1st bg

[Amy and Dice]

After 3 separate tries we got our first bg reading. It was high 511. We also had a difficult time with ear reading, small pokes wouldn’t get a drop, he bleed a little when we finally succeeded Our poor dude, he is so chill though, trusts us. Very sweet kitty.
Been watching and studying the page and videos that describes details. We will keep trying.

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

What size lancets do you have?

A lower gauge (like 26-28) is a lot easier than the higher gauge (like 31-33) because the lower the gauge, the "thicker" they are.

Are you getting his ear really warm first? A warm ear bleeds a lot easier!

 

[Sylvie]

if your using lancet thingie that came with alphatrak2, take clear cap off and freehand poking edge of ear. you get bigger drops that way because with cap on, needle barely touches skin and often doesn't touch it at all so you get no blood (took me a week to figure it wasn't i nor the cat's fault we were having hard time getting blood out of him when we had cap on). also on the weird occasions that we do get a tiny barely visible drop, i gently twist ear at area around poke site back and forth and that will bring out a bigger drop of blood without contaminating it.

also if you know you are doing things right, don't get frustrated about the little blood amounts or failed attempts, we all went through it but, after a couple weeks or so there will be more/bigger blood vessels in the ear you poke regularly and you will get a decent drop almost everytime. for now put a bright flashlight behind your cat's ear and you will see where the blood vessel area runs on your cat's ear, this will help you know the exact area to poke.

 

[Amy and Dice]

Thanks for the tips everyone. We were not using lancet device but trying to use just the lancet free hand no device like first video on the education page.
I’m up for trying lancet device in the am. I felt like we hurt him tonight with our amateur tries.
We have little flashlights, will try that too.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Most lancet devices have an adjustment spot on them to change the depth of the poke. Does yours have one? If so adjust it. It’s trial and error. I always used the device successfully and adjusted the depth to suit. It takes time but you will get there!