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/