I am fairly new to the world of diabetes, so I hope that you will start posting to the health forum

I would definitely recommend buying a glucometer (a good one) for home testing on your cat. It saved my boy's life. Noddy was in a great deal of pain one day, so I rushed him to the vet. Turns out he had a partial urinary blockage that cleared in the carrier on the way to the vet. I didn't realize that at the time, however, so continued on to the vet. Noddy is EXTREMELY stressed in the car and screamed the entire 1 hr 15 min trip to the vet. When we got there, I had Paul (vet) run a blood panel, and Noddy's blood glucose came back at around 600! YIKES! Of course Paul immediately diagnosed diabetes and prescribed 5 units of insulin once or twice a day (I can't remember which right now). Noddy weighed 26.5 lbs at the time. My housemate happens to be diabetic, so I am fairly familiar with the disease. But I'd never had any experience with it in cats, so I immediately started researching online and read about at home glucose testing for cats - something my vet hadn't bothered to even mention. I went out and bought Noddy his own meter (a cheap, American Fare brand from K-Mart which I would NOT now recommend) and spent the next week getting Noddy used to having me handle his ears and warm them in preparation for the blood draws. I was still trying to get up the nerve to actually stick his ear a week later when he became severely hypoglycemic. Fortunately, I knew how important it was to monitor him after insulin administration, so I checked him every hour to make sure he was OK. When I checked him that morning and found him in his favorite napping spot under a small table in a corner of the bedroom, I called to him and he didn't even raise his head. All he could do was let out a tiny whisper of a mew to let me know something was wrong. I picked him up, and he was completely limp and very cool to the touch. I knew immediately what was wrong and ran to the kitchen for the Karo Syrup. I kept smeariing Karo on his inner cheek and gums until he was able to lift his head a bit, then I finally got up the nerve to stick his ear! Of course being the novice I was, I had to stick him a half dozen times before I managed to get a blood drop big enough to test, but he was still so weak and out of it that he couldn't object. That first test didn't even register on his meter because his BG had dropped below 20, and the meter couldn't measure that low. My housemate's meter could, though, so I tested him on that one and got a reading of 16. I kept rubbing Karo onto his gums until I got a reading above 80, and Noddy was able to get up and move again. What a horrible scare, but he came out of it just fine. The next day I gave him his insulin again, and again he became hypoglycemic, though I caught it and corrected it before his BG bottomed out the way it had the day before. I called two different vets to discuss the problem with them and was told that, although both Noddy's extreme stress on the trip to the vet's the week before AND his extreme pain at that time undoubtedly caused his BG to spike during that diagnostic blood test at the vet, that there was no way the stress and pain alone could account for his BG being as high as 600. They both assured me that he was, in fact, diabetic. They were both wrong. After the second hypoglycemic episode, I was told to withhold insulin for three days and retest his BG, which I did. It was normal. I was told not to give any more insulin until and unless his BG went up out of normal range. I continued to test twice a day for a week and once a week thereafter, and his BG remained normal. Spontaneous remission from diabetes is a known phenomenon in some cats, though I don't believe that is what happened with Noddy. I believe that Noddy WAS so stressed and in so much pain at the time of diagnosis that his BG soared up to 600 as a result of those factors alone, and that he never actually had diabetes at all. Regardless, at home BG testing was the ONLY way I would ever have known what was going on with him. If I'd had to take him back to the vet's for testing, the stress of the car trip would have shot his BG back up again, and I never would have gotten an accurate diagnosis. I could have killed him with repeated hypoglycemic episodes on insulin. So, YES, get yourself a good meter and learn to do testing at home. The link below is a godsend for information and instructions on management of feline diabetes, including step by step instructions for BG testing at home. All the best, Laurie Here is a link that might be useful: Feline Diabetes

I too have dawn effect, it is a real difficult thing to try to deal with, I do the snack before bed but that does not help the only way I can avoid dawn effect is to get up at like 2 or 3 am and have a snack! Then my morning fasting number will be in the normal range. That is not going to happen though. But luckily my number even though out of norm range is not crazy high. Insurance will usually pay for as many test strips and lancets you need to do your testing as long as the doctor writes the script to cover testing that often. Mine does. And I also always use what ever brand meter and supplies my insurance tells me is their preferred brand so that it will be cheaper, and every one of the major meter companies have a program you can sign up for where they send you a prescription card to use when getting your supplies that will knock the co-pay cost down even more. I do at times have to remind the pharmacy I have that card on file so they give me my extra discount. We recently changed insurance again through my husbands work and they had a different preferred brand so they sent me a letter with the info to get the new free meter and supplies for their preferred brand. I have never paid for a meter and have quite a few now. I really do like the one I have now, it has all the test strips in a barrel container that is inside the meter so no more handling test strips at all just push the button and it sticks out the bottom of the meter and the lancet is also attached to the meter, makes it very very easy to use for me with my arthritis hands. ACCU-CHEK Compact Plus meter

He should probably have 4-6 smaller meals per day or at least make sure he has snacks 3-4 times a day. Some of my favorites are: almonds, walnuts, string cheese, celery with peanut butter, laughing cow cheese on high fiber crackers, dill pickles, raw veggies with ranch dip or hummus, sugar free jello (the small containers, NOT made from the box-that is too high carb, at least for me), a small apple with peanut butter on it. Any protein, zero carb food (meats, eggs, cheese) like slim jims and some jerky, but some of the flavored jerky has sugar in it. I make a nut mixture using almonds, walnuts, peanuts, pecans and the traditional chex mix seasonings. It tastes great and satisfies my taste buds. If there is something I really want I have a bite of it, otherwise I will do myself in trying to find something to do so.