Thanks y'all,
Someone suggested I try the Precision Xtra, but when I looked online, all I could find was the Xceed. The link they gave me said "Xtra" but linked to Abbot's Xceed. I'm guessing it has replaced it. The meter wasn't expensive, but when I saw the online price for the strips, I did a double take. Thanks for the ebay advice. I'll check Amazon as well.
Bob doesn't seem to be having any ketone troubles, but he was DKA when diagnosed with diabetes 2 months ago. He's been checked 2 or 3 times since then at the vet and has checked out oday.
I've read a lot here about using the urine strips, but no way am I catching Bob in the litter box peeing. He's very odd about the litter boxes. Extremely possessive of them. He's the only cat we have now that uses one (the civvie goes outside in the yard) but when we had other indoor cats, Bob would lurk around the corner and smack the heck out of his sister or any other cat) if she had the nerve to use "his" box. Adding a 2nd box only made him the owner of two boxes. She was terrified to use the box if Bob was anywhere within hearing range!
Nowadays, Bob still owns both boxes, and he's very particular about them being scooped promptly. He'll let me know if I'm falling down on that job in a hurry. He also doesn't like being "watched" when using the box, so if I were to attempt to approach him with a ketone strip while he was in the box, I'm sure he'd quit and run. I'd worry about him deciding that "if he's going to interrupt me while I'm peeing, I'll just pee on his bed instead!" and I don't want litter box time to become another stress in his life.
Plus I figure, I've already got a big drop of blood, so why not grab two meters and take care of both tests at once. I've also read that ketones will show up in the blood before they become obvious in the urine, so that's a factor in favor of blood testing. Don't want any surprises if I can avoid them...
Thanks again,
Carl and Bob