Now that my cat is completely terrified of me

We started following the Board on Monday, I think, and have received lots of good advice, some of it conflicting, but mostly great advice.

We have started BG testing and have been on insulin for about a month. I had just gotten my cat to the point where she would hang out in the same room as me, but then I started the BG testing. Even with the happy ham at the end of each prick, she is now hiding from me completely. She ducks her head if I even look at her sideways and god forbid I should have a pen or something of similar size in my hand.

We are not going to do more than one BG test a day for a week because I feel I have just gotten a really good handle on the insulin tests. This cat is not going hypo anytime soon.

Any suggestions for easing the cat's anxiety? She is getting high-value treats. She does know that once the bedroom light goes out there will be no more surprise torture sessions for the day and she comes up on the bed and goes to sleep. I can't monitor her if I can't find her.

Thanks!
Judy and Emmy

 

That should be insulin SHOTS not tests

 

Maybe talk to your vet about your cat's anxiety. They could prescribe a low dose benzodiazepine. There are also pheremone plug ins that supposedly relieve anxiety. I'm really lucky with my cat that he doesn't really mind the ear pricks because he gets a treat, but I also do his shot WHILE he's eating. He's too busy stuffing his face to mind what I'm doing. Could you be poking muscle, possibly as well? I always know when I hit the muscle because the kitty flinches. Sometimes a shorter needle could help.

I'd also suggest behavioral conditioning. Playing with her and petting her all the time to calm her down. Treats when you have a syringe in your hand. A treat when she lets you get close, a treat when you pinch the skin, etc. This will take a few weeks, behavioral conditioning always does. Once she's conditioned, you shouldn't have a problem. (I'm a behavioral therapist. I train people...and kitties. LOL!).

 

With my latest adopted cat, I started only testing before shot. I would bring the bowl of canned with me and she wanted that so I could then test her.

 

You reminded me I had kitty prozac in the medicine cabinet! Thanks

 

Yes, we are backing off to just before the shot too. Too much change too soon I think. Thanks.

 

Lantus can sting. Maybe that might be making her anxious?

For the testing, I've often seen suggestions here to do a gradual familiarisation / desensitization something along the lines of:

1. Rub Emmy's ears on and off during the day. Give fusses and treats.
2. Choose one place for testing so that everywhere else is safe.
3. Take Emmy to the test station frequently, give her lots of loves and reward her with treats. Maybe make it a special time to groom her if she likes that.
4. When Emmy's cool with the test station, add the ear fussing. More praise and treats.
5. Get Emmy used to having her ear warmed and then give praise and treats.
6. If you use a pen device to draw blood, try clicking it and giving treats etc. so she'll get used to the noise. Do something similar if your meter beeps (or try turning the beeper off).
7. If Emmy's OK with that lot, then introduce the lancet and do a full test.

The idea is to try to make testing a positive experience overall so that Emmy will associate it with being told what a wonderful girl she is and getting something really, really yummy!

 

Thank you - I love the idea of taking her to the test station often, without a test! I am happy to say that seems to be my office chair, which rotates nicely to allow me to get her from any angle! Also the Halo Liv-A-Littles just arrived and she is in love! She's certainly staying near me now. Thanks for the advice. I have just been free-handing the lancet.

 

Okay this is going to sound completely crazy, but I swear it works...since all 3 of my diabetics were adopted that way, I had to not only keep them safe on insulin (home testing) but build a relationship with them...Try singing to Emmy or telling her jokes while you work on getting her use to the idea of being tested...Cats talk to each other with body language, the meows are for us humans. So if you're tense and nervous, she's tense and nervous. If you're afraid you are going to hurt her, she will be afraid. You can smile and talk sweet to a cat all day long but if that smile ends at your mouth and doesn't carry over into your eyes and how you hold your body, she'll know you're lying to her. By singing silly songs, dancing around the room or telling her stupid jokes, you relax and get to laughing at yourself and she picks up on that happy mood. Right now all she really knows is she doesn't feel good, and her person is acting strange and doing strange things to her. She is probably as confused as to why you're upset as you are worried she is starting to hate you. And she might even think she is the reason your upset and doesn't understand what she has done wrong to make you unhappy.

Also if you are free-handing the lancet, don't jab, but slide it in at about a 45 degree angle, think of it as if you are trying to remove a splinter from a small child's finger. And aim for the space between the edge of the ear and the vein, not the vein itself. The further in from the edge of the ear you go the more it hurts, so you want to stay as close to the edge as possible.

