Inexpensive Ways to Monitor Your Dogs Blood Sugar

When Zeke was first diagnosed with dog diabetes it was difficult to get his blood sugar regulated. We made many trips to his vet and she would draw his blood to check his glucose levels. This testing is necessary when you have a dog with diabetes. It is also traumatic for Zeke because the technicians would take him to the back room and poke him.

So I started purchasing Bayer Diastix to check Zekes' blood sugar. These are dipsticks for the dogs urine. I follow him around the yard when he is due for an insulin injection. When he hikes his leg to go I put a paper plate under him while he is urinating and then dip the Diastix in the urine.

After 30 seconds I read the color guide on the bottle that will tell me how high his blood glucose is. While this method is not exact and it is imortant to have your vet check the dogs blood sugar once in a while, it gives me a good idea if Zekes' glucose level is running too high or too low. If it is consistently negative then I wonder if maybe Zekes' blood sugar is too low, which has happened many times. If it is consistently high then I will raise his Vetsulin dose by .5 or 1 unit and continue to monitor him.

The best price I have found on the Diastix is from Hocks Pharmacy in Ohio. A bottle of 50 sticks is about $10 or a little less which is way cheaper than buying them in the drugstore.