Painless Glucose Monitoring System

I already had the PetTest monitor but was trying to get blood from my dog with the lancet device it came with, which was proving difficult and stressing both my dog and me out. Thought i would try the Genteel Lancing devise and what a game changer. Blood everytime. Easy to use and instructions are clear. The device releases the lancet and you have some rubber like rings which give different pressures. They form a vacuum over the spot where the lancet has hit and after a few second you take of the device and hey presto lovely spot of blood. This is then put on the strip which goes into the monitor and gives you a reading. The old one would make a loud clicking noise when using the lancet device which would make my dog jump this one does not. The price may seem expensive but when you work it out the strips are £24.99 for 50 on their own and the lancing device does not scare, upset my dog at all. She is quite happy to sit there and have it done. Plus i dont get anxious trying to get a decent drop of blood from her, not getting one and wasting strips. Brilliant piece of kit.

My dog doesn't appear to feel anything when we test her blood it does what it says and it works very well, we shave the inner ear first then use a alcohol wipe before we draw blood. What a good piece of kit

I bought this as the test strips work out a lot cheaper than the test strips for the Alphatrak 3 we currently use. I tested it several times against the readings from the Alphatrak on the same blood spots (when i could eventually get any readings at all as the strips are so flimsy and the monitor actually taking a reading was reading E-5, meaning 7 strips were wasted) but when I eventually managed to get 3 separate successful readings they where way off from the Alphatrak readings Alphatrak reading 5.8, PetTest reading 1.1 Alphatrak 9.5. PetTest 13.4 Alphatrak 14.6 PetTest 11.8 This monitor is unbelievably vague (at best). Unfortunately I have obviously used this monitor, 10 strips and several lancets, so I will not be able to return it, as I have absolutely no trust in it whatsoever. It's disgusting they can actually sell this device when people use it for such crucial use. Shame on you ADVOCATE for selling such a lousy unreliable DANGEROUS device.

Easy to use, love that it has the little coloured rings for depth. Bag could do with being bigger. However, my dog would give it zero stars because she hates having her sugars tested.

It's ready to use almost the second you insert the test strip, which is quite a bit faster than the more expensive models. And a few seconds can seem awfully long when you're trying to hold onto a squirming cat and poke it in the ear. I like the way the test strips are packaged better as well; I was forever dumping out several of the ones for the other brand that come loose in a bottle. These are individually wrapped, but easy to open. They seem to work with much smaller blood sample than others I've used as well, and give a reading in a few seconds. My only complaint is about the lancets it comes with. I always find it easier to just hold the cat's ear and quickly poke it with the lancet rather than messing with the loud and difficult-to-position "automatic" sampler. Other brands of lancet I've used are very sharp and polished like a needle. These look more like the tips off carpet tacks. They're not round, they're often not sticking straight out of the plastic, and they're not very sharp. When I need more lancets I'm going back to the brand that ships with the more expensive glucometers. Other than that, I'd give this one a high recommendation, especially at the price.

Returned as not accurate

You just need a tiny bit of blood to work. A bit pricey though

Bought this hoping to avoid multiple visits to the vet with my diabetic cat. Almost impossible to use with my cat as he was terrified of the loud click in his ear. Had no success with drawing a blood sample and found it very difficult to hold the cat and perform the test. Gave up after a few attempts as the cat was becoming very stressed. Waste of money if you have a nervous animal. On the plus side it was easy to set up, had easy to understand instructions and clear display. You just needed to be able to get the sample!

I already had the Advocate PetTest Glucometer which works just fine, it's easy to use and it serves its purpose. I have a newly diagnosed Dog with Diabetes. His numbers were really high so we were spending a lot of time and $$$ at the Vet. I needed to be able to check his blood sugar numbers at home. What an adventure that was. I would use the lancing device and as soon as he got pricked, he would jump and pull away, any drop of blood would get smeared on him or fly around the room. Once he would jump like that it was very difficult to actually get an ok drop of blood to use. In the end I would have to start all over, causing a lot of stress for both of us. The poor dog would hide under the bed when he knew what was coming. I needed to order more test strips and lancets and stumbled upon the Genteel Lancing Device which is supposed to be let painful for your dog. It has little rubber ends to put on your lancing device which changes how deep that prick will be, but also (if your pet doesn't jump out of your arms the minute they hear the little click) the end forms a seal against their skin and also a little suction which helps to get that sample with ease. It's really very clever, and I would recommend the package with the Genteel Device over the regular one. You can buy just the Genteel Lancing device alone, but it is much better deal to get the whole kit because you also get 50 test strips, 50 lancets, and 10 butterfly lancets which are just a thinner needle that pokes them. So, get the whole kit because you are going to need to purchase lancets and test strips sooner or later.

