Bowzer the Aussie Cattle Dog

[CraigM]

Re: Bowzer the Aussie Cattle Dog

I wrote this a year or two ago:



Meters:
Everyone has their favorite. I actually have six meters, always looking for something better, or less expensive to use. Some of us have the AlphaTrak2 meter that many vet clinics use, and is calibrated for dog / cat blood. Most who home test usually also have a human style meter. Why different types of meters? Because dog blood is a little different than human blood and the readout won't be exactly correct if using a human meter on a dog.

AlphaTrak2. Probably considered the gold standard for home testing dogs. As I mentioned, many vet clinics use the AlphaTrak, so your readings would be the same as your vet would get. Being the GOLD standard, it is the most expensive system. MSRP is in the $150 range, but there are sometimes sales when it can be snagged for under $90. The real expense is with the test strips. They are almost always over $1 each. Many of us test two, or three, times a day. You will use even more getting your pup regulated when you might test six, or more, times in a day. This really adds up! There is another dog meter called the iPet (no kidding), but the few reviews I’ve read about the iPet were very poor.

Human style. There are many choices, you've probably seen many commercials on TV. Prices generally run from around $20 to $40. Sometimes if you do a search you can actually find free offers (suggest if you fill out a form, or telephone, for a free offer, fill out the form as if you were the new diabetic: companies might not want to provide a free meter to a dog!). Test strips for human meters are lower priced, sometimes much lower priced, than the AlphaTrak2. Many on the forum use the One Touch Ultra and say its a good meter. My newest meter is the Walmart ReliOn Prime. The big thing about the Prime is the very low cost test strips: 18 cents each!

Because there is an error testing dog blood with a human meter, most will take the human meter to the vet clinic and do a test at the same time the vet takes his test and compare the difference. For example a 100 reading on a human meter might be 140-150 if taken with the AlphaTrak. Usually, the higher the number, the greater the difference.

A couple of us use both the AlphaTrak2 and a human meter. By testing with both meters a few times you can usually determine a percentage difference between the meters (testing several days with both meters). I do most of my testing with the inexpensive Walmart ReliOn Prime, but every few weeks I'll run a side-by-side test with the AlphaTrak2 to ensure my calculations are still close.

L

[amydunn19]

Re: Bowzer the Aussie Cattle Dog

I have always used the OneTouch. If you have no problems getting sufficient blood, it is a great meter. It won't give false readings if you don't get a good sample, which most meters don't do. It has always been really close to the vet's lab test. My vet liked mine so much that he bought one.

If I had an unlimited budget and Maggie was younger, I would get an Alphatrack just to have it. It is a good meter but expensive to own with strips. But, you could always use the confirm as your main meter and the alphatrack to get past this early regulation period. You can get the freestyle lite strips to use in the alphatrack to save $$$.

[Cara Sandler]

Re: Bowzer the Aussie Cattle Dog

I used the Alphatrak because I was very intimidated by testing Sparky's blood glucose (I handled the insulin injections just fine, but panicked over testing his blood). Alphatrak uses such a tiny little sample and that made it easier for me. It did get expensive, though.

[6K9S]

Re: Bowzer the Aussie Cattle Dog

The One Touch is a human meter, right?

[k9diabetes]

Re: Bowzer the Aussie Cattle Dog

Yes. I absolutely LOVE the OneTouch for dogs - comes very close to actual blood sugar while being far less expensive over time (the cost of strips is the real expense long term) than an Alpha Trak.

I had an AlphaTrak - still do... but it's getting antiquated now... but rarely used it. I used a OneTouch Ultra with Chris throughout his years with diabetes.

Natalie

[CraigM]

Re: Bowzer the Aussie Cattle Dog

As you see, there are lots of choices for BG meters, and everyone has their favorite. With the exception of Walmart ReliOn meters, I'd highly recommend checking Amazon and other online sources. Generally, much less expensive online than at local stores. I was able to get an One Touch Ultra2 (OTU) last year for $9 from Amazon. A quick search this morning showed prices from $12 to $19. A search at Walgreen's website has it for $72. Same thing goes for test strips, generally much less expensive online (other than the ReliOn strips).

Start a collection! Annie has six

Craig

[6K9S]

Re: Bowzer the Aussie Cattle Dog

Good Morning...A question, please. I have been diligent in feeding and giving Bowzer his shots the same time every day and night ,. Even on the weekends, I will set the alarm to keep him on his schedule. 6am and 6pm. My vet told me I have a 2 hour window so if I am late coming home from work, I can give him his shot 2 hours later....or if need be, 2 hours earlier. I am a bit nervous to do this, but I have to be somewhere tomorrow evening which will cause me to give him his shot and meal an hour and half earlier than normal, and then will not be home to do his post meal test. What does everyone do when they simply cannot be home or have anyone at home give your dogs their shot at their usual time.....

