can buy strips (using your points) on Shoppers Seniors Day.

There is also the Bravo meter (available only online) which takes a larger amount of blood. The strips for this meter is cheaper but the big drawback is that the strips are only available online. If your cat goes low, you will blow through more strips in a day than you can imagine.

 

If you can get 1 uL of blood then the One Touch is great. One can now get generic strips for One Touch meters
https://www.amazon.com/GenUltimate-...keywords=test+strips+for+one+touch+meter&th=1

 

I will check out the freestyle lite- I can get a large enough sample just barely for my current meter.

Is the freestyle still better than buying the vet one?

 

Either meter is fine. The strips for the AT pet meter will cost roughly $2.00 per strip whereas the strips for the Freestyle Freedom Lite or Freestyle Lite will cost about $0.80/strip. The pet strips are taxable (human strips are not) which only serves to increase the already high price tag and they are only available either through your vet, at pet pharmacies or online so you would have to ensure you always had plenty of strips on hand.

There is a cheaper generic strip available for the AT pet meter however I don't think they are available here in Canada yet. They might ship them to you from the US, but you'd still have the issue of quick availability and possibly extra shipping/custom charges or border holdups unless of course you live near the border and can have them shipped to a mailbox there for you to pick up.

There are other pet meters but again strips have to be ordered and are not readily available if you suddenly find yourself low.

Human meters were used long before pet meters came into the market and all the protocols/methods used in this forum are based on use of human meters.

 

I picked up the Freestyle Lite last night. They wouldn't let me use PC points for them because it was prescription. Maybe because I got the meter free with strips?

So far I love it! I have done 3 tests- myself, Mel (civie), and Rhubarb. This morning, Mel tested at 2.7 mmol/L likely fasting and Rhubarb was 14.4, likely fasting but she still had food in her dish.

Rhubarb's readings with the One Touch Ultra Mini were 18-20, but were also my first tests so she may have been stressed. This time I used a finer lancet, and by hand rather than pressing button, so not sure if the number was lower because of less stress or meter difference. The old meter readings compared to the one at vet.

At any rate, thanks for suggesting this meter!

 

All meters in Canada are allowed to have a variance of up to 15% and that variance can be different at different BG levels and between meters. It may be that one meter will be closer to the vet's meter at one range of BG while the other is closer at another range. In any event both the Freestyle and One Touch Ultra Mini got good reviews for accuracy in the last Consumer Report. The Freestyle takes the smallest sample of blood which definitely makes it easier to test our kitties but having a second meter as a backup is never a bad idea. Just stick with one or the other though for daily testing or you could end up driving yourself a bit bonkers because of the variances.