At home glucose test

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Louise_Dietrich

Member Since 2013
My 6 year old cat Penny was diagnosed with diabetes in June. I have been taking her to the vet to get her glucose test done, but it has always been really high, over 300. Now the doctor suggests at home testing so she will have lower stress and easier for her. Well, here is the problem. She does not like anything by her ear. I tried to put a cotton ball gently by her ear, she wasn't having any of that. I put some food down for her to distract her but that does not work either. I would pet her to help her relax but she ends up hissing at me and swiping at the device. Taking a reading on her paw pad is out of the question. She hates her legs and paws touched more so than her ears.

If anyone has any suggestions on how I might go about this, that would be great. After she finally got used to getting insulin by luring her with treats, now she, and I, have another thing to get stressed about. :-|
 
Hello Louise & Penny - welcome! Everyone here would agree with your vet that hometesting is the way to go. Vets are stressful to kitties and there's no need to pay for something you can master in your own home. It sounds like you're using a lancet pen. Have you tried simply free-handing? Some cats really hate the click of the pen. You may also have to roll her up in a small blanket or thick towel to make a kitty burrito until she gets