After much thought about home testing, I talked to my vet about it. At first... he passed by the topic. At the next appt, I brought it up again stating that I was very interested in home testing and getting Snickers under control. I also told him, my office visits were becoming more and more frequent and very unaffordable. He agreed and told me he would have his office manager call me with pricing on glucometers.

Well, she did. She offered me the AlphaTrak by Abbots Labs.. at a mere $179.99! I didn't have to worry, for that price.. it came with 10 Lancets and a few strips to start! YIKES! DOUBLE YIKES! I thanked her politely for the information, and hung up.

Then I dug into this forum.. and read, read, read....read..read....

Bought a One Touch Ultra 2 Glucometer @ Target for $68.99, with a rebate of up to $70! It also came with 10 Lancets, control solution, a pen.. but not any strips. So I purchased a small vial of strips.

I started home testing yesterday, was a bit tricky at first.. watched Dr. Lisa's movie, and others on YouTube.. and gave it a try.

Today, I already had a vet appt, so I decided to take along the new Glucometer and calibrate it to theirs. I asked the tech to please use my glucometer just after she finishes using hers.

The One Touch Ultra 2 is fairly close to theirs she said! According to the numbers, it is only off by 20 points. So, my home readings are 20 points lower than theirs. So, I'm recording them 20 points higher in my log for Snickers.

The vet told me, that for years they used a human meter and then recalibrated the #'s to pet. And although my numbers are off by a little bit, that it didn't matter all that much.. as it would still show me a curve. There's 5-6 vets in my pratice.. (not all of them would have shared that info I'm sure).

So, if you are looking for a meter for your cat, and you don't have money falling out of the sky to you... skip the cat meter and pick up a human meter. Take it to your vet.. have them test it.. and you can calibrate it to theirs.. and now you can home test.. and call them with questions.. and skip going every other day!!!

Plus the human meters have rebates.. vet meters do not.

OH- Before I forget. I also picked One Touch Ultra 2 because... and this is important.. the pharmacist told me that 9 out of 10 times.. they are always in stock. VERY IMPORTANT. I did find strips & lancets on ebay.. for less.. but if you are in a pinch.. you definitely want to use a meter that you can find your supplies for quickly.

And.. I just read somewhere on this forum.. there's a link to getting a meter directly from the manufacturer.. for free. Can't remember where that was.. but you could do a search for "meters" or "glucometer" and it should pull up links for you.

Hope this helps, so much info has already helped me.. and I've only been here for a few days.

Good Luck.
Trish

Trish, that's the same number. All meters have a +/- 20 percent variance, you can get that much of a difference on the same drop of blood.

Gia & Quirk(GA)

Guilt trips are a detour from life.

Trish, it is amazing how much you have learned in such a very short time.

Let me add a couple of things for you to munch on...

There is no reason for you to "calibrate" to your vet. Go by what your meter says every time. It is YOUR meter that is the important reading.

I've been buying the One Touch Ultra II test strips at Walgreen's or whomever had the 25 count vial - and the strips were over $1 each. I just placed my first order with American Diabetes Wholesale [www.americandiabeteswholesale.com] and the strips are about 0.75 cents each, including shipping.

Great job!



=================================


Sherri & Stash (dx 3/16/07)
Stash's Spreadsheet
Abilene, Texas

Oh, I get it now. Thank you. With the vet's assistant trying her best to talk me into the $179.99 AlphaTrak.. I was under the impression it was crucial for my meter to match theirs. Now I understand more about the numbers and the variables. This is a complicated disease.

Honestly, I have learned more in 1 day here in this forum than I have in the past few months ... even visiting my vet EVERY other day!!!

They should hold classes on Diabetes for Pets.. as most don't know much about it..I'm sure. I am always asking questions.. and I don't consider myself the norm.. so I'm sure.. that most.. do what they are told to do.. and that's it.

If I hadn't of found this site.. Snickers would definitely be on the Insulin rollercoaster. If Snickers could thank each of you.. he would.

I'd offer you a strawberry popsicle.. if I could. lol. How about some cranberry juice to go with it? LOL! After many kidney stones.. it's all cranberry juice.. and water for me. lol.

Thank you..
Trish

AlphaTrak a marketing ploy to make more money for Abbott. They make several human meters, wised up to people testing their cats, came out with expensive AT along with $1 a test strip, vet's cost, not markup. Also, with the AT, besides draining the wallet dry, if you run out of strips and your vet doesn't have any, you are up the creek.

Trust your OTU, go by those numbers.

Trish ... first, let me say, that you are doing an AWESOME job!

