newly diagnosed diabetic cat

A friend of mine has a female cat who is around 14 years old and was
recently diagnosed with diabetes. He & his wife had another female, much
younger, who was diagnosed several years ago and passed away soon after.
They could never get her regulated, she was constantly being rushed to the
24 hour emergency clinic or spending days at a time in their regular vet's
office.

Although I have no experience with diabetic cats, I've urged them to test
her blood sugar instead of relying on urine strips, or rushing her to the
vet weekly or more often. Kaylee is a very tiny cat bt she's a fighter. He
doesn't think he'll be able to get blood from her for the tests. I was
looking at this site: http://www.petdiabetes.org/ to see how one goes about
testing a cat's blood sugar and it doesn't seem too bad. I have Type 1
diabetes and I've offered them an extra meter & test strips, but he's still
unsure.

He loves his cats - they're his kids. I think he's just very nervous about
the whole blood sampling process. He said that she fights hard just for the
insulin injections. I feel that Kaylee would fare much better if they test
her at home. I used to go to the vet they use and I hate him with a
passion. I think Niamh (their other girl) would still be alive today if
they had seen a better vet who pushed home testing.

I'm going over to their apartment tomorrow to watch them give her an
injection, since we take care of each others cats when one of us is away.
I'm going to bring an extra meter & strips with me just in case. I don't
have any pipettes, though. I'm hoping we'll be able to control her long
enough to get the blood on the strip directly from her ear.

Does anyone with experience find that it's easier to get a sample from a
paw? Any hints or tips?

--
Liz