At home testing.... HELP!

Hi all! I am new to this site and fairly new to the diabetic cat. I rescued my cat, Rico, from a high kill shelter about 6 months ago. Before I adopted him, it was noted when he was confiscated that he was diabetic, but I didn't care! I love to rescue an animal that has a sure death sentence at a high kill shelter. Rico is 10+ years old, so chill and loving. He has been having ups and downs the last 6 months with the insulin. He will be fine for a month or so and then be eating me out of house and home as his glucose levels go down too far. I have him on the Weruva Cats in the Kitchen can food, we switched about a month ago. Anyways, I want to start doing home testing to get him better regulated. I want to know what is the BEST meter to buy regardless of price. I am so unfamiliar with all of this. I was also hoping the meter could test Ketones too because he has had issues with this as well. He started on 2 units, twice a day of insulin. By changing his foods a couple times, we got down to 1 unit, twice a day. Now he may even need less. So I want to get it accurate. When he starts eating me out of house and home I feel so terrible because I know his levels are too low. Any help is appreciated. THANK YOU!!!!

Dayna and Mr. Rico

 

Hi Dayna, welcome to you and sweet Rico. Good on you rescuing a diabetic kitty from the shelter. I'm kind of partial to black and whites too. It's a great idea to learn to home test. If you live in the U.S. a lot of the members will pick up the Relion Confirm or Micro from Walmart. There strips are the cheapest and available late if you need them. They also need one of the smallest blood drops. You can also get strips for them (the Arkray Glucocard 01) from our shopping partner ADW. That meter doesn't test ketones, the meters that test ketones have rather more expensive strips. You can get Ketostix, for urine testing of ketones, from most pharmacies.

What insulin are you giving Rico?

 

Hi, I have used the bayer coutour meter with good results.now we use free style lite meter which fits better in my hand and takes less amount of blood,made little brother happy. Most meters have a + or - points range. I have him on little to no carb can cat food with add broiled chicken. Bless you and your rescue kitty.

 

Welcome, Dayna. I'm so glad Rico was rescued by you. Not to many people are willing to adopt a diabetic cat. You must be a very special person. As far as meters go, most of us here (at least if we're in the US) simply buy a relion confirm or micro from Walmart. I have a relion micro, and I love it. It's easy to use and doesn't require much blood. You don't gain anything by buying an expensive meter, but if money is not a consideration, you might want to consider buying two of the same meters. It's really nice to have the peace of mind of having a backup meter on hand. It's good to have extra strips too.