Hi all,
I'm starting this thread because I feel I can contribute a bit back. A bit of background on my dog Skippy. Diabetes and pancreatitis struck him at the same time leaving me to wonder which caused the other. A bad vet missed the diabetes leading to DKA, a return of pancreatitis, liver issues, and severe anemia/jaundice all within days of discharge. An emergency vet and bill breaking past 5 figures, home care, advice from a good vet and advice taken from a lot of threads on here seem to have gotten Skippy healthy again. The whole ordeal has taken three months but it was great last week when a blood panel was run and the good vet seemed astonished with the values for liver, pancreas and after a bit just said that all the values were like those of a far younger and non diabetic dog, though there was still a bit to go on the glucose level. Two weeks before the blood panel I received a free Nova Max Plus meter. The meter website states that there is no hemocrit interference with the meter which caught my attention. A week after that I received my Alphatrak meter. The two meters were in agreement within 10 points or less for values between 100-300+. I noticed deviation of 50ish on a bad day of glucose in the 400s, 440 Alphatrak and 490 Nova Max. At the vet glucose was measured to be 318 at the time of last week's blood panel, the Alphatrak had 310 and the Nova Max had 315. It appears to me that the Nova Max is likely as acccurate as the Alphatrak for a wide range. The Alphatrak with ZipWik Freestyle Lite Strips read 268 on code 7, it seems that the strip trick doesn't work, at least with the ZipWik. The one big advantage I see with the Nova Max is a box of 50 strips can be easily found to cost in the low 20s and lower, that and I find the Alphatrak a bit clunky to use. There are currently offers for a free Nova Max Plus Kit that has 10 strips and I figure some on here would like to give it a try, maybe even become an informal test group and report a comparison or two. Reviews on Amazon seem mostly positive. It took about three weeks to get my meter kit (Meter,10 Glu strips, 2 Ket. strips.,lancet pen with lancets, and insurance discount card)
http://www.novacares.com/dconnect0711/
http://www.novacares.com/DMINE0711/
http://www.novacares.com/cwd/
And sorry, I just noticed this turned into a giant text block. I'd like to thank the posters on here, your experiences and advice have helped this forum lurker and I'm sure many others greatly.
I'm starting this thread because I feel I can contribute a bit back. A bit of background on my dog Skippy. Diabetes and pancreatitis struck him at the same time leaving me to wonder which caused the other. A bad vet missed the diabetes leading to DKA, a return of pancreatitis, liver issues, and severe anemia/jaundice all within days of discharge. An emergency vet and bill breaking past 5 figures, home care, advice from a good vet and advice taken from a lot of threads on here seem to have gotten Skippy healthy again. The whole ordeal has taken three months but it was great last week when a blood panel was run and the good vet seemed astonished with the values for liver, pancreas and after a bit just said that all the values were like those of a far younger and non diabetic dog, though there was still a bit to go on the glucose level. Two weeks before the blood panel I received a free Nova Max Plus meter. The meter website states that there is no hemocrit interference with the meter which caught my attention. A week after that I received my Alphatrak meter. The two meters were in agreement within 10 points or less for values between 100-300+. I noticed deviation of 50ish on a bad day of glucose in the 400s, 440 Alphatrak and 490 Nova Max. At the vet glucose was measured to be 318 at the time of last week's blood panel, the Alphatrak had 310 and the Nova Max had 315. It appears to me that the Nova Max is likely as acccurate as the Alphatrak for a wide range. The Alphatrak with ZipWik Freestyle Lite Strips read 268 on code 7, it seems that the strip trick doesn't work, at least with the ZipWik. The one big advantage I see with the Nova Max is a box of 50 strips can be easily found to cost in the low 20s and lower, that and I find the Alphatrak a bit clunky to use. There are currently offers for a free Nova Max Plus Kit that has 10 strips and I figure some on here would like to give it a try, maybe even become an informal test group and report a comparison or two. Reviews on Amazon seem mostly positive. It took about three weeks to get my meter kit (Meter,10 Glu strips, 2 Ket. strips.,lancet pen with lancets, and insurance discount card)
http://www.novacares.com/dconnect0711/
http://www.novacares.com/DMINE0711/
http://www.novacares.com/cwd/
And sorry, I just noticed this turned into a giant text block. I'd like to thank the posters on here, your experiences and advice have helped this forum lurker and I'm sure many others greatly.
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