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  1. Larry and Kitties

    Larry and Kitties Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2009
    Blood Glucose Meter for Cats

    Facts:

    Blood has two constituents, the red and white blood cells and the liquid (serum). Blood plasma is blood serum without the clotting factor

    The blood glucose value obtained via laboratory analysis is the glucose level in the serum/plasma constituents of blood

    The glucose is in both the serum and red-blood cells (RBC) themselves. However, the distribution of glucose is different between humans and cats (and dog too)1

    In Humans 58% is in plasma/serum and 42% in RBCs

    In cats 93% is in plasma/serum and 7% in RBCs

    In dogs 87.5 % in plasma/serum and 12.5% in RBCs.

    The point-of-use blood glucose meters (the ones we use at home) all use whole blood.2 However, what specific blood glucose they measure varies with the manufacturer. Some manufacturers only measure the glucose in the serum/plasma. Others lyse (disrupt the cell walls of the RBCs) and thus mix the glucose that was in the RBC into the liquid and thus measure total glucose. The meters then correct/adjust the reading to be equivalent to human blood plasma

    Discussion:

    Since the glucose distribution is different n humans and cats/dogs the resulting BG valve obtained from the human meters will be different that lab values and animal-calibrated meters. Also, some manufacturer's meters will be much different that lab values for animals depending upon which method (lyse cells or only use plasma/serum) they use to measure glucose.


    Animal calibrated meters correct the value to be equivalent to lab values.


    What clouds any BGs obtained from hand-held meter is that they are only accurate to +/- 20 %. That includes the animal-calibrated meter. Also, do not confuse accuracy with reproducibility. It is expected that one meter with one lot of tests strips to be relatively repeatable, that is if you use the same drop of blood, you BG value will be much close than +/- 20%


    References:

    1 Different Species, Different Blood

    2. Glucose Meters: A Review of Technical Challenges to Obtaining Accurate Results


    9-14-2014

    I just did two tests with my original AlphaTrak and my human Easy Gluco Plus meter. Both comparisons used same drop of blood from two different cats


    Dulce OTJ
    AT = 72

    Easy Gluco Plus = 54
    The AT is 133% of the EGP value

    The EGP is 0.75 of the AT

    Badgar
    AT = 377
    Easy Gluco Plus = 331

    The AT is only 113% of the EGP value

    The EGP 0.88 of the AT
     
  2. MrWorfMen's Mom

    MrWorfMen's Mom Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 18, 2015
    @Larry and Kitties I have been doing dual testing with both a Freestyle human meter and the AT (same as old Freestyle meter with new programming) since July 2015 and continue to do so, giving me several hundreds of comparisons using the same drop of blood with meters in which the same strips can be used (using same method/assay of glucose measure). It is clear that there is no linear or percentage difference in readings between the two types of meters and with the allowed +/- variance that difference is further skewed. The only difference in my case should be the algorithms in play in each meter to produce the "plasma equivalent" readings.
     
    Critter Mom likes this.
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