Mitsy had a setback

Hi everyone,

I made a previous post about Mitsy, but to recap, she was diagnosed on Monday and was at the vet four times last week for sugar testing. She had been urinating on the floor prior to her diagnosis, but stopped this past Thursday.

Unfortunately, I woke up this morning to puddles of urine all over the floor again. She has done it about 4 times since 1:00am. I had decreased her insulin to 3.5 units twice a day since the vet had her on 5 units twice a day and I was worried that was too much, especially seeing as how all of your kitties are on nothing near that high. However, now I'm wondering if I should have kept it at 5.

I bought a ReLion Confirm meter today but I failed spectacularly at getting a big enough blood sample. I did watch the video that one of the members made but her ear just didn't produce enough blood for the test. I really wanted to be able to home test before I took her off of her regular dry food (she is eating Fancy Feast pate as well but I always had dry food out since I have two cats).

I guess I am asking for any advice on getting a big enough blood sample for the ReLion meter. I was devastated that she began urinating everywhere again and then not being able to do the test really put the icing on the cake. I don't want her to be suffering because of my lack of being able to test. It doesn't help that I have no experience when it comes to diabetes/testing. Everything is so foreign to me right now.

Thank you in advance for any advice you all give.

 

Most of us have no experience in the beginning, it'll get better!

Are you doing the warm rice pack before sticking her ear? What gauge Lancet are you using? I couldn't get a good stick with Cameron until I moved down to the 28 gauge. Also, do you milk the ear after poking, to encourage blood flow?

This is just a temporary set back!

 

The lancets that came with it are 30g unfortunately. I massaged her ear first and during to try to get more blood, but it just wasn't enough. I didn't use the pen that came with it because I was nervous about going through her ear, but maybe I should try that?

 

It is a temporary set back, and you will get better at it. As you poke and get blood from the ear, more capillaries form, which makes it much easier to get the blood sample. Keep trying, you may even get the blood drop on your fingernail and then test it, instead of trying to touch strip to ear. Whatever works for you, just be sure your hands are really clean, so you don't add a bit of sugar to the mix. Be sure to reward with a treat, whether the test is successful or not. We couldn't make the lancet device work for us at all, and just manually prick the ear. Please don't give Misty 5 units, it's a huge dose. She can't help the peeing right now, but as you get her under control this will stop. She probably doesn't like it any more than you do.

 

I wish I could bring you over some larger gauge lancets, the 30 are finer and harder to use at first. They are really inexpensive, any chance you could get some larger gauge to help you out for now? You can look for "alternate sites" lancets as they are bigger.

 

Definitely get 26 or 28 gauge lancets. Makes a big difference. It's harder to get a sample the first week or two because she hasn't started to develop the little capillaries in the ear yet. Now after two years of testing I barely have to touch her ear and I get a nice big drop.

What I found necessary to do in the beginning was poke twice in one spot. Go in with an attitude of determination... Don't be afraid to poke all the way through.

And give a snack after.

 

Heating up the ear really does make a difference. If you do not want to do the rice sock, try running really hot tap water over the corner of a washcloth then wring out the excess. Hold it to her ear for a few seconds before you poke. Then, after you get the blood for your test, you can use it to apply light pressure and clean up the area.

 

I was finally successful! I gave it another try and the reading was 164 (she had her insulin at 6:40am). Thank you everyone for the advice!

 

Congratulations!!!!!! The first one is the hardest. . So how many hours ago was that shot? 164 is pretty good!!!!

Now we can start getting a spreadsheet set up.

 

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

 

Her shot was at 6:45am. So a little over 6 hours before I did the test

 

You can see now how 5 would have been wayyyyy too much. Id keep this dose and keep testing.

 

Yes, What @JanetNJ said.

Keep testing. What helped me the most was to poke the ear at the very edge of the ear - almost but not quite so you're poking on the underside of the ear. That has made a huge difference for me.