Hi There!

Hi everyone! I'm Shavon, and my cat's name is Sophia.

Im not sure how much you'd all want to know about Sophia, but I've had her for 10 years and she first got her diabetes diagnosis about a month ago. She's been super happy to only be eating wet food (she's been a dry food eater her whole life) since the diagnosis. She is on the prescription diabetic food for now, and getting 1 unit of insulin twice a day.

I found this website via another website that gave details on life with a diabetic cat. From what I've glimpsed around so far, you all seem very nice and more than willing to help other diabetic cat owners with advice and tips and such.

After using urine test strips, I'm going to start trying to do the blood tests at home. I'm mostly nervous about this because Sophia is not the type of cat that likes to be touched a lot. Ultimately, I'm mostly worried she'll become upset with me and either try to scratch me - or recoil and hiss at me - which just means I'll have to give her some space for a bit of time. I already know it won't be easy to start and will take some time, but besides using treats for positive reinforcement, does anyone else have and tips/advice on how to ease into home testing with a potentially "grumpy" cat?

Thanks to all in advance!

 

Welcome! To help desensitize Sophia to testing, start by choosing a spot that will be your testing spot. Take her there as often as you can, give her a treat and let her go. Slowly begin to add ear rubs and any warming techniques, such as a microwaved rice sock, to the routine. Once you both are comfortable, you can start actual testing. Be sure to be familiar with your meter and how it works so you can be quick Always give a treat even if you’re not successful . Also be sure you’re relaxed as she will be able to sense your nerves. Try singing softly, sounds silly but it works! Come to the Main health forum for more tips and ask any questions you have. Here are some videos to help http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

 

This group has really helped educate me on my cat Nermal’s diagnosis. The main forum has helped answer a lot my questions,or sometimes I see questions others have asked that I was about to. I am still very new myself and this group has helped me emotionally knowing other people are going through this new process and routine too.

 

@Sharon14 - Thank you for the tips! I tried them today, and so far, I've managed to successfully test twice It took about an hour, but I was patient and even started singing to help calm myself down a bit haha! Thanks again!
@Laura bb - I appreciate the honest review of the forum. I know all of this can be stressful and sometimes scary, but it does help to have a place to reach out for support and advice

 

Shavon and Sophia, welcome. I'm so glad you found the board, and I echo Laura bb in her faith and confidence in the information found here. I am so glad you are home testing and have had successes already. Good for you. It would be very helpful to have Sophia's pertinent info available when you post, so would you please create a signature? This is the gray text you see beneath our responses to you and attached to every post. You can edit it at any time as/if anything changes. Here is a link on how to do that:
SIGNATURE You can put your name in the signature too, if you like, as I did.
We also use a spreadsheet to record and track insulin dose and time, and the BG readings you are now getting. This information is very useful in spotting patterns and can be used if dosing needs to be adjusted. Here is a link: SPREADSHEET
Idjit is also not a "lap warmer" and just prefers his humans to express their love and devotion with brushing, feeding,, letting him in & out, and allowing him hog whatever bed he wants to sleep in. He is a big boy, we are old folk, and it takes both of us to test. But whatever works, yes?
Here's to more testing success and on the road to getting Sophia to feeling much better.

 

@Idjit's mom Thank you for the welcome, info, and all around positivity - I've just created a signature and will transfer my reading into the spreadsheet soon

 

Hi bxkitty!

Harley is a cat who liked his pettings but when he was done he was done, and he never liked you focusing on something, i.e. his ears. So it was an adventure for us too! I've noticed though he doesn't mind the ear testing at all! But... I had to fine tune it... You have to be confident in what you are doing - the more I would flinch or try to poke and then jerk away fast because *I* was scared, the worse it made it for him. So if you are going in for a poke, complete the poke, don't stop and recoil. Also I noticed when I did it by hand I poked his ear too hard (too deep) and he didn't like that, also the lancet pen set at "1" was too deep too. BUT I have a diabetic in the house who has a "delica" lancet device and it set at "1" sometimes doesn't even get the ear, so we use that and I just firmly hold it against the ear and poke and he doesn't even notice, flinch, or give a care in the world. I will share a link below, it is called OneTouch Delica Lancet Device. Amazon has some for $12 I believe.

But I also have to say any chance I get now I rub his ears for him, and he is starting to like it. But we are One Week into this journey and he is getting use to what a cotton ball means and me rubbing his ears, so he'll lay on his side waiting for me to poke him.

Good luck and glad you found FDMB!