I'm still rather reeling from the vet's diagnosis... other than her eating habits and a little sluggishness, Shenzi was doing just great.  I'm fully committed to helping her live as long as possible with diabetes.

I've already received a lot of good help and advice in private emails from Margo Hupe and Dawn as well as others I'm too tired to find all the names for - but thank you  - you know who you are.

A little bit about my situation: I'm financially stable (network design engineer), single, live alone, no family in town (Kansas City, MO USA) and I have two dogs.  Because I'm single these dogs are very important to me as they are my immediate family.

So far I know I need to buy a meter (thinking of this: http://www.animaldiabetes.com/glucopet) and test strips and needles and the insulin itself. In financial planning, I think that test strips will be my biggest expense.  I know that I can perform curve analysis by testing every couple of hours for twelve hours straight.... but in financial planning I need to know how many strips I'm going to be needing to buy.  I figure I will go through a higher amount at first, and then perhaps less per day as she is stabilized.  Can anyone provide input on how much they spend on test strips, where they buy them, and how many they go through on a daily/weekly/monthly basis? What, in general do you allocate on a monthly basis as costs?   I need to know how much of my financial resources to dedicate to this.  The cost is not an issue - planning properly for it is.

Thanks in advance and I will keep you all updated about Shenzi's condition and progress.  It's good knowing you're all out there - I don't feel quite so alone any more.
 
Chris Schroeder  
"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance." - Confucious