Smokey question

If you don't get a drop of blood the first time you poke, can you use the same lance again? It took me five pokes before I got a drop. I was impressed with how little I needed to get reading (alpha trak2) . On positive note (after another one hour of chasing, and him spraying, peeing and defecating) I have found the place to test, the bathroom sink!

 

No, it is best to use a fresh lancet each time. Like the needle shown below, a lancet dulls.

 

Thank you. I didn't want to let go of him. I am testing him alone. Now that I know where I'm going to test him I will have lots of extras there.

 

Yes, you can use the same lancet to poke again, especially if it's the same poking session. Lancets do get dull, but 5 pokes should have been fine.

Lancets are very inexpensive, but my shelter had me soaking them in alcohol to reuse for several days. Forget that I said, and ordered a bunch online from ADW where the lancets are really inexpensive.

I used the same lancet for the whole day of poking. More than that, and they'd be too dull to use. Just don't share the same lancet between human and cat, or multiple cats if you have more than one cat you test. With reuse, it can take more force to poke and draw blood.

The insulin needle on the other hand is much finer gauge, longer, more prone to damage, bending, etc. The pictures that Red & Rover shows are for insulin syringes.

Yeah for testing in the sink! High up, easier for you to reach, small enclosed space to make kitty feel safe. Make it THE test spot. Hope there is counter space beside the sink to lay out all your testing supplies and treats for after. Bathtub is a little bit harder, trust me on that one (Wink liked to jump into the tub, especially on warm days).

Tell Smokey "Testing time" or something similar, and lead her to the bathroom. Before you know it, she'll be running there ahead of you. I take care of a friends cat, he needs pills, and he ALWAYS leads me to the bathroom for some attention and his flavored pill.

 

Thank you. Still working on finding that special treat and flavors of FF and friskies he will eat. My counter looks like a pet food store.

 

Been there, done that. Wink had a smorgasbord of at least 3 different wet foods to try for each meal. He was a hard case to get to eat any wet food. He liked the Halo liv-a-little chicken treats crumbled to a powder over his food. He'd lick up a couple of bites and wait for a bit more of the treat to be sprinkled on top of his food. I'd have to do that 3-4 times to get him to eat 1/4 can of FF (Fancy Feast). FF Turkey and Giblets was THE one flavor for him at first. I was so worried that he'd decide he didn't like that particular food, that I would give him another flavor to try first and then the T&G. Took weeks, but he did eventually accept other flavors and then different flavors of Friskies pate style. It got so complicated, I made an excel spreadsheet,printed a copy and taped it to my medicine cabinet so I could make notes of what he would eat. He did get less and less picky and would eat anything put down.

Boy, Wink ate something like 11 ounces a food a day when his BG levels were high and then dropped down to around 5-6 ounces for his 10-12 pound frame, which was a normal food level. He was literal starving when he first came from the shelter.

Does Smokey like a chunkier style of food? Maybe it's the pate texture that is not agreeing with him. I'll give you some ideas if that is the case.

 

Yes, you can use one lancet for more than one poke. I do that all the time.

 

Yes he does. Him and his brother both. His brother is part of the problem. I find one Smokey likes then I give it to Toby and he will vomit it up.

 

Ideas for "Chunkier styles" of food that are lower in carb for Smokey and hopefully Toby won't throw up. Foods with a bit more texture to appeal to Smokey.

1. Any of the Fancy Feast roasted, flaked or chunky styles are all in the <10% carb range. My civie Dancer likes the Roasted Chicken which is tiny pieces of minced food in a bit of a gravy like substance.

2. Friskies flaked. Both the tuna and the tuna with egg
3. Many of the Tiki Cat varieties. Some of these are chunkier than others. For instance, the Succulent Chicken (Puka Puka Luau) is shreds where the Lanai Grill is minced with a couple of larger chunks of food and Bora Bora Grill is very chunky (sardines and smelly). More expensive than a lot of other foods, but that is because they use so much animal protein in their foods. I've never used the After Dark or Aloha Friends line of Tiki cat so don't know the texture.
4. Nulo freestyle or minced varieties.

There are certainly other chunkier style foods, but these are the ones I know of that are ok for low carbs.

 

Thank you!

 

My experience is that needles do not dull as much as your images indicate. Here are images I took for new needle and one with 10 uses. Not really much difference. New is on right.