American diabetes is a great site and their pricing is good. But they only sell the One Touch Ultra test strips by the 100's. To help me "spread out my dollars" ... I often order from hocks.com. They sell the strips in 50 strip quanties - if you order 3 boxes or more, the price is $36/box as opposed to $39/box if you only order 1 or 2. Plus they offer free shipping on orders over $79 dollars. So I order 3 boxes with no shipping cost and pay $108.

Hocks.com also carries the 31 gauge, u100 syringes with 1/2u markings that I like because they are thinner (most people get from their vet u40, 28 gauge syringes which are much thicker and better suited for the thickness of a dog's skin as opposed to a cat's!) ... the thinner needles are great and don't seem to bother Sabrina as much. I don't know what kind of needles you are using ... but if you find that Snickers is "flinching" alot and want to consider changing to a thinner needle, be sure to post here first ... the thinner needles are u100 and mean that you will need to do a conversion to achieve the right dose with a different needle. Hope I didn't confuse you too much!

I LOVE my One Touch Ultra 2 ... although the strips are more expensive. This was more of a problem initially when I was trying to get number data on Sabrina ... but now, I pretty much only check at +12 and +6.

Good luck and keep posting on this site ... it truly is an amazing community of people. Hugs for you and head scratches for Snickers ... jenn and sabrna

Jenn and Sabrina

Sabrina, 12-year old female, black and grey striped Tortie with one orange striped front leg!
Diagnosed April 2006 with DKA and FD
A challenge to regulate ... but I LOVE her and keep trying!



I am practicing Tight Regulation, please consult your vet before following this protocol!

Click here for Sabrina's PZI Numbers
Click here for Sabrina's Lantus Numbers

Trish, Your OTU2 will be just fine. My vet uses OTU@ I have all 3 models of OTU . I stay within 15-20 points of vet with my meter. Myself I would stay with what you have. 179.99 That buys a lot of kitty kibble. You are doing just fine. Keep up the good work.Hugs to all

Linda and Mandy
Mandy Dx2/11/05 diet controlled 11/15/05
< [www.freewebs.com] Mandy's website

FDMB Member since June 4,2005


Snickers DX 10/03/06 6units NPH 2x day.FF only

[livingwithpets.blogspot.com] Mandy and Snicker Blog Updates of FD care
[www.freewebs.com] Snickers website
Profile updated 11/13/07

Quote:
The One Touch Ultra 2 is fairly close to theirs she said! According to the numbers, it is only off by 20 points. So, my home readings are 20 points lower than theirs. So, I'm recording them 20 points higher in my log for Snickers.

Fantastic! I use the One Touch, too. Mine checked less than one point lower than the vet (that's in "Canadian", so about 10 pts lower than the vet on your scale).

But I really NEED to stress this: please don't get in the habit of adding 20 pts to his numbers at home!! For a couple of reasons - it may not always be 20 pts out, and is more likely to be that much out when reading higher BGs. What was the BG you tested, versus what the vet tested??

The meters often read off a bit when the BGs are in the 300-500 range, but a 20 pt variance is less than 10% off. If you test Snickers some day and get a BG of 20, don't assume that means it's a BG of 40!!! That would be a 100% difference in readings- not 10-15%!! If the variation is really 10 or 15% of the lab work, it would mean his BG was 22 or 23 - and you would need to treat for a hypo! 20 points is nothing when you are dealing with high numbers, but can be life and death when dealing with low ones.

Please record the ACTUAL BG readings that you get on your meter, and ignore the variance. Use those numbers ONLY for your regulation and dosing. What the vet visit showed you was that your meter is accurate.

And good luck!


Karen



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 03/08/08 11:56AM by Karen & Rambo(GA) & Conan.

Wow.. so many wonderful responses. I am learning so much! I get it, so the points aren't just 20 points off, it's more like a %. I have straightened out my log book for Snickers and am going to just record the One Touch Ultra 2 readings.

I did notice the needles we now have for the Vetsulin are different than the ones we had for the Humulin N. The gauge does seem to be larger. Snickers is ok with both, although when we first started with the newer needles .. there was some flinching.

Supplies for this meter are available locally, and online. I did see some good deals on ebay, and will also check hocks and the diabetic websites too. I know drugstore dot come has sales, and coupon codes from time to time.

I was recently told that if you have a AAA membership, they offer a free prescription card that you can use at the pharmacy for products not covered by your insurance. I'm going to check into that too. I just have a basic membership, but was told it is available for all memberships.

It's a shame that the vet's office doesn't offer other meters, and only the AlphaTrak by Abbots. It simply was too unaffordable for me. $179 plus all the other money I have been spending on Snickers.. it a lot. I'll do whatever I can for him within my means, but if there is less expensive way that is still a great option than.. I have to choose that. Which is why I just couldn't bring myself to buy their meter.

Thank you again so much!
Trish