Question about fructimose testing

My vet wants me to bring my cat in for one of these tests in a weeks time.

Just how useful or necessary are they? After googling this subject it seems that it's outdated since home testing.

One reason I'm reluctant is the stress it will cause Tempest - I've got her reasonably settled and I think this will throw everything out of whack and set things back.

I don't mind the cost it's more having to put her in a carrier (immediate stress) then go 20-30 minutes in a car to get there. Then the wait at the vets and the stress of everything that will happen and then home again.

She hates it so much she drools, pants and licks the crate walls...

 

A fructosamine test will only give an average of what the glucose numbers have been running at over a 2 week period. It does NOT show ups and downs, merely an average number. Home testing is far superior to the fructosamine tests, as it shows what happens each day. There was a person on here who had a fructosamine test that showed in the normal ranges, but her kitty was no where near regulated, since the kitty had a lot of high numbers and a lot of low numbers and they "averaged" out to a normal range. I hope this makes sense to you.

My opinion and even the opinion of my vet is that the test is not a good indicator of how a kitty is doing and home testing is much more useful.

 

It's really unnecessary if you're home testing

All the fructosamine can tell you is the average your cat's blood glucose has been over the past 2-3 weeks.....so if your cat is going from 400 to 40 and back to 400 again, an average isn't going to tell you anything useful

 

Hmm sounds like a complete waste of time then.
I've to go pick up heart tablets for the dog on Monday. I might just print out a copy of my ss and leave it in. See what they say about that! Hahah. Will have to blank out the dosages or they will throw a paddy. Will just tell them to give me a ring if they want the fructosamine ( I can't spell that for love nor money and neither can my spell checker lol 4th try was the charm)

 

Chris explained it much better than I did ...but really the fructosamine test is a waste of time and money and more stress for Tempest.

 

Lol thank you both of you! I'm decided! They get the ss and no test lol

 

I liked your explanation better!!...but that's one of the great things about this board...if one person's explanation doesn't help someone understand, there are lots of others that can explain it in a different way until the light bulb goes off!!

 

My vet is obsessed with the fructosamine test. I agree with others here that its pretty useless especially if you're home testing. Even if you're not home testing i'm not sure how helpful it is. We've had periods of time where the vet says mr b is in "good control" according to the fructosamine test, when all along he's drinking and peeing like crazy and home testing showed poor control.

Also my vet charges between $60 to 70 for this test. Crazy.

 

My vet didn't want me to home test as it was 'putting my cat through stress unnecessarily.' I was feeling pretty good about starting the whole process but everything I suggested was wrong (he wasn't horrible about it don't get me wrong) it just knocked my confidence. But he did say +5 or 6 would probably be useful.

I think the test here is about £25 - £30 a go.

 

Adding my opinion to the fructo test question - no, it's just not necessary if you're testing at home and as others have said here, it can be downright misleading. Vets use the test as an initial way to dx diabetes and they like to repeat it at intervals to see if the number has dropped. Like all professions, vets like to do things their way but good vets should be happy that an owner is testing at home - it gives everyone a much better picture of what's going on so you can work together to give the best and most appropriate treatment. If you show your vet your spreadsheet he/she should be grateful!

As for testing putting a cat through stress unnecessarily - if an owner does it right, is calm and confident, makes testing part of a routine, gives cuddles and treats etc, there is no need for it to be stressful... quite the opposite.

Good luck!

Diana