Another place to get blood?

[blove7]

Hi there!

Just wondering if any of you have ever gotten blood from another place other than your kitties ears? Corduroy's ears are getting so beat up, and he seems to be getting more sensitive to the testing these days. I don't want to hurt him :sad:

 

[Tara & Buster]

Somewhere there is information on getting it from the foot pads. What size lancets are you using? Have you tried going with a smaller gauge now that his ears are used to bleeding? It also helps to rub a tiny amount of Neosporin pain relief on them.

 

[Dyana]

I don't know if this would help you, but I try to use the right ear for about 5 to 7 days and let the left ear heal during that time, and then do the opposite. The 5 to 7 days of healing seems to work for J.D. I also put some neosporin on his just used ear on it's last ear poke for that time period. If that makes any sense.

 

[Ann & Tess GA]

I'd try the smaller lancets too. We use 33gauge and have no trouble w/ sore ears. Be sure to twist slightly as you poke if you are free handing. Also BD lancets seem to be sharper and hurt less!

 

[carfurby (GA)]

I can only test one of Furball's ears due to chronic ear infections in the other. I hold a piece of paper towel to her ear to get it to stop bleeding and put a little dab of neosporin with pain relief on her ear after each poke. It helps it to heal faster. I use a headlamp to help me see Furball's dark ear better. Once I started using the headlamp, I realized there were times I thought her ear wasn't bleeding, but it actually was. The drop was just hard to see on her dark ear.

 

[julie & punkin (ga)]

if he's being sensitive, you could try putting the neosporin with pain relief on his ear about a half hour before you want to test, then wiping it off when you test. we slathered it on punkin's ear every night and they seemed like they healed overnight. that combined with making sure to apply pressure and stop the bleeding after the poke was enough to prevent scar tissue.

have you ever used it the neosporin with PR on yourself? punkin gave a giant leap off my lap one time (hehe there was a can of food being opened in the kitchen and he launched right off of me) and thoroughly scratched my legs, so i tried it on the scratches. completely took the pain out. it is amazing stuff.

i know some people are fans of footpad testing - i would be concerned about germy litterbox issues. but ya gotta do whatever works!

 

[blove7]

Thanks so much everyone for the helpful input! I will try doing what you do, Dyana, giving each ear a 5-7 day break. That seems like a good idea :smile: I'm also gonna try the Neosporin with pain relief.