Plus there is nothing wrong with, handing out a couple of yummy treats just for coming to her testing spot, then for letting you hold her ear without a poke, just take it slow with baby steps. This is completely new to both of you. When you train a dog with a clicker there is a stage that is called "priming" where you click and hand over a treat, when they start hearing the click and immediately look for the treat then you move to the next stage of training them to perform the desired command. Think of this as priming her to be tested. Have a word or action that you can use for test times, use it and give a treat. All three of mine now come running when they hear their command word...for Autumn my insulin dependent that word is Pumpkin, since I am very unlikely to use that word in general conversation..lol Plus she is my little pumpkin pie. For my guy that just recently went into remission his clue is Lover Boy, as his name is Cassanova.

Mel and The Fur Gang

 

Lantus, in some cats can cause quite a bit of burning/pain. If this is an issue, Levemir is another option and doesn't have the same burning effect.

 

You are talking to a woman who has theme songs she sings for each of her cats-- doesn't sound crazy at all - LOL!
I will sing Emmy her song - (Christmas Song from the Grinch - Emmy Lou Who = Cindy Lou Who) when we have our little tryst tonight.

And thank you for the tip on the 45 degree angle. I have been jabbing, gulp.

 

Thanks - I think she is pretty used to the insulin - it's my clumsy blood gathering technique - I think I'll go get an orange....

 

lol yep me too, Autumn's is a version of Chantilly Lace...You know Nothing in the world like a green eyed girl to make me act really funny and spend my money...

Mel and The Fur Gang

 

LMAO!!!! I love that i'm not the only maniac who sings to their cats! Yesterday i made up a new song, entitled "my babies love their catgrass".

Dweezy gets his shot while eating too but flinches whenever i firstly get the back of the neck area in my hands, and then again when i actually give the shot. Then he goes right back to eating (i stroke the area afterwards to check there's been no fur shot). I hope i'm not putting it in the muscle! I always angle it somewhat parallel to his back but angled slightly down.

Oh, and is it very bad if you get the vein and they won't let you near them (their ear or paw) to stem the bleeding? I had blood speckles on my arm, both hands, my leg, foot and shirt from him scratching his ear. I felt so bad.

 

Ooh, yes, she does run as soon as I get a drop of blood and I haven't been able to put Neosporin or anything on it but she seems no worse for the wear. I did do a PMPS tonight and her shot is done. I sang Happy Roast Beast to you (new treats).

One night when we're all hysterical from lack of sleep, I'll share my rendition of Green Bean Belly Rubs.

Good night!
LOL
Judy

 

Now I have an earworm but I love Chantilly Lace!

 

If Emmy continues to be a wriggler, another tip is to lift the blood droplet onto a fingernail and then apply the test strip.

 

While you relax a bit on testing, you might find the contents of my signature link Secondary Monitoring Tools helpful for other assessments you wish to make to evaluate her health.

 

Oh I hope not, otherwise all of mine would have bled to death a long time ago...When we got ready to list our old house this summer I spent 2 weeks cleaning up the CSI scene off the walls above the night stand that was their testing spot. I was seriously considering just repainting the room the color of dried cat blood...lol

Just last night my husband asked me what I had done to my hand, and I simply answered tested Autumn and she shook her head before I got the strip in the blood. It happens. If either one of us are every murdered the forensic squat is going to have plenty of blood spatter to go through here. lol

Mel and The Fur Gang

 

YES! They shake their heads and scratch with their back legs, as blood splatters all across the world! lol

Well, I'm VERY glad to hear that this isn't too bad...Dweezil didn't seem in pain. He let me scratch his head as normal and even gently brush his ears with my hands, but I didn't go too near the "crime scene" ear for a while. I even wondered if I could just use one of the larger blood drops on the dining table on the test strip, but I ended up still getting it direct from the ear itself.

 

Haha! I definitely did this a few times in the early days when it would take me sometimes up to an hour to test Mikey. Any blood drop available that was big enough to get a test result from, I would use, regardless of where it landed. Sometimes, I would even get a second test in with a drop directly off his ear to verify the accuracy (the results were always "close enough).

The vein just bleeds more and is more likely to show bruising/scabbing, but it usually doesn't hurt them any more than if you poked a capillary.

 

Spitzer would shake his head when a big drop formed and send it flying all over the bathroom. It began to look like an abattoir.

 

My cats used to do that to. There were times I thought that my walls looked like a scene from CSI. It is amazing how far one drop of blood can fly when they shake their heads.

 

This is SO reassuring to hear!

 

Hi Judy. I know everyone says it gets easier but it is true. My Lucy is a very feisty girl and at first she would run and hide from me if she thought I was going to do a glucose test. She would tolerate only the test or the insulin injection but I decided to use the couch as our testing and feeding spot and I think that was a very good thing for us as she then felt that other places in the house were safe. Though now she will tolerate glucose tests in other areas of the house too. She has learnt I am not going to hurt her even though I think the test does hurt her a little bit she keeps on eating and then is fine. It is all very overwhelming at first but with all the wonderful support and information we have gotten from the people here and on the facebook group too we are now settled into our new routine and it is fine. It will get easier for you and your kitty too and singing is good too.