10/30 Josie AMPS 347 +4 171 +7 130 PMPS 214

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eccentricfuzzyme

Member Since 2011
Trying to get home mid day and wake up in the middle of the night in order to get some readings and figure out what is going on with her numbers.
 
Re: 10/30 Josie AMPS 347

Good luck Josie. It can be so hard with the schedules, but we know you love her. Hang in there and have a nice day.
 
Re: 10/30 Josie AMPS 347 +4 171

GREAT!!! This is what we need to see...what this dose is really doing for her.

I'm so glad you will be trying this, Angela.
 
Re: 10/30 Josie AMPS 347 +4 171 +7 130

I am having a hard time getting blood to test. She only likes me using her left ear, but it often takes several tries to get enough to use. The right ear gives much more blood but it is very hard to hold her down in that position to use that ear. Maybe the left ear is all used up and needs a rest?
 
Re: 10/30 Josie AMPS 347 +4 171 +7 130

Are you warming it with a rice sock or a warm washcloth in a plastic bag?

The left ear might be sore. Do you put neosporin ointment with pain relief on it after you poke?

So she will let you poke the left ear but not the right? Have you just tried to talk to her very calmly and soothingly? Just caress her right ear....warm it...quick poke??
 
Re: 10/30 Josie AMPS 347 +4 171 +7 130

I dont use anything to warm it, i just rub it first as the vet showed me. The other ear cant be sore from poking because i almsot never use it. she flicks it and i cant get it still to see the veins.
 
Re: 10/30 Josie AMPS 347 +4 171 +7 130

Warm up a washcloth, put it in a plastic bag, hold it to her right ear to warm it. Don't hit the vein.....you want to hit the outside edge of the ear. Hitting the vein is very painful.
 
Re: 10/30 Josie AMPS 347 +4 171 +7 130

Marjorie and Gracie said:
Warm up a washcloth, put it in a plastic bag, hold it to her right ear to warm it. Don't hit the vein.....you want to hit the outside edge of the ear. Hitting the vein is very painful.


the vet told me to aim for the vein. and when i dont hit it, no blood comes out.
 
Re: 10/30 Josie AMPS 347 +4 171 +7 130

Ah, vets....

Angela,
I stole this picture from a thread in Health. This is what you need to aim for:



Between the vein and the edge of the ear. What size lancet are you poking with? A 26g or 28g works best when you are learning how. They usually come with 33g which are too small, at least till you get better at it, and kitty's ears "learn" to bleed better.
Carl
 

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Re: 10/30 Josie AMPS 347 +4 171 +7 130

Her PMPS is 214.


So I should be aiming for the very edge of the ear, where there is no vein?
 
Re: 10/30 Josie AMPS 347 +4 171 +7 130

And I am not sure what guage the needles are, I use the little blue ones that came with the meter.
 
Here's another photo....the blue line shows the ear vein....you want to poke on the edge outside of that. Most times when I poke, I am just catching the very edge....warming her ear up will help. I think vets do the vein because it's quicker for them but it's not good to do as much as we need to test.

I'm not sure what gauge lancets come with those meters....usually the larger gauge that Carl is talking about.

Earvein2.jpg


Great day testing, btw. Very nice cycle for Josie.
 
My relion micro came with the 33g lancets. It sounds backwards, but the larger the number, the smaller the poker. Just like electrical wire and needles. I know you can buy 26, 28, 30 and 33 gauge lancets by the boxfull. 33s are the smallest size, and I had no luck with them until I'd gone thru 100 of the 28s and 26s, and ran out. Luckily I still had a few of the smaller ones, and I guess I got better and Bob learned to bleed, because now I'm a pro with the 33s!

Carl
 
the more you poke, the more the capillaries grow to fill in the space. not sure why that happens, but at the beginning everyone has trouble getting ears to bleed. after a while it's like you hit a fountain every time you poke, even when it's not on the vein. i think it took a couple of weeks for punkin's ears to bleed all the time.

i do hit the vein occasionally - at the beginning if i'd tried several times and couldn't get any blood and was feeling desperate i did it on purpose, but now it's only if i hit it accidentally. just make sure you apply pressure to stop the bleeding after you've tested. punkin doesn't seem to notice the difference.

warming the ear REALLY helps a lot. total difference in getting the ear to bleed easily. i used the rice sock that people here recommended - one of my old clean cotton socks with 1/2 cup or so of raw rice in it nuked for maybe 15 seconds.

hang in there! it really does get easier.
 
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