03/24 Furball, First Curve Completed Today

Thursday = viewtopic.php?f=9&t=66876

I am working on trying to do a curve for Furball today. I have noticed that her ear seems thicker where I have been pricking her since I started several weeks ago. This is making it difficult to get blood and making it harder to keep Furball calm. The more I have to prick her, the more she fights me. Has anyone else noticed this with their cat's ear(s)?

Re: 03/24 Furball, AMPS= 330, +2=347, +3=341, +4.5=318

Carla,
KT also has that ridge - I believe it's a buildup of scar tissue. I don't find that it bleeds less - in fact, sometimes it bleeds heavier which made me originally wonder if it's 'old' blood under there. I would see it in KTs ears if it was as light shines thru his.

Furball - why don't you ditch that pink suit and try out the yellow ones instead!

Big hug,

Re: 03/24 Furball, First Curve

Yeah! I managed to get my first curve done today.

I was able to get the blood flowing better from her ear today. Usually I have a hard time getting blood. Maybe her ear is finally going to stop being a problem. It can be a pain when I can't get a blood drop because I can only prick one ear due to her having a bad ear infection in the other ear that doesn't want to clear up.

Congratulations on doing such a great job!

What does the [1] notation mean in your curve?

Congratulations on getting your first curve :smile:

With her ear - do you gently press the area you've pricked for 30 seconds or so afterwards, this helps keep the ear in good condition.

Your link to yesterday isn't working, I think you forgot to place it between the URLs

Carla --

I'm sorry if I asked this and can't remember but is there a reason you're not able to get any tests during the PM cycle?

The 1 on my spreadsheet is supposed to be a note that didn't pop up. It should say +4.5 hours. I am still working on fine tuning the spreadsheet.

I fixed the link to my last post.

I do hold a paper towel to Furball's ear for 20 to 30 seconds to stop the bleeding. I have also been putting Neosporin with pain relief on her ear afterwards to help it heal quicker.

I haven't tried any PM readings because I only have a couple of hours before I go to sleep after I give her the PM shot. I guess I could get a couple between those times. I have been at work during the week and am not able to stay up late to get readings. If it was an emergency I would stay up. Since I started Furball on insulin, I haven't been sleeping well and when I am tired, I get stressed easily and stress Furball. I think that is part of the problem I was having getting readings.

Getting a before bed test is just fine. There are a couple of reasons that the evening tests are important:

• Without at least one test during the PM cycle, you're missing half of your data.
• If you're missing the PM data, it's exceptionally hard to make sense out of what's going on during the AM cycle.
• Many cats experience lower numbers at night.
• Even getting a +2 or +3 may tell you if numbers are dropping and if you need to continue testing.
• If you don't test at night, you don't know what's going on and can't keep Furball safe.

Sienne and Gabby - Thanks for the information. I was planning to try and get some numbers tonight. I'm still trying to figure everything out. My vet said it was good that I wanted to home test, but she never gave me an directions on how or when to do it. I'm reading so much, it's hard to remember everything. I need to go back and re-read some stuff.

WOW, you and Furball have come a long way!! Great job getting a curve today. dancing_cat dancing_cat dancing_cat

The ears do usually 'learn' to bleed better after a while. I don't know if they grow more capillaries or what exactly, but it does get easier. Bailey and I are cheering you guys on!

The good news is...once you're OTJ and just testing once or twice a month...
that scarring goes away!

nice job on the curve!

celi & binks

The 1 on my spreadsheet is supposed to be a note that didn't pop up. It should say +4.5 hours. I am still working on fine tuning the spreadsheet.

Click to expand...

If you right click the cell that you want to make a note or comment in, Google docs will give you a pop up window,and on that pop up list it says "Insert Comment". Click that option and then you can enter a comment. It's a little tricky but with practice it can be done. Just like everything around here :lol:

If you look at Cini Mini's spreadsheet everywhere there's a little orange triangle in the upper right of the cell that means there's a comment there.