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Blood Sugar Monitoring Question
Question:
My friend’s dog is suffering with diabetes. She is giving insulin injections at home, but has experienced some problems regulating the right blood sugar level. The only reliable way she has been given to monitor it is by trips to the vet at $54 each. Are there any home blood sugar testing devices for dogs similar to the ones people use? Can the ones made for humans be used? Any other suggestions would be welcome.
Response:
I finally remembered to ask my mom what she uses for her dog, who is also diabetic. She uses Diastix Reagent strips for urinalysis — glucose. It’s made by Bayer. In the US, you might try Costco, Walgreen, or Wal-Mart. There was a question and comment number on the package, too. 1-800-348-8100. They might be able to tell you where (or if) it is available in your area. To do the test, just catch a little urine (mom uses a long handled spoon) then do the test following the instructions. I imagine any other urine glucose test could be used as well. The vet could probably tell your friend what the optimal reading would be for her dog. The blood tests are the most accurate, but it sounds like it would get awful expensive awful fast. Good luck. –Diane P.S. If you go to the American Diabetes Association website www.diabetes.org then click on Basic Information you will see a link on the right hand side for animals with diabetes.
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – My friend’s dog is suffering with diabetes. She is giving insulin injections at home, but has experienced some problems regulating the right blood sugar level. The only reliable way she has been given to monitor it is by trips to the vet at $54 each. Are there any home blood sugar testing devices for dogs similar to the ones people use? Can the ones made for humans be used? Any other suggestions would be welcome.
Response:
Are there any home blood sugar testing devices for dogs similar to the ones people use? Can the ones made for humans be used?
My vet said I could use *my* glucose testing meter and strips (I’m a type II) to test my dog as well. She said to take a blood sample from a fairly hairless part of the inside of her ear. Unfortunately, I have been unable to get enough blood to take a reading. The meter type I have is one that takes a very small sample from the top of your forearm, therefore the lancet doesn’t pierce the skin far enough to get a good enough sized sample from the inside of her ear. That combined with the fact that Norma HATES having her ears messed with has made it an unsuccessful endeavor. We’re going back to the vet tomorrow to let them do the reading (only costs $12 bucks a pop for me). I plan on taking my meter and seeing if the vet has any suggestions for making it work. To answer your question though, yes, I think you can use commercially available glucometers. My meter cost about $75 (still waiting on my rebate). The costly items are going to be the test strips and lancets. I get mine fairly cheap with insurance. Unless you’ve found a way to submit your puppy’s vet costs to your insurance provider you’ll be paying $30-$50 per box of strips. Lancets are a little cheaper, and even though not technically recommended, you can reuse them. If you are going to spring for the glucometer, check with your pharmacist to see which brands can use the "generic" or store brand strips and lancets. You should be able to save some money that way. Good luck. I’m in the same boat as you, still haven’t gotten Norma’s blood sugar regulated. She seems to want to hover at 280 at her low point.
Response:
Your friend can use an electronic over the counter glucose monitor like those used for people. The syringes used for giving injections, or those nearly similar can also be used for drawing blood. It only takes a couple drops for that type of glucose test. The trick for the avg. pet owner is learning how to draw it, and run the analyzer. It’s not hard with practice to draw it from the front leg, or a back leg even. It just takes practice and a helper to restrain and hold it off. Maybe do an internet search for info on technique, or ask the vet to show your friend how, if the vet will? It can be done by a pet owner, but seldom is. Personally, I wouldn’t do it to my own pet. I’d rather my pet associates the experience with someone else, and I can comfort my pet after. But if $ are a big issue… Just some thoughts.
Response:
For my diabetic dog we would sometimes use a strip of some sort of paper (looked like litmus paper) and put it under his pee stream. It’s not as accurate at blood tests, but it gives you a general idea. I will try to find out what the paper is called. We bought it at our local pharmacy.
Response:
The papers are called ‘pH strips’. Various companies sell it, but I have had the best luck with Alkalife. I buy it at phpaper.net… it comes in small scotch tape type dispensers- very handy. It measures the pH in your body- people can use the same method to see if their body is ‘out of whack’… when your blood sugar is off, your (or your dogs) PH level will fluxuate. There are really only two different types of pH tests… saliva and urine, the former being the easiest to test. Play with a week of test strips, find your ‘normal range’ then you can use it. Just remember it isn’t a replacement for the blood tests and your vet. Hope this helps, Kim ***more detail, if you’d like to read on*** The pH of your saliva moves from high to low according to what you eat in your diet over a period of time. Tear off a strip of pH test paper 1-2" long and hold it below your mouth so that you can spite a small amount of saliva onto an end of the strip. Shake the extra spittle off of the end of the strip and compare the change in color of the moistened end to the color chart. Note on a piece of paper that you can record on from day to day the number of the pH value. Do this at the very beginning of each day before you have put anything whatsoever in your mouth. This will be your "normal" saliva pH before being changed by things going into your mouth or the events of the day. Keep this record in a secure and convenient location so that you can record the values in successive days. This is the simplest, most bare-bones pH test routine. You just look at the one reading at the start of the day and compare it to the prior day’s readings. If the change is towered a slightly alkaline reading 7.0 – 7.4, as the days progress, then you are on the right track. If there is no change or the readings are moving away from the proper range, then you are not doing enough correct actions to improve your health. These values, by the way, can be much affected by emotional and mental states of the individual. Take note if this seems to apply when you evaluate the pH values. What do the numbers mean? 5.5-6.0 State of health is mildly poor or very poor. Anxiety or chronic stress could also be dominating the physiology. If mental/emotional factors are not the cause, improving diet, detoxification and exercise will move the values up to the correct range. 6.2-7.0 Usually indicates that emotions are not getting the best of physiology. This range improves more easily with improvement in diet, a detoxification program and some exercise where there was not enough before. "Improving diet" for those with a pH below 7.0 means eating 70% or more foods from the alkaline-ash* list of foods daily. 7.2-8.0 Diet isn’t a major problem unless stably above 7.4 Vegetarians commonly fall in this high pH range and can be headed toward exhaustion. Worry and anxiety can be overriding the positive benefits they get from their good diets. When worry and too much stress is not the case, the physical handling is to include more rice cereals and other acid-ash in their diets to tone down the pH. (See acid-ash and alkaline-ash foods list, attached.) Also, mild detoxification and exercise may be of benefit to improve conditions. Here, in a quick glance, is how you can test and evaluate your body’s pH. Monitoring your saliva pH can help you improve your diet and other lifestyle characteristics so that your health can be under your control.