[amydunn19]

Re: Bowzer the Aussie Cattle Dog

You do the best you can with it. If you have time to plan ahead, you might start moving his next meals by a half hour or so a little earlier today and that way the change may not have a big affect. A couple of hours shouldn't cause too much difficulty. Some dogs are running out of insulin at ten hours anyway.

I have had to leave several hours before Maggie's meal before and then be three hours late getting back. I knew in advance so I will feed her a small meal before I leave and test. If she was high, I might give her a very small dose (however she is rarely very high) ; then feed more food and inject about half of her insulin when I get back. It really depends on where her blood sugar is. I would rather her be high than injecting her and her going low. If you do break up those insulin shots, I would always err on the side of them running high. This is not fool proof and the dog may run high for a couple of days after but life happens and sometimes you have to do things. It usually all evens out after a couple of days.

[CraigM]

Re: Bowzer the Aussie Cattle Dog

+1 with Amy.

The few times we've been late getting home / giving Annie her meal-injection her BG was just a bit higher than normal, but returned to normalish the next day. The REAL problem was with Annie's attitude! She would be stomping her feet and barking! "Where have you people been? I've been waiting for my dinner FOREVER!"

If you are giving the meal-injection 1.5 - 2 hours early, you might delay the insulin a few minutes? If you normally inject while he eats, maybe delay the insulin 30 minutes? That might give the food a little time to get a "head-start" and prevent the BG from going lower? Of course, if Bowzer is normally in the high 100s-200s at that time there shouldn't be anything to worry about at all.

Craig

[jesse girl]

Re: Bowzer the Aussie Cattle Dog

for us giving shot early is not a problem if fed at the same time

[6K9S]

Re: Bowzer the Aussie Cattle Dog

Good Morning:
I was finally able to do Bowzers curve (every 2 hours), from before breakfast til before dinner yesterday. Here are Bowzers numbers. He is consistently high every morning, and he seems to be the lowest everyday right before his PM meal. (this curve shows his lowest was at 1:45PM...but I never usually test at this time as I am usually at work) I was hoping yall could look at this and tell me what you think. Bowzer has been so low right before dinner a few times, that I have had to cut his insulin dose back from 19 units to 15 or 17 units. Although even at the 19 units it never seems enough to carry him thru the night and into the morning the next day. Here is his curve yesterday. I do use the Reli On Confirm meter as of right now.:
5:30 AM 313
5:45 AM 19 units of insulin/breakfast
7:30 AM 281
9:30 AM 262
11:30 AM 239
1:30 PM 145
3:30 PM 216
5:30 PM 168
5:30 PM 19 units of insulin/dinner
This morning before shot/breakfast he was 322

Thank you for your help.
Karen and Bowzer

[amydunn19]

Re: Bowzer the Aussie Cattle Dog

Overall, I think his curve looks pretty good - he seems to be going in gradual terms. There aren't any spikes or huge drops. You might try a half unit more insulin at night since he appears to stay higher at night. That is pretty common but you could test some during the night just to make sure he isn't dropping too low at any time. I know you really didn't want sleep, right

One thing you might try is to give him a snack when you are home at noon. That might make his insulin last longer and prevent him dropping too low before his evening meal. And - That might give you flexibility to eventually raise his dose to get the numbers down the scale a little further.

[6K9S]

Re: Bowzer the Aussie Cattle Dog

thanks...great idea. What would an acceptable snack be. He usually doesn't get anything during the day between me leaving to go to work at 8 and going to bed at night at 11ish. (He gets half an orijen freeze dried treat in the morning and the other half at bedtime. He is a picky eater so veggies wouldn't cut it.

[Eddie]

Re: Bowzer the Aussie Cattle Dog

We give our dog a snack mid afternoon if he is dropping. Since we want it to affect his BG and push it up we just give him a bit of his normal kibble (small handful for a 63lb dog to give you an idea). I doubt whether veggies would push his BG up enough on their own.

(If you are out you can get timed feeders to release a bit of food in your absence - so long as you don't have other dogs around)
Antonia

[6K9S]

Re: Bowzer the Aussie Cattle Dog

The results from Bowzers furctosimine test was 382. My vet was happy with that. She said she thought between looking over his chart for the past week that I sent her and the results of his test made her think we were on a good dose. She said she wants another weeks worth of numbers and another consultation. She did address my giving him a lower dose in the evening if his numbers were lower (130-165). She said I should still give him the 19 units. What are your thoughts are that? Thanks again.

Karen