Losing weight

[Chickie]

Hello everyone,
I'm new to this form. I have been looking around for test strips for my Yoshi. She is a 13 year old puggle weighing in at 19 pounds and cute as can be. I read a lot about the two strips and I'm trying to set up the coding. I used the two strips for the first time yesterday and the Alpha Trk2 read 669 and the Free style read HI.
Our Yoshi is not fixed and the higher numbers happen when she is in heat.
With the prices being so different I want to change over to the free style lite.
Can anyone help with the coding?
I have changed her food. She eats fresh ground meat, brown rice, peas, carrots and oatmeal. Since changing her food, her blood sugar has dropped dramatically. Before the food change Yoshi was getting around 15-20 units a day. Now she gets a total of 6-10 units. I know some may think the units may be to high for the weight but it does seem to be working since the food change.
So can anyone shead some light on this?
thanks all

[CraigM]

Re: New to Form- about Alpha Trk 2 v Free style light

Welcome to the forum.

Some of us use code 6 when using FreeStyle Lite strips in the AlphaTrak. Code 6 seems to match up pretty well in the 100s, but of course any difference will increase as the numbers get higher. There really isn't any difference between 669 and 700 (HI)

Some of us have retired our AlphaTrak meters for the Advocate PetTest system. The PetTest strips are costing between $25-$28 online. This was a special, not sure if still valid. https://www.countrysidepet.com/colle...st-test-strips If the sale is done, Amazon has a good price.

Craig

[Chickie]

Re: New to Form- about Alpha Trk 2 v Free style light

Welcome to the forum.

Some of us use code 6 when using FreeStyle Lite strips in the AlphaTrak. Code 6 seems to match up pretty well in the 100s, but of course any difference will increase as the numbers get higher. There really isn't any difference between 669 and 700 (HI)

Some of us have retired our AlphaTrak meters for the Advocate PetTest system. The PetTest strips are costing between $25-$28 online. This was a special, not sure if still valid. https://www.countrysidepet.com/colle...st-test-strips If the sale is done, Amazon has a good price.

Craig

Craig thanks for replying so quickly.
I will try coding at 6 and let you know things work out...

[Chickie]

Re: New to Form- about Alpha Trk 2 v Free style light

Craig thanks for replying so quickly.
I will try coding at 6 and let you know things work out...

Also just checked out the site and the special is over..

[MomofGus]

Re: New to Form- about Alpha Trk 2 v Free style light

You can get the meter from that site for $9.95, free shipping, and that includes 10 starter strips, and when they sent mine, they threw in 15 extra ones. I order these strips from Amazon sellers. (And, ironically, this seller sells the strips cheaper on Amazon, than on their website direct). They've always been cheaper. I also have Alphatrak 2, but have recently switching to the Advocate for cost reasons. For my dog, they are only a few points difference in reading. Of course, every dog is different. I knew I couldn't continue the cost of Alphatrak strips considering how often I test my dog. I have been happy with the Advocate meter, but every once in awhile, I will doublecheck with Alphatrak if I think I'm getting an odd reading based on how my dog is acting.

[Chickie]

Re: New to Form- about Alpha Trk 2 v Free style light

So I tested with the freeStyle lite strips and the sugars were the same. what a relief.

[Chickie]

Re: New to Form- about Alpha Trk 2 v Free style light

Thanks so much for your info. Good luck to you and your pup

[Chickie]

Losing weight

Hi everyone, I'm trying to figure out why my 13yr old puggle keeps losing weight,
I have not changed her food but she is still losing weight.
Any suggestions?

