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The portable glucometer is a very useful tool for the human or veterinary health care professionals to obtain information about the patient’s glycemic state. The equipment is easy to handle and still gives precise results, however there are some factors that can alter its accuracy. Those should be avoided, so that inadequate therapeutic decisions are not made and dangerous situations for the patient’s life do not pass unnoticed. The object of this trial was to show the main factors of risk that can alter the results obtained with a portable glucometer. For the study 53 canines were used. 17 did not have precise results because they presented low hematocrit, the amount of blood collected was not enough or either a part was over the test strip or still, the accomplishment of the test passed the 15 seconds recommended by the manufacturer. It was concluded that those factors are susceptible to happen when a portable glucometer is used, and that the results obtained in those situations are not accurate, therefore, when observing them during the accomplishment of a glucose exam, the test should be repeated. KEY WORDS: Accuracy, glycemia, glucose monitor. O glicosímetro portátil é uma ferramenta útil para os profissionais da área de saúde, seja humana ou veterinária, obterem informações relacionadas ao estado glicêmico dos seus pacientes. O aparelho é de fácil manuseio e ainda fornece resultados precisos, apesar da possiblidade de alguns fatores alterarem a sua acurácia. Tais fatores, portanto, devem ser evitados, para impedir que decisões terapêuticas inadequadas sejam tomadas e para que o paciente não seja exposto a situações de risco para sua saúde. Assim, neste trabalho relatam-se os principais fatores que podem alterar os resultados obtidos com um glicosímetro portátil, medinate estudo em que se utilizaram 53 animais da espécie canina. Desses, dezessete não tiveram resultados precisos, porque apresentavam baixo hematócrito, a quantidade de sangue coletado não foi suficiente ou uma parte ficou por cima da tira teste ou, ainda, a realização do teste ultrapassou os quinze segundos recomendados pelo fabricante. Conclui-se que esses fatores são passíveis de acontecerem quando se emprega o glicosímetro portátil e que os resultados alcançados nessas situações não são precisos. Diante disso, recomenda-se, ao se far um exame de glicose, repetir o teste. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Acurácia, glicemia, monitor de glicose.

One of the ways of monitoring the glucose concentration in the blood is with a portable device, known as glucometer. The equipment, developed to measure the glycemia of human patients, was used in this experiment with the purpose of verifying if the results of samples of dogs’ blood are also reliable. To perform the exam a drop of capillary blood from the ear of 36 dogs was collected. The mean variation when comparing the glucometer and the laboratorial reference method was 7.90%, being this result within the patterns established by regulatory organs of the area, such as the American Diabetes Association (ADA). It was concluded that the portable glucometer is a reliable tool to dose and/or monitor dogs glycemia, having as advantages the practicality and speed for obtaining the results. Keywords: Dog, glycemia, monitoring.