Cats Ears

Ok so this week is the first week i have been home testing. Today will be my second day testing and giving insulin. I noticed today that the spots i been poking my cat in the ear is red .. Like bruised or clotted.
I had to poke more then once to get the spot since i am learning =/ i feel bad and want to know if this is normal and if it heels fast?
I put some antibacterial ointment on the spot from this morning because she moved and the needle scratched her.

I hope all this gets easier i feel so bad to keep hurting her.

So is this normal for her to have bruises? also should i stay clear of that area until healed? If so where else can i poke if i run out of spots by the time she heals?

It's normal for a cat's ear to look bruised for awhile when starting hometesting :smile: It will go away once your cat's ear learns to bleed better. After you gotten a bg reading, hold a tissue to the ear to help stop any bleeding. Some people apply a little Neosporin ointment (not the cream one) to the ear to help with healing.

You can basically poke anywhere along the edge of the ear to keep from poking one spot over and over again. You can also use the other ear.

It's perfectly normal for them to look bruised in the beginning, but trust me, they will be fine .. We poked mocha alllllll the time for two years and her ears are still looking good

They heal very quickly. To speed it up, adding an antiseptic ointment will help healing. I've read of neosprin (spelling?) being suggested as a US brand. (I'm in the UK)

When I first started BG testing Cleo, she jerked her head once when I had just poked her ear with the lancet... I managed to actually rip a tiny tear in her poor little ear. It healed within a few days, and now there is no sign of it, not even a mark.

So we've all felt awful about it when first starting out, but don't worry - our cats forgive us!

H

Hiya,

I've clocked up nearly 20,000 tests on my cat's right ear (bleeds easier than the left ear!) over nearly a six year period and he looks just fine. It is important to press on the test site firmly afterwards with cotton wool or a little bit of tissue to minimise bruising. And, as others have said, some in the US use neosporin ointment on the cat's ear to give some pain relief and help healing if need be. I know it's not easy initially. We all probably felt that we were being unkind to our cats, but in fact, the reverse is true: You are trying to provide your cat with the very best care possible. :smile:

Over 9 years poking on Mishka's right ear only, no ointment ever applied, and no vet would be able to decide which ear I was using. Minimum of 4 pokes a day depending on what Mishka is doing for that day but always before shooting. I just cannot give insulin without testing even if I know food will spike one cat up. There have been times that I kiss my meter because if I had shot without testing, I could have possibly killed my cat.

I also just started out testing (on Week 3) and the first two weeks as I started getting better at it, his ears were a splotchy red mess (almost a bit like petechia). They're still a bit red, but not nearly as bad.

Some things I've learned:

• I chose a rice sock over a pill bottle because it takes longer for hot water to heat up than it does to pop a rice sock in a microwave for 15 seconds. Choice is yours, however, heating the ear is key in getting the blood to flow so you don't have to keep pricking.
• Find a spot and position that works best for you to access the ear and best for your cat to not feel trapped or confined. It can even come down to something as simple as the way you're sitting. I discovered that when I sat Indian-style with Mikey in my lap, he would squirm and growl and fidget and scratch and bite and escape. But, if I uncross my legs and bring my right knee up, he'll settle into my lap and put his paws on my right thigh in complete comfort and relaxation. And he's not a lap cat at all!
• Aim for above the visible marginal vein (the vein that runs along the border of the cat's ear), otherwise you're going to get a lot more blood than necessary and the cat will feel the prick
• Load the test strip after you've heated the ear decently because the glucometers have an automatic shut-off and this gives you a little more time. I'll also sometimes give a small treat while I'm doing this so he's distracted and doesn't think he's free to go while I'm busy.
• Make sure you lower the lancet setting if using a lancet pen. I started out on the highest setting by misreading the booklet that the higher the number, the lower the setting (I blame my dyslexia). The first few times I tested Mikey, I was poking straight through his ear before I figured out my mistake.
• Hold the ear! I can't stress this enough. From everything I've been reading, Mikey is pretty docile compared to most cats when starting out BG testing, however, Mikey is sneaky-tricky and will only pretend to cooperate until the exact moment when I've got the blood drop and am bringing the test strip to his ear and then he'll do a perfect little twitch and flick that blood drop off if I'm not holding it. Sometimes I can coax a bit more blood out of the spot, but most of the time, I end up having to poke him again. And I usually lose a test strip because either there wasn't enough blood left or it took too long and the meter timed off.
• Around the end of the second week, his ears started "bleeding better," meaning that before it might take four or five pokes till I actually drew blood, whereas now it only requires one (rarely two) pokes and I don't even need to hold the rice sock on his ear very long any more. I'm pretty sure this is also partially due to me getting better at it.
• Sometimes, you'll get a HUGE fat drop of blood, other times, you'll get such a small smidge that it might not even be enough to register on the glucometer. I had to ask about this myself because I was worried, but from the answers here and further research, there are a variety of factors that can cause this (i.e. blood flow, ear temp, previous pricking site, vein vs. capillary, etc...). No matter the factor, don't worry; your cat will not bleed to death nor suffer any permanent damage.
• It is really, really important to use a bit of tissue, paper towel, or a cotton ball to stem the bleeding and/or absorb the blood off the ear. Just wrap it around the spot and press for a few seconds until it stops bleeding. This helps reduce bruising and scabbing and it keeps the cat from getting blood everywhere.
• It depends on your cat, but I use Vetericyn instead of Neosporin because when I used the Neosporin, it bothered Mikey to the point that he would rub at his ears, trying to clean them and licking his paws after and I didn't want him ingesting unnecessary antibiotics!
• Treats (I use freeze-dried chicken, turkey, or whitefish): I give Mikey a treat when we start, halfway through when I stick the test strip in, and when we finish. I'm hoping to eventually create a sort of pavlovian response from him to make BG testing easier on us in the future. I guess this is one of those times when YMMV with what works for you and your cat.

And, most importantly, you're doing this for her health so no matter how bad you think you may be hurting her, you're hurting her a lot less than a hypo or DKA would. In reality, cat's ears are less sensitive than our own fingertips. So, just remember how it feels when you prick your finger and realize that the kitty is feeling it even less.

Thanks for everyones help and advise... Seeing her ear all blotchy, i wasnt sure if it was normal.. but i see its fine..
I cant wait till she gets used to it.. it will make me feel better :razz:

When she bleeds to much i panic like a crazy mom! :lol:

You're very welcome and you'll both get used to it In fact, last night, I was sitting in the same spot where I usually do Mikey's testing and he came up and sat on my lap and started purring and searching around for treats! Of course, I used the opportunity to get another BG test in, but I think we may have both turned a corner in this last week from uncertainty, inexperience, and annoyance to a nice rhythm that is no longer traumatic for either of us. You'll hear it a lot on this board (I sure have!): this whole process is more of a marathon than a sprint.

One last thing about testing that someone suggested to me last night. As I mentioned before, I don't put the test strip in until his ear is warm enough to the touch so the meter doesn't time out before I'm ready. What you could do instead is put the strip partially in and wait till you have the blood drop before pushing it all the way in to trigger the meter. I tested it out this morning and it works quite well. :smile:

I found out about the time out thing this morning. I couldn't get a drop (only my second time testing) and the machine beeped and cut off. I'll be better prepared next time! I haven't tried the sock trick but will tonight.