Glucose Curve Specifics

[MonkeyCat]

I am getting ready to do my first glucose curve. I have a lot of questions.

What size lancet to use? I bought a ReliOn Prime.
What depth should I look for?
Are the pushbutton types easy to use or realistic?
Is there anything special about programming the glucose meter?
What else should I know about performing a glucose curve?

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

What size lancet to use? I bought a ReliOn Prime.

For new ears, the smaller gauge lancets are better than the ones that come included with the "kits". The lancet device usually comes with 33 gauge lancets which make very tiny holes. Getting lancets for "Alternate Site Testing" that are 25-28 gauge will help get blood on the first "poke". As you poke more and more, new capillaries will grow in and make it easier to get blood with the tinier lancets later on

What depth should I look for?

I didn't like using the lancet device, so I can't help you here. I just hold the actual lancet in my fingers and "freehand" it. If you want to use the device, you'll just have to practice to find which setting works best for you. ECID (Every Cat Is Different)

Is there anything special about programming the glucose meter?

Not really....the instructions that come with it are fairly easy....You just have to program the date and time. The meter will store up to 30 days worth of tests for you

What else should I know about performing a glucose curve?

Most curves are done every 2 hours for 12 hours, but you can also do every 3 hours for 18 hours. We really don't do a lot of "official" curves here because we believe in getting tests in on every cycle....not just getting one set of tests every once in awhile. Insulin is a very powerful hormone, so only doing a curve every now and then doesn't tell you what's going on inside your cats body. We suggest doing tests before every shot (to make sure they're high enough for insulin at all) and then at least 1 test mid-cycle on the AM cycle (like around +5 to +7....5 to 7 hours after the shot) and at least a "before bed" test on the PM cycle. Most cats go lower at night, so it's important to know they're safe before going to sleep.

The Prime does take a little larger blood sample than some of the other Relion meters, so you may have to poke twice as close together as you can to get enough blood. Make sure the ear is warm. A small sock filled with rice and microwaved or a small pill bottle filled with warm water are great ways to warm the ear before you poke.

Do you have our spreadsheet program to keep track of your test results? It's a very valuable tool here and we all like to see how each cat is doing before giving any kind of advice on possible dose increases. Here are Instructions on setting up the FDMB spreadsheet

 

[Lily-Fish]

For new ears, the smaller gauge lancets are better than the ones that come included with the "kits". The lancet device usually comes with 33 gauge lancets which make very tiny holes. Getting lancets for "Alternate Site Testing" that are 25-28 gauge will help get blood on the first "poke". As you poke more and more, new capillaries will grow in and make it easier to get blood with the tinier lancets later on



I didn't like using the lancet device, so I can't help you here. I just hold the actual lancet in my fingers and "freehand" it. If you want to use the device, you'll just have to practice to find which setting works best for you. ECID (Every Cat Is Different)



Not really....the instructions that come with it are fairly easy....You just have to program the date and time. The meter will store up to 30 days worth of tests for you



Most curves are done every 2 hours for 12 hours, but you can also do every 3 hours for 18 hours. We really don't do a lot of "official" curves here because we believe in getting tests in on every cycle....not just getting one set of tests every once in awhile. Insulin is a very powerful hormone, so only doing a curve every now and then doesn't tell you what's going on inside your cats body. We suggest doing tests before every shot (to make sure they're high enough for insulin at all) and then at least 1 test mid-cycle on the AM cycle (like around +5 to +7....5 to 7 hours after the shot) and at least a "before bed" test on the PM cycle. Most cats go lower at night, so it's important to know they're safe before going to sleep.

The Prime does take a little larger blood sample than some of the other Relion meters, so you may have to poke twice as close together as you can to get enough blood. Make sure the ear is warm. A small sock filled with rice and microwaved or a small pill bottle filled with warm water are great ways to warm the ear before you poke.

Do you have our spreadsheet program to keep track of your test results? It's a very valuable tool here and we all like to see how each cat is doing before giving any kind of advice on possible dose increases. Here are Instructions on setting up the FDMB spreadsheet

Sorry to weigh in on this, a question about curves. Do you feed and shoot as per normal and then just get the tests evry 2 or 3 hrs, is that the only difference between the curve and the day to day?

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

Do you feed and shoot as per normal and then just get the tests evry 2 or 3 hrs, is that the only difference between the curve and the day to day?

Yes...the whole idea is to get a good representation of what's going on throughout that cycle, so everything should be as normal as possible