Blood Glucose Testing

Hi, my 7 year old, never overweight Purdie was diagnosed diabetic in August. I have a glucometer which I know I need to get to grips with and make it routine, but I am really getting stressed, and stressing Purdie with the blood tests. I am now ok with the insulin injections, it's just the blood tests. All the instructional videos I see have the cat just sitting obligingly waiting to have their ear pricked. Purdie constantly moves away and struggles. I have nobody to help me with it. I am under even more pressure to perfect this as her blood glucose readings have dropped from the high twenties to 10 and under.

 

Hi Julie welcome to you and Purdie! I'm sorry you're having trouble getting started testing. Try picking a spot to test. Then several times a day take Purdie to the spot, hold him, rub his ears and pet him, Give him a treat and let him go. Do this as often as you can and when he seems relaxed then add the ear prick. Always give a treat after and before long he'll be coming to you for his tests. My cat, Colin, comes every time I sit in 'our chair'. Hope these tips help, good luck.
Forgot to add-remember to breathe and relax, Purdie can sense your nerves!

 

I hear ya, the hardest thing for me was the testing too. Those videos, although good, I would also like to see a video with a new cat, new owner trying to test while being guided by an experienced person. Sharon gave a great idea of pretending to test throughout the day/night and just go through the motions w/o testing. Brushing, treats, food, etc, whatever motivates Purdie to be good, relaxed and comfortable will work over time. What size lancet are you using? Many start off with the higher gauge but it is too thin. We suggest lancets that are 26-28 gauge. They are a little thicker but it makes it easier to find that blood source. Did you try the flashlight trick to show you where the main blood vessel is? If you can test between that vessel and the end of the ear, you should get blood and the more time you test in that region, it will create more capillaries so eventually, it will get easier to draw blood. I always will try 3-4 times and if I don't get anything, I give my kitty a treat and I walk away for 5-10 minutes and then try again. I try to hit a different spot within that section and go back and forth between ears. Some here use a sock filled a little with rice. You pop that sock in the microwave for about 15 seconds and then you use it to warm up the ear. It feels good on the ear plus it gets the blood circulating. Just keep at it, before you know it, you will be like the vet and cat in the video.

 

This is one of the most important parts of this exercise. I confess that as a retired R.N., I was a bundle of nerves testing my girl at the beginning. Once I calmed down, so did she. Admittedly, she is a pretty co-operative little patient, but it was obvious she picked up on my angst. Sometimes she now comes to get me when it's time for her pre-shot test and shot! Like you, I have no one to help me do this and I think that alone raises our anxiety levels. Take it easy on yourself. It might help to do some dry runs to develop a routine of handling the meter and the lancing device to figure out how you can best accomplish the testing in the fastest way without a lot of fuss and turmoil.

It might also help to just click the lancing device a few times by Purdie's ear so she gets used to the sound. You could also try just free hand testing using just the lance without the device if the click bothers her. Your meter may beep either when turned on or when sufficient blood has been drawn into the strip. Usually there is an option to turn the meter beeps off and that might help too.

Where are you located? I'm assuming you are somewhere other than the US given the readings of 10 or under. It's possible someone may be nearby who could help you out if need be.

 

One more thing that I thought of. If you are doing a lot of poking to the ear, you might want to pick up some Neosporin (ointment) with pain medicine. There is the original and one with pain. Just put a dab on your finger or thumb and coat the ear just a little. This will help with the pain (if any) and it will also bead up the blood once you get it.

 

Thank you all so much for your suggestions and advice, that is so nice! Being a newbie, and also pretty rubbish with PC stuff, I dont really know yet how to use this forum properly, but I hope you all get to see this reply. I live in the UK, so I am not familiar with your cat food brands. I will at some point have a go at updating my profile as you all seem to do. You all sound like diabetic experts! I have tried associating food with her blood tests, and also getting her used to me just rubbing her ear, but I have had a lot of failed blood tests, and she just does'nt trust me. she moves away, she will hide behind sofa, she wont come for treats even. I totally do try to stay calm and relaxed, but as time goes on I feel like i am losing the battle. And I feel the pressure even more now because she may be going into remission already, but I am unable to establish what her blood glucose is. The only UK contact I have had her cat diagnosed 3 years ago, and he took about 1 year to stabilise, but he's a very big boy! But she has never blood tested herself because she says he would not tolerate it. She says that he has fructosamine tests every 2 months which give a overall picture of how his blood glucose has been over a period. I have a vets appt tomorrow, so I hope she will give me some good advice. I think you are absolutely right, over time I hopefully will become more expert, it's just that I need to doing a whole glucose curve NOW. And by the way, why do I have a little spectacles symbol (watched) on the list of posts? I cant see any others that have this.

 

Purdie is beautiful! I love her markings. We have many members from the UK who can help you with food choices. I'll tag @Elizabeth and Bertie for you. As for testing, I'm sorry you're having such a hard time. Don't feel bad, we all had many failed blood tests early on. It does get better. I hope your vet can give you some pointers. Please don't give up, hopefully you and Purdie will work out a method that works for you.

 

Those spectacles are just indicating threads you have responded to. When you respond to a thread the board automatically has you "watching" those threads...thus the little spectacles. You only see your own spectacles. Others have them too but you don't see them.

What insulin is Purdie on? Were the readings of 10 and below done at the vet's office or were those home readings?

Here is a link to a UK food chart. I'm not sure if this one is up to date or not but it should give you some useful info.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aq4WIfRfL3G1dDd2dkNtMnNoMDZYaDVxTGtSd1dmWmc#gid=0