Results from survey period Feb 2002-Feb 2005 (53 respondents) 

Results from survey period Dec 2001-Jan 2002 (61 respondents)

Results from a survey taken in 2000: (62 respondents)

Some of the reasons given:

I never do home bg testing

• I have Parkinson's Disease and I can't do the test.
• It's not due to lack of trying - just a VERY unreceptive cat!!
• My cat is hard to handle, and now that I've been told he has heart and kidney failure, I just think that's one more irritation he shouldn't have to deal with.
• When my dog was first diagnosed it seemed everyone on the diabetes list was home testing, so I dashed out and bought a meter. It was the WORST part of my initiation into the world of pets with diabetes. I couldn't get a drop out of him; I was a wreck and he started to get quite angry. I felt guilty and full of shame. After a couple of months I realized I could trust my observation of him and use the urine test strips with pretty good accuracy. The main thing, I believe, is that my dog is happy, active and still with me. The meter sits on a shelf ...just where I want it ;-)
• I'm just trying to deal with daily injections.
• I have tried  several times and was not successful. Our dog also has Addison's disease and does not tolerate stress too well so I have decided not to pursue bg testing for now.
• I've never done home bg testing. I do urine strips 2x a day and this has been ok so far. Our dog has a bg curve every 3 weeks at the vet hospital.
• I would like to but my dog's mouth is so small it would be impossible.
• Our dog is not to keen on things stuck in her mouth and has no hard calous patches on her legs. We urine test daily.

I bg test occasionally

• Callie (cat) will only allow spot checks; Ziggy (cat) is fine with testing; when he was on ultralente we tested him twice a day out of necessity. When Ozzy (cat) was diabetic we tested him daily.
• Maggie (dog) was tested several times a day in the beginning. Now a year has gone by and she is tested occasionally.
• My dog is pretty well regulated and I only test if I think there is a problem.
• I don't like to get hung up on numbers and mainly go by the way my cat is feeling.
• I do curves on my dog every 3 months or so, and spot check her at peak times occasionally, or if I suspect a problem. She spends most of her days outside (we live in the country) and if I test her too often I go crazy with the results!

I bg test on a regular basis

• We fall into this category except when problems arise. Then we test more frequently.
• Chelsea (dog) has a bad habit of not showing signs of hypo until she is VERY critical, so for us it is a necessity.
• Due to Spider's (cat) erratic readings, we usually check every am. Sometimes before the pm shot as well.
• We do at least one good curve a month on our cat. I prefer to rely on "other" variables such as water; intake/output; food, same thing, weight; loss/gain/derivation from normal, coat health; activities (frisky v. lazy), etc. While I am "in tune" with all these factors, I still want to know what his numbers are, and I prefer my numbers to the vet's. His stress levels are less when I prick his ear at home. He does not even realize it's being done.
• At various times throughout the past 2 years I have been in categories 1-5. I try to do a combination of urine and blood testing.  I do mostly mini curves or occasional testing on a  random basis now (or of course when i think there is a problem).  There have been times in the past  where I seemed to test every day, sometimes even several times a day  consecutively and I would feel bad when I looked back on that data because many times, once I was several weeks out from it, I could objectively look  back and see that I overdid it.

I bg test every day

• I test my cat every day once, and when I feel something is off, I test more more than once a day.
• I test before each injection, and also do spot checks at peak times on occasion. Also have been doing curves -- tests every 2 hours on Sundays. My dog is very cooperative for all this.
• I now test every a.m., right after a urine test because my dog's bg fluctuates so much.  It is so quick and easy with the Glucometer Elite.

I usually bg test several times a day

• Right now I fall into this category, but that's because I have changed Dixie's (dog) diet and her levels are coming down so I need to lower her insulin dose accordingly.
• I do 3-5 tests per day; always pre-injection, and sometimes searching for a peak. If Bayou (dog) has some low numbers, I tend to test more. Also I test more if I change doses, insulins, feeding times etc. It would be nice not to have to test this much, but Bayou's BG's aren't that consistent.
• Kyra (dog) gets tested several times a day. I can't go to bed without testing her ... plus before each meal and anytime I think something is up with her. We do complete curves at least twice a month.
  

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Updated February 2005
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