Poor Tux's ear

So, I'm sort of frustrated at my poor accuracy with the lancer, so I tried to free-hand today. Bad mistake. I'm old and slow and Tux jerked his ear just as the lancet entered it, resulting in a torn ear. On the plus side I did get enough blood for the meter, and he didn't seem too upset, he was still purring because TREATS, but he definitely looks rather raffish at the moment, like an old tomcat with a fresh battle scar now. His ear is rather tufted so coming in from the side isn't really an option, I just can't *see* from that angle, there's too much hair in the way, and my fingers aren't good at that sensitivity thing anymore due to years of wear and tear and some mild arthritis so I can't really "feel" my way in very well. Only reason I can see from the top is because I Vasoline his ear before I lance it.

So, no freehanding. Right now I'm using the Relion lancet holder that came with my meter with the clear cap on it but it doesn't lance straight, it lances at a slight angle, which can make it hard to hit the spot that I'm trying to hit. Any suggestions on a better lancing tool? Preferably with a clear cap so I can aim it easily?

Man, I wish it was as easy for me to lance Tux's ear as it is for me to give him a shot. When I pucker him up for his shot he pretty much just ignores me except to squat down while still continuing to eat. Then it's poke, squirt, wait a sec, and pull. But he really doesn't like me messing with his ears. Never has. I didn't think to get him accustomed to me messing with his ears prior to this diabetes thing, the way I got him accustomed to being picked up and carried around to make it easier for me to relocate him to, e.g., the kitchen table to feed and inject him. He sort of squirms a bit, which can make it hard to aim, though he's not one of those wild cats that hisses and bites and stuff, I'm cuddling him and scritching him and he's purring but he lets me know I'm annoying him. Ah well, maybe he'll get used to it over time...

 

Would he prefer you use his paw?

 

I also have a wiggly kitty who doesn’t exactly love this whole testing thing. He’s got a few little notches in his ear from when he has decided to jump right as I poked him. I wouldn’t necessarily give up on free handing just from this one oops.

If you just prefer the lancet though, you might just try getting a new one and see if it will shoot straighter.

 

He likes me messing with his paws even less than he likes me messing with his ears! I tried a different lancet holder this morning, and got a better bead on his ear. (His *left* ear -- it was his *right* ear that I molested last night). Discovered he tolerates me just holding the warm sock there as long as I'm not stroking his ear, just holding his ear to the sock. Okay. His ears bleed well enough now that I guess I don't need to do the stroking thing. Also have to be careful with the amount of pressure I put on the lancet holder when I touch it to his ear. That's hard for me to gauge because of my own arthritis, where pressure is sending multiple signals from both my fingertip and my joint.

I tried a different lancet holder this morning, the other "Relion" one. Problem with it is that you can't set the depth on the clear cap and the end of the cap is dished as if to fit over a curved part of the body. Maybe if I use less rice in the sock and thus make it more curved that'll work better... that said, I got a good shoot with it this morning. First shot missed because Tux flicked his head, but that was me putting too much pressure on his ear. Second time I just lightly touched it to his ear, hit the button, nice bead, sip, set aside, gauze and pressure to stop bleeding, TREAT!

I looked at Walmart on Friday afternoon and found only the other "Relion" holder. There was a space for another lancet holder but it wasn't in stock. I looked at CVS last night for other lancet holders, didn't find one with a clear cap, again there was space for another lancet holder but it wasn't in stock. I'll take a walk to Walgreens today and see what I can find there... certainly not going to try the other Walmart, not today!

 

This didn't completely work for me but it might for you. I somehow got a small flashlight to stand on end below Noah's ear so the light is shining from below the ear, upwards and through it. Problems; flashlight falls over, blinds me, annoyed Noah.
I freehand with the big fat BD lancets and found the higher gauge ones did not make a big enough hole. I'd rather poke him once with a bigger lancet than 4 times with a thin one. Best of luck.

 

I actually don't have a problem seeing the "sweet spot" from above once Tux's ear is warm. The vein shows up prominently against the white background of the sock once his ear is properly slicked with the Vaseline. It's just getting the lancet onto that spot that's the issue, aim is everything! And doing it *fast*. Because Tux *will* flick his ear when the lancet starts biting into it, thus why I can't freehand with my old slow reflexes and arthritic hands.

 

Tried Walgreens, no luck there. But I used the other "Relion" holder today and it seems to be doing better. Greased his ear up good (the torn one, sigh, aimed a bit higher), knotted the sock tighter, and thwack, right where I wanted (a bit north of the torn fringe, sigh). And nice bead, sip, good. Meter said 70, I've backed Tux off to 0.5u of Lantus now and will do a bit of curving to see what happens now that I've changed his diet to one packet of the IAMS wet food morning and night and a couple tablespoons of the YA Zero kibble inbetween. The IAMS isn't carb free because it has liver in it and I've noticed it affects his blood sugar more than the Fancy Feast did, but he does love it a lot better than the Fancy Feast, which he tries to bury (!). I couldn't get him to eat the FF without mixing some of the IAMS into it. Enough of that, I'm not going to stress over his food as long as it's not hurting him, which his current diet of the IAMS wet food and YAZ kibble obviously isn't given that I'm getting good blood sugar readings out of him.

