New Application Helps Better Manage Diabetic Pets

We recently received some exciting information at our office from Abbott Animal Health, the makers of the AlphaTrak Glucometer, a product made specifically for home monitoring blood glucose of both dogs and cats.

Abbott Animal Health has created a data management program for veterinary diabetic patients. This is something that has long been available to human diabetics and has been desperately needed in veterinary medicine. The AlphaTraker, Electronic Data Master, is a very simple to use program that you can download to your PC (we did not try it on a iPad or other tablet). The program can be used if you do not use an AlphaTrak Glucometer, which is great since many clients choose to use different brands of glucometer. If you do not have an AlphaTrak you will choose manual entry. If you do have an AlphaTrak the glucometer can be attached to your computer with a cable (this is sold separately) and will automatically download the glucose readings for your pet.
What this application allows you to do is enter your pets glucose readings, times they ate, what they ate and time and dose of insulin administered for each day. You can also keep track of other laboratory testing, other medications being administered and veterinary appointments. The program easily converts this information to graphs that allow you to quickly identify trends and, most importantly, it allows you to share this information very succinctly with your veterinarian.

I feel that the key to successful long term management of most diabetics is communication between the owner and the veterinarian. No matter how diligent the owner, it is difficult to accurately communicate the day to day minutia like appetite, activity, etc. I also see many clients assume that once they establish an insulin dose and a home regimen they are on autopilot and they can either stay the course or adjust insulin doses as they see fit. This can lead to disasters or at least a poor long term outcome (shortened life expectancy, diabetic neuropathy, etc). The AlphaTraker program appears to have helped solve this issue.

Take a look at the site and download AlphaTraker and give it a try!   http://alphatraker.software.informer.com/

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The Tale of Two Frogs

This January a woman called our office rather upset. She explained that she just noticed that her house plant had two, tiny frogs living in it! Obviously, it was not the right time of year to just release them and she didn't know how to care for them. Could we help?

Fortunately, we not only have Dr. Schmidt Dexter, who is highly trained in exotic pet care and wildlife rehabilitation, but we have a technician, Edi, who is a herpetologist. They assured her that they could help and encouraged her to bring the frogs to the office. When the tree frogs arrived they were very inactive, which was appropriate for the time of year, and they appeared healthy. They were identified as Gray Tree Frogs, a species indigenous to the area (meaning that they normally inhabit the wetlands of Michigan) and once spring came they could be released. The duo went home with Edi so they could safely continue their hibernation.

About a month ago Edi told me that the little frogs, whose cage was being kept in her bedroom,  suddenly began to sing. It appeared that the pair consisted of a male and a female and the male has a very shrill chirp (you can hear it on YouTube by searching Gray treefrog calling) that woke her abruptly from a deep sleep and left the whole house a little startled. Evidently it was getting close to time for their release.

Once the evenings were more consistently warm, the pair returned to our hospital for release. We are lucky to sit adjacent to a wetland and it seemed only right that they enjoy the beautiful habitat around our hospital. The hospital has extensive gardens, we don't use any chemicals on our lawn or flowers and during summer evenings our windows are literally plastered with all kinds of frogs. The charming couple was successfully released in the evening about 2 weeks ago. We  hope that they continue to thrive and reproduce. Who knows maybe we will see them on our windows, catching bugs, one evening this summer!

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