It takes a few days to get used to it, simply because you’re going to need to hold the device in place for a few seconds, I count to six myself, so that you can let the vacuum do its job. If you are using this on your pet, it will take them a few days to learn to sit still as the vacuum does its job.. However, even though there is a little more sound when you release the trigger, it’s so fast that I do believe it hurts less… My dog doesn’t budge now. And I’m grateful for the larger draw of blood because it makes it so much easier to collect it on the Test strip… which equals less wasted strips, and therefore less pokes for my sweet pup. Just give yourself a break during the 2 to 3 days. It will take you to just get used to it because it is just a little different. It’s worth the learning curve… I only wish I had ordered it a few months earlier, which would have saved me in strips and more importantly, discomfort for my family member.

Using the PetTest Genteel lancet You can easily get blood samples and test at home. Just shave a little area on the butt by the tail so you can see the skin. Warm the area for 30 seconds with a heated rice bag (this is a MUST to get blood) Rub a little Vaseline on the skin, this helps pool the blood drop and improve the suction of the device. Apply the Genteel lancet, after it pokes a hole it has a vacuum that will suck the blood out making a nice drop. It has worked very well. The dog doesn’t really feel it. The trick is with the Genteel lancet, after you press the button hold your finger on the button air hole for about 5 seconds until you see the drop of blood forming, then lift your finger off the air hole BEFORE you pull the device away from the skin. This releases the suction. Otherwise it will splatter the blood in the instrument and you will have to do it over again.

My dog does not seem to mind the poke on this unit so that is really good. I do have a lot of issues using the product though which results in a lot of multiple pokes. It is difficult to get enough blood for the reader to use from one poke. We go through a lot of test strips due to this as the read often fails. They give you multiple sized tip ends which should account for thicker skin - we are on the largest tip for our small 15 pound dog and still find it difficult to get enough blood. We’ve tried all suggested areas on the dog and have difficulties in all.

Ordered this on 5/2 - rec'd 5/3 & it's a piece of crap. I called their customer service line that's avail 24/7, that was a waste of time. We had only a couple days left to complete a curve on our dog, they wouldn't send new test strips OR a new monitor (as the others gave only "HI" readings) they said they would escalate it and call me back. They did neither. I called them the following day to see how they were going to solve this and, you guessed it, another waste of time. NOW.... because their product isn't worth diddly, after spending $110 on their kit and an additional $40 on new test strips, we have to pay our veterinarian to do the curve in their hospital. I have STILL not heard back from them, and I ordered test strips from them on my own that took 2 days to get here, those didn't work either but since they aren't interested in helping customers who have foolishly given them $150 , THIS customer is sending their crap machine back to them and cautioning anyone considering purchasing this product, NOT TO. Don't waste your time, don't waste your money, and don't believe for one second that they will make it right through their customer service department.... they will NOT. I will be 'escalating' this myself with Amazon. They should NOT be able to lie to Amazon Customers. They need to be accountable and responsible and they are neither. I gave one star only because I had to, but they don't deserve it!! EDIT: prior to this review being posted, but triggered by both items being returned, I FINALLY got their attention. I received an email from them, offering to send us items FREE (until we found out if they worked or not) and then added: "THIS TIME we will be there for you with our customer care department, 24/7 use of our video department and help in any way we can". I responded: THIS TIME? Shouldn't you 'be' there ANYONE giving you $110.00 for your glucose monitoring kit, from the get go? The fact that isn't automatic for you is concerning. Especially given the fact they claim to be such loving and caring folk when it comes to serving pet owning families. I told them their product wasn't even worth 'free' and that I wasn't interested. Again.... if you're considering a purchase with this company, I'd seriously suggest you don't. Because of their lack of interest, and our dependence of their product doing what it was suppose to do, we ended up paying another $500 to our vet to have them do the curve. I love my dog, I don't regret helping him, but this additional expense could have been avoided had they only gave a care about a 'pet owning family' like they claim. This is what they do, no one forced them to do this job, offer these products or make the claims they make! One would only think they would be willing to keep their word, offer good products and stand behind them.... Is that asking too much? Apparently so!!