 

Dr Elsey makes low carb dry food
chicken under 5% carb and salmon under 10%

 

I have had good results feeding the Dr Elseys day food on a daily basis. I feed between 1/2-2/3 cup a day. I use the YAZ as a treat or I sometimes put a little on top of the wet food.

Don’t stress over the food. Ideally, you want the carbs under 10%. When I started Monster on all wet food with as low carbs as I could, he had poop issues and wasn’t thrilled with the diet change. So I started the Dr Elseys dry chicken formula and decreased the amount of wet food. Monster seems happy and his numbers have been good. Do what works best for Tux and your sanity!

Are you familiar with Dr Lisa’s food chart? It’s a great reference for carb levels.
http://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

I’m glad to see the testing is going better and his numbers are nice. I don’t freehand poke. I found the device to be easier. Here is the one I have: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073SBHHHY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

I looked at the Bayer lancet holder but it doesn't have a clear cap so it's hard to see what I'm aiming at . The other one I looked at is the OneTouch Delica, which a) doesn't use regular lancets that everything else uses, and b) *also* doesn't have a clear cap to make it easy to see what I'm aiming at. It appears that the "alternative" Relion device is "it" for now. Managed to get his ear first shot this morning, so I guess it's doing the job.

Yes, I've seen Dr. Lisa's food chart. Unfortunately the cat food makers seem to reformulate their cat foods every few months, so it's obsolete now -- some of the low carb offerings on her chart are no longer low carb . So I'm just looking at the label on the can itself for anything that is starchy or grain-y and rejecting that. Potato? Nope. Corn? Nope. Wheat? Nope. Unfortunately the fact that it has none of those added ingredients doesn't absolutely guarantee low carbs but it's indicative that it at least doesn't have stuff cats aren't evolved to live on in it.

I'm going to try to Dr. Elsey's dry chicken kibble because the Young Again Zero just doesn't seem to work for my cat. I think it's the ratio of protein to fat plus the amount of guar gum used to bind the ingredients together combines to have a severe laxative effect. As in, not just loose stools. *PROJECTILE* stools, followed by me chasing my cat around my house to wipe his bum! Man, if you'd told me fifteen years ago that I'd be doing that, I would have laughed and said only crazy cat ladies did stuff like that. Guess that's me now, even though I'm a guy . That said, I still intend to use wet food as his primary food source, because a) he likes it, and b) it's better for him. It's just that when I'm not available to feed him mid-day or at midnight, the automatic feeder can drop him some kibble. Haven't run into an automatic feeder that drops wet food yet!

 

Doesn't drop food but have a look at the Petsafe 5 autofeeder (very popular with members here); great for dispensing meals of wet food (and burgle-proof).


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My Tyler was like that over the ear tests for weeks. Elderly gent to scissorhands in just a few seconds. That's why my avatar shows his princely ear . I just kept with the treats ( teeny cube of poached chicken) and kept on keeping on. Wriggles. Struggles, Scratches. Missed tests.
Past week or so he has been fine with this. Mind you it is only his right ear TBH as I'm incredibly left handed and left eyeball. He's been pinned that many times that the ear now bleeds easily. Yup. I've poked right through the lughole and stuck my fingers also. Resisted the urge to home test me.
My method now? I get him onto the settee where he knows whats-a-coming and proceed to free hand stick it to his earhole a good 2/3 times to make sure I get that red stuff first time. He doesn't always get a treat or food after as it depends on his numbers.
When I first started with this, I despaired even though folk were saying it does get better. Guess what. It does get better.

 

Yep, it does get better. Tux has been incredibly patient with my bungling. Well, this morning I got his ear first shoot. Yay! He was purring the entire time that I was warming up his ear on the rice-filled sock and all the way through the test, because I was cuddling him and telling him what a good cat he is and just gently holding his ear on the sock rather than stroking it (which doesn't seem necessary for him as long as his ear is warm). Plus he knew that next thing was *treats*!!!!

 

Well done both.

First time I got the ear shot where Ty held a bit still I thought YES ! Cracked it ! He then angled himself and socked me straight in the eye with his right front paw.
If you saw his current wobbly gait , you would know it took him quite some verve to let his thoughts be known.

 

Treat or no treat, I hope he's getting lotsa praise after each test! (After all, a key function of all kitteh minions is to tell the Great Furry Ones just how wonderful they are - frequently and repeatedly. )


Mogs
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Dr Elseys will send samples if you request. I order mine from Chewy.com.

The struggle is real on the poop side of things. Lol.... Monster gets regular butt washings.