I had to buy it for my dog

Love this...great for your dog...had trouble at first getting the needle to eject into my dogs ear... I did not have the needle set high enough to puncture the skin. After I reset it again. The unit worked perfect! Very accurate

New new review:
The seller has contacted me and the replacement is on its way. The response from seller was quick, especially considering the New Year holiday. I look forward to using the kit again.

I tried to check my dog's blood glucose this morning, and the automatic pen that holds the lancet would not go together properly. It would not screw on all the way, so the mechanical device will not work! I am disappointed, to say the least. I purchased this system only 2.5 months ago. I am therefore changing my rating.

Old review - too bad I had to change it:

I like having a way to monitor my dog's blood sugar. There was a slight learning curve for me, but that's to be expected. I don't like getting the reading "lo" without a number. This is the downside of this device. It happens. Overall, I'm happy with this monitoring system.

I am so happy I bought this meter! I have been using the Alpha Trak 2, and while it did a good job, the strips were very expensive and I have to test my little guy several times a day right now, along with doing a curve once a week, until we get his BG under control, so I decided to try the Advocate Pet Test meter and strips because they are much less expensive. I am sooooo glad I did. Not only are the strips less than half the price of the Alpha Trak 2 strips, it is easier for me to do the test because the Advocate meter has a mechanism that causes it to draw the blood up into the strip, kind of like a sucking/drawing action, so I need to use less blood for the test, ultimately making it easier on my little Maltese, who by the way, is the love of my life.

I like the meter because I don't have to code it and it has a very easy to read format so I can test my dog, or one of my cats, should God forbid, one of them develop diabetes as well. The set up was super fast and easy, too. I will make one suggestion.......don't put the strip all the way in until you are sure you have a blood drop ready to test because as I found out through trial and error, if you don't get enough blood on the strip the first time, it will give you a false low reading, like ridiculously low...as in 26 or 28, or something questionably low, or it will just say LO.

This meter comes with 25 starter strips, 21 gauge lancets, control solution, and a nice carrying case. I would suggest buying an additional box of 50 test strips because 25 will go by pretty fast, especially if your pup is like mine and needs several tests daily. I found a box of 50 on Amazon for $23.24 with free shipping, at the time of this posting. Advocate PetTest Strips, 50 Strips

At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter how much more cost effective the Advocate system is over the Alpha Trak 2, if the results are inaccurate, so I decided to put them side-by-side, use the same drop of blood, and test them at the same time to see if there was any difference in the results, and if so, to what degree. I did this on 5 separate tests and the largest variance I found was 3 points, one was 117, the other was 114. I took a photo of one of the comparison tests, one was 87, the other was 88. I would say that is definitely close enough to be called accurate. The date is off by one day and the time is showing a.m. on one and p.m. on the other, but that is because I messed up when I was setting up the Alpha Trak 2 and I am too lazy to fix it. LOL. So although the dates/times do not match exactly on the meter in the photo, I can assure you the results are from the same drop of blood, taken at the same time and compared immediately.

Since canine diabetes is not reversible, testing is something I will be doing for the rest of my Maltese's life. He is only 6 years old now, so I am looking at having to buy test strips for the next 10+ years. With the great prices on Amazon, I will be saving thousands of dollars by switching to the Advocate meter and test strips. My little pup is everything to me and I want to make sure his diabetes is controlled so he can live a long, happy life, right by my side.

The lancing device is a pain and not really working. I just decided to do a little prick in my dog's ear, then massage it to bring about the blood. Less traumatic for me easily stressed dog, and not as hard on my mama's heart. Beats paying the vet $40+ to check it, especially if it's hourly glucose checks! Machine itself is quick response and quite sensitive. Overall, happy with it. Just with the lancing device actually worked better.