[jesse girl]

Re: Losing weight

Lots of things can cause weight loss but for newly diagnosed diabetic dogs it maybe just high sugar but usually after starting insulin therapy the weight loss should tapper off and usually in short time

So other things to look at are the stools and are they normal showing if nutrition is being processed by the body EPI dogs are seen with diabetic dogs with further decline of the pancreas in diabetic dogs . There could be thyroid problems maybe as simple as not enough calories

Older dogs can struggle with weight and it probably goes back to processing nutrition from the body

probably need a full blood panel if you can strike higher sugar off the list

my jesse stopped loosing weight but had a difficult time putting it back on and i wasn't going to feed tons more food to put on weight fast because that method for jesse probably wouldn't work because i believed she had some pancreas issues

loosing weight in itself is not an immediate serious condition for the most part if not loosing massive weight in a short time . For my jesse it just took time because her health was so delicate

[Rover]

Re: Losing weight

Try to change her food that is your good choice for now. Here some good information that can help your situation right now Foods to Give Your Pet and How this article has full of good information when it comes to choosing the right food for our kids I know this can be useful to you. But aside that you need to consult her to your vet to make sure that nothing serious happen to her. I hope she can be better soon.

[amydunn19]

Re: Losing weight

I have several questions before I can give suggestions. What are your feeding now? What is her weight? How long has she been diabetic? Do you suspect or know through testing if her blood sugar is well controlled?

Many diabetic dogs are on high fiber foods for the obvious benefits of helping to control blood sugar, but the down side for a dog who doesn't need weight loss or even maintenance, is the inability to gain weight. If the blood sugar is still high, you could feed and feed, but it doesn't do any good because the food just passes through without doing any good. So, many people will feed more, sending the blood sugar higher and the vicious cycle continues.

I would say you do need to find out why the dog is losing weight. If it isn't a blood sugar issue or a food issue, then speak with your vet about her weight. Testing blood sugar at home can be helpful in controlling blood sugar if you aren't sure how well your dog is actually doing.

[Chickie]

Re: Losing weight

I have several questions before I can give suggestions. What are your feeding now? What is her weight? How long has she been diabetic? Do you suspect or know through testing if her blood sugar is well controlled?

Many diabetic dogs are on high fiber foods for the obvious benefits of helping to control blood sugar, but the down side for a dog who doesn't need weight loss or even maintenance, is the inability to gain weight. If the blood sugar is still high, you could feed and feed, but it doesn't do any good because the food just passes through without doing any good. So, many people will feed more, sending the blood sugar higher and the vicious cycle continues.

I would say you do need to find out why the dog is losing weight. If it isn't a blood sugar issue or a food issue, then speak with your vet about her weight. Testing blood sugar at home can be helpful in controlling blood sugar if you aren't sure how well your dog is actually doing.

First I want to thank you for replying to my post..
Yoshi is a 13yr old puggle as of now she weighs in a 16lbs. she was diagnosed last year with diabetes. When we started the insulin her numbers were off the charts. We did get her numbers under control, well for a couple of months that is until she went into heat. After her cycle was over we were able to get a good handle on her sugar levels. I had changed her food as well.
She eat ground meat, carrots, peas, brown rice and oatmeal. She was doing great.
We noticed she was loosing weight about 4 months ago so I started adding hard boiled eggs.

[Chickie]

Re: Losing weight

Try to change her food that is your good choice for now. Here some good information that can help your situation right now Foods to Give Your Pet and How this article has full of good information when it comes to choosing the right food for our kids I know this can be useful to you. But aside that you need to consult her to your vet to make sure that nothing serious happen to her. I hope she can be better soon.

Thanks Rover for the great information.
Im reading this asap. I have read lots of information about dogs and diabetes there is sooo much.
thanks again

[amydunn19]

Re: Losing weight

Typically, continued weight loss implies high blood sugar over prolonged periods. You can't really get weight on her until you solve the high blood sugar.

Is there a reason why she has not been spayed? Unspayed females are notorious for unstable diabetes - the hormones can cause wild swings in blood sugar. These swings can affect all areas of health - including very high highs and sudden lows when the hormones settle back down. I would spay her ASAP. It will make a huge difference in her levels and in turn, help her be much healthier. It is a surgery worth having.