Difficulty testing at home...help

Hi. I am grateful for this group. My kitty recently went on budesnide for her IBD. She has been OTJ for seven months. I am seeing definite signs she is back in. I am trying to learn how to be able to test bg at home. I have the tester and strips. I rubbed her ear and poked along the little vein inside the ear. Nothing. I tried Deb times and I'm not able to get blood. She takes off immediately so even if there was a little I don't know if I would be able to get enough blood. Suggestions welcome. Is it okay to wait till Monday to start insulin again?

 

Welcome to the group!!

First, what gauge lancet are you using? In the beginning, it's helpful to use a wider gauge lancet -- like a 28. As the capillary bed in your cat's ear develops, you can go to a thinner gauge (e.g., 31) gauge.

This is a page on home testing from the FAQ section of the board. There's a ton of information included. Also, don't try to poke the vein. Veins roll around and are hard to poke. If you do poke the vein, it will look like a photo from a CSI scene which is likely not what you really want. You want to try to pierce between the edge of the ear and the vein.

You may need to try to poke twice in as close to the same spot as possible. If you need to, scrape the drop off onto your fingernail. Test from that drop.

I'm also an advocate of holding your cat's ear with what amounts to a Vulcan death grip. In other words, hold on so your cat can't flick her ear and won't run away.

Since you're going to all of this hard work to get test results, you'll want to start a spreadsheet. This is where you log your data so you can see your cat's progress and allow us to see what's going on and offer input. These are the instructions for setting up a spreadsheet.

 

Thank you very much. I didn't test last time but because this is steroid induced I think it is even more important. The lancets came with the alpha trak kit, doesn't say a number. I read the link. Awesome.do you poke on a slant? I was doing it straight in. I poked several times and nothing. I have given her insulin and all kinds of IBD medicine but think is hard. She was incredulous and left.thank you very much

 

I'm assuming you're feeding your kitty a low carb, canned food diet?

The poking is hard at first. It takes some time to get the capillary bed to build up and then it gets easier. Also, treats help! Give your cat a treat no matter what the outcome of the test. You want her to associate testing and treats. It may help with her becoming more cooperative.

I'm a bad person to ask about some of the details re. testing. My kitty has been gone for several years. After 6.5 years of pokes, I could do pretty much anything and her ear would give me a drop of blood.

 

Have you tried using a lancet device? I'm new to this too, and when I first started I was trying to do free hand, but couldn't quite get myself to prick his ear with the required amount of pressure as quickly as needed...it would end up being more painful for him. I'm just too hesitant of a person to be able to do freehand.

I use a lancing device with the clear cap, I load the device and run my thumb over the clear cap, I want to just barely be able to feel the sharp. You can adjust the setting until your at the level where this is the case. It's a little harder to aim with the clear cap, but once you do it a couple times you'll get an idea of where it should be placed in order to get blood and not hit the vein. Just load, and click. You should hold something behind the ear, I use cotton squares. Hold the ear firmly to the cotton pad, and make sure the clear cap on the device is pressed firmly against the ear as well. I always get blood this way. My kitty's ears are naturally warm, but if yours aren't, try making a rice sock. You put it in the microwave for about 15 seconds, make sure it's warm but not hot, hold against your kitty's ear to warm it up and get blood flowing.

I also put a thin layer of Vaseline on his ears before testing, this helps the blood ball up and not spread/drip as easily.

Try a 26 or 28 gauge lancet.

If you really can't get the ears to bleed, paw pads are an option. I have never had to try it, but I've seen others who have been otherwise unsuccessful with ear testing find this route to work for them.

 

I use rear paw pads and my cat doesn't mind....ear sticks stress us both out so ‍:/
He kind of just lays cradled in my legs and I keep sliced turkey meat nearby to reward him. If it's low or high- I'd recheck on an ear but haven't had to yet.

 

With both of my sugar cats I laid out everything in front of them so there was no surprise. They knew this was going to be unpleasant but they trusted me. Noah hated being picked or moved so he got done in his basket. Nigel would leap onto the kitchen table where I had a big towel spread out. That gave him traction and comfort and gave me more light. As do many other members I sang to them. Some of this is just establishing a ritual, better than having someone run into the basement.