Over-lanced ears

I have been testing Fin a lot while adjusting the Lantus. His ears have some bruising and are rather tender. I am doing my best to move around and avoid the bruised areas, but I am running out of non-bruised areas. Fin has been very cooperative, however, that is coming to an end as I can tell it hurts him more and more.

Any recommendations on caring for his ears? I have been putting a dab of neosporin on them to help healing. Other tricks?

 

Sorry you are having this problem. Are you making sure to gently but firmly apply pressure on the lanced spot, after you get the drop of blood? Doing this for 15-30 seconds will reduce bruising for future pokes. Heating the ear well before poking should reduce the number of pokes needed to get your drop of blood. If getting blood is not hard, you might consider a finer (smaller) sized lancet so that also should reduce bleeding/bruising.

You can poke on both the forward edge and back edge of the ear. Hopefully the below photos will help. The yellow is where you can poke. On the other photo, you can see where the capillary vessel runs along the edge of the ear. If you look closely, you can see some bruising as this was taken shortly after I began testing. Now his ears don't bruise at all because I'm careful to apply the pressure afterwards. You want to poke between the edge of the ear and the blood vessel, not poke on the capillary itself since that will bleed a lot more.





good luck,
laur

 

Wow, thanks for the detail and photos. I have not been holding the ear for that long and poking the capillary. Love those kitty ears in the sun light. That is what I was doing today on Fin to make sure I was avoiding the bruising.

I will check my technique and that should definitely alleviate some of the issue. Thanks again!

 

Yes.. a very important part is to put a little pressure on the spot afterward, to prevent bruising.

Just throwing this out there too, but you can also test on their paw pads too. It was easier for me to test Cuddles on her paw pads (the big pad).. she HATED when I tried to test her ears. I'm finding out she wasn't the norm though, and most cats prefer the ears. ;-)

 

yes you can use neosporin - that will help too.

 

I have been afraid of doing the paw pads (claws, infection), but I think I am going to have to do this because his ears are shot. They need to heal. He was not happy about the morning ear poke. I will just have to be super diligent about cleaning his paws that I shoot after he visits the potty box.

 

i'd give neosporin/polysporin every few days on the spots where you're poking. it'll make a big difference.
also be sure to apply slight pressure after poking, to minimize bruising/scabbing.
the ear will bleed easier after a little while, so don't give up just yet.
also, make sure the ear is warm before you poke. some people microwave some rice in a sock to apply to the ear before poking; others like me just apply light pressure with warm fingers before poking.

 

I don't own a microwave, so I will try your method (once his ears heal)... :-|

I tried his paw pad, which he didn't mind, but I couldn't get enough blood for a reading on the lancing devices highest setting.

 

You can also try warming a washcloth with warm water, wring it out well and stick it in a plastic baggy, then applying it to the ear. Muse hated the sound of the rice in the sock but loved a nice warm washcloth. But then again Muse wasn't a typical cat she like to take showers with me as well.

Mel & Muse (GA)