1st attempt at BG test-FAILED

Well my first attempt at the BG test was a bust. I poked Bailey with the lancet tool and I know it worked because she flinched. But no blood and she squirmed away. I tried to get her into position several times throughout the evening but she would have nothing to do with it! Will have to try again tonight. I may have to resort to the “cat burrito” method. Anyone know any videos where the cat is uncooperative that might help me?

 

Hi Wendy,
I can't recommend a video but I want to offer encouragement. I wasn't successful the first 3 times I tried. Be kind to yourself - this is tough for both of you.
I wrap my cat in a towel and cradle her in my arms. I have all my stuff ready. I put Neosporin on her back foot pad...poke with lancet...gently squeeze..and dip the test strip. This works for us - Pansy tolerates this but she did wriggle at first. I give her a freeze dried treat afterwards.
I'm pulling for you! Keep breathing...big learning curve!
Jill

 

Your experience is pretty typical for a first test I think, so don’t be discouraged If you’re using the lancet she could have flinched from the noise of the click or she might have just been surprised. Most of the time the poke doesn’t hardly hurt at all, they’re usually more upset about being held still lol.

I did find a video for testing difficult cats when I was first starting and they used the burrito method. I opted to not use that way because I thought that would create a negative association with testing for my cat, and instead just chose to condition her to think that testing meant lots of treats! So I would hold her in place for a few seconds and then give her a treat. Then click the pen and give her a treat. Basically just do all the parts of the test with a treat after without actually poking her, until eventually she associated the process with treats and stopped acting like I was trying to kill her lol

 

Thanks Jill and Sarah! I was expecting things to fail after reading other posts but until it happens to YOU you don't really get it. Now I know! I think I will try what you suggested Jill as I would rather do the foot pad over the ear. I am even going to pick up some freeze dried treats and Neosporin after work. Hope Bailey likes the treats as I already checked them out and they are pricey!

Break over! back to work grrr!

 

This was me doing my first test. It was a freaking disaster. I now swear by rubbing the ear until it warms up, then rubbing a tiny bit of vaseline on the ear where I'm going to poke. I rub it in. It beads that blood right up and makes getting the sample so much easier. Before the blood was absorbing into the fur. And my kitty is a black tuxie so it was hard to see. Good luck!

 

Try poking the inside of the ear. Also, using a dollar store headlamp or a flashlight (usually a 2 person job) can help.

 

I do the inside edge of the ear, and it works a lot better for me.

 

We test on the outside edge of the ear. We tried free-handing with the lancet at first, but our poke was slow enough that kitty flinched, and we poked too deep and went through his ear, and he was upset, and we were upset. We ended up going with the lancet device, and once we got the hang of it and the correct depth, it made things easier for us. It's a consistent depth and super fast, so we've found it works well for us. But everybody and every cat is different - and you'll find what works best for you both!

We also found that the beep of the meter was scaring our kitty more than the actual poke - but I looked in the manual and sure enough there is a volume setting for the beep. Now the beep is set to low so I can hear it go off, but kitty doesn't get scared anymore.

It's so great that you are doing home testing. I promise it will get easier!

 

Thanks Again to ALL! It is still hit or miss but I keep trying!