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They take it from the ear. With a glucose meter designed for animals.
You can use a human glucose meter. The Feline Diabetes Board has a guide on how to interpret the readings using a human monitor. The advantage to the human monitor is the cost. It's considerably cheaper than the pet monitor and the testing strips are $0.10 or so per strip vs $1.35 per strip on the pet monitor (pricing when I had my diabetic cat). You can also buy replacement strips on demand locally versus ordering in advance online. Most vets who don't routinely treat diabetic cats don't know this. You can provide your vet with data from the FD board about using a regular monitor.
Your vet probably told you this already, but you need to have some Karo syrup available, in case the cat goes into a blood sugar "crash". My Biggs did this just a few times, major symptom is paralysis of the rear legs. You just put some Karo on your finger and wipe it on the tongue, works fast.
Of course the Karo is likely to raise blood sugar more than you want, but if it goes out low, you do what you have to do.
You need to dose insulin just before "breakfast" and "dinner", if the cat gets the shot, the cat has to eat, you have to make sure they eat something or they will for sure crash.
Your vet probably told you this already, but you need to have some Karo syrup available, in case the cat goes into a blood sugar "crash". My Biggs did this just a few times, major symptom is paralysis of the rear legs. You just put some Karo on your finger and wipe it on the tongue, works fast.
Of course the Karo is likely to raise blood sugar more than you want, but if it goes out low, you do what you have to do.
You need to dose insulin just before "breakfast" and "dinner", if the cat gets the shot, the cat has to eat, you have to make sure they eat something or they will for sure crash.
So we were told to feed him first, and then give the shot which is now a half dose compared to previous. Everything is really going well -- I'm not going to fix what isn't broken at this point. We'll probably return to the vet in about 3 months and see what the numbers look like.
So we were told to feed him first, and then give the shot which is now a half dose compared to previous. Everything is really going well -- I'm not going to fix what isn't broken at this point. We'll probably return to the vet in about 3 months and see what the numbers look like.
My vet told me that it's not uncommon for a cat to convert back & start producing it's own insulin. Hope that's the case for your boy. My girl Angel has not, but that's ok, she's doing quite well.
I need to update the good folks who contributed information here. Thanks to the no carb /all moist food diet, the vet yesterday said that the cat no longer has diabetes. Thank you!!!!
We will need to do one more checkup in a few weeks to make sure the diabetes hasn't come back, but I am amazed at the results.
I need to update the good folks who contributed information here. Thanks to the no carb /all moist food diet, the vet yesterday said that the cat no longer has diabetes. Thank you!!!!
We will need to do one more checkup in a few weeks to make sure the diabetes hasn't come back, but I am amazed at the results.
That is terrific news and thank you for the update. The power of a species appropriate diet!
Sorry to have to report back that we had to put the cat to sleep just yesterday. It was very unexpected as his diabetes was under control, but the vet did warn us that diabetes can also mean that the cat has other underlying issues. And he had some major digestive issues which couldn't be fixed. He was a terrific cat and will be missed dearly, but gave us 16 years. We have had to put 4 pets to sleep over the years (2 dogs, and 2 cats) and this one was very tough. We'll be pet-less for a bit of time and then start up again with some younger kittens.
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RIP kitty. 
