Home Testing for Feline Diabetes

Learning to test your diabetic cat at home for ketones and blood glucose levels is one of the most important things you can do to help manage your cat's diabetes. Testing for ketones requires a urine sample and special dip stick and can help you prevent diabetic ketoacidosis, a life-threatening complication of feline diabetes. Testing blood glucose levels sounds daunting, but most people--and cats--feel comfortable with it after just a few days of practice.

  1. Benefits

    • Preventing hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, may be the most important benefit of home testing a diabetic cat's blood glucose levels. But VeterinaryPartner.com educational director Wendy C. Brooks sees other advantages as well. One is more accurate test results and another is eliminating the expense and stress of frequent vet visits for testing. Since stress can lead to higher blood glucose levels, and an insulin dose is based on blood glucose test results, accuracy can make the difference between a cat receiving the correct amount of insulin or too much. Another benefit of home testing is the ability to monitor your cat's insulin needs from day to day and spot trends that might signal it's time for a dose change. A diabetic cat's insulin needs can change over time, says veterinarian Lisa A. Pierson on her website, Catinfo.org. "Home testing is the best way to arrive at the optimal dosage of insulin."

    Supplies

    • To test your diabetic cat at home, you'll need a blood glucose meter, test strips, lancets and a lancing device. Although blood glucose meters made especially for pets are available, human meters work as well for cats as they do for people, according to veterinarian and feline diabetes expert Elizabeth Hodgkins, and test strips for human meters are less expensive.

    Method

    • Most people who home test their cats use a lancet to prick the edge of the cat's ear near the vein to get a drop of blood. Since there are few nerve endings in that part of the cat's ear, the tests are not painful.

    Frequency

    • Some people test their diabetic cats just once or twice a week and others test several times a day. Testing before each insulin injection will keep your cat safe from hypoglycemia. Testing once or twice at other times during the day will provide information on how the cat is using the insulin.

    Temptation to Tweak

    • Veterinarian Gary Norsworthy cautions that a diabetic cat's dose should not be based on just one test result or on pre-insulin shot results alone. In the initial stages of insulin therapy or after starting a new dose, he recommends testing three or four times a day. Looking at all of the test results over a couple of days will tell you whether the dose is right. "You are looking for values outside of acceptable ranges, which will be approximately 100-200 or maybe up to 300 depending on your cat," Dr. Norsworthy says in a 1995 edition of Veterinary Practice News. He suggests always consulting a veterinarian before changing the cat's dose and waiting three or four days for the new dose to take effect before changing it again.