What kind of glucose meter for diabetic cat?

Mslady

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Jan 11, 2018
Messages
7
Purraise
5
My 16-year old cat, Elijah, was diagnosed with diabetes 3 days ago and has started insulin twice a day. We want to get a glucose meter to be able to check how Elijah is responding to the insulin but I don't know much about glucose meters and what's best, and affordable, for a cat. Does anyone have any suggestions for meters or type of meters? Is a veterinary meter significantly better than a human meter?
 

LTS3

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Aug 29, 2014
Messages
19,209
Purraise
19,695
Location
USA
Any Human blood glucose meter will work. I used an AccuChek Aviva when I had a diabetic cat. You just need a basic meter that gives a reading, not one of the fancy ones that does meal tracking or fasting or whatever.

The pet specific meters are no more accurate. The test strips are not sold in any pharmacy and vets don't usually sell test strips so you will need to plan ahead and buy the test strips online.

You'll get a lot more info on diabetic cat care here: Feline Diabetes —Diabetes in Cats — Treatment and Diabetic Cat Info — FDMB There's a great message board there, too.
 

Mamanyt1953

Rules my home with an iron paw
Staff Member
Forum Helper
Joined
Oct 16, 2015
Messages
31,182
Purraise
67,774
Location
North Carolina
If you use a basic human meter, MOST places do sell the strips, and without prescription. I know that WalMart has several brands.
 

LTS3

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Aug 29, 2014
Messages
19,209
Purraise
19,695
Location
USA
The test strips is the expensive part of a blood glucose meter so lots of people buy a meter that uses inexpensive test strips. Store generic brand meter and the matching test strips are going to cost far less than a big name brand like AccuChek. You can also buy most any brand of test strip online from various places. AmericanDiabetesWholesale.com is one popular place FDMB members buy test strips and insulin syringes from.
 

fionasmom

Moderator
Staff Member
Moderator
Joined
Jun 21, 2014
Messages
13,125
Purraise
17,369
Location
Los Angeles
Please do go to FDMB. They were extremely helpful to me with my diabetic cat when I had some technical questions....in fact, almost overly responsive given it was not a critical case of anything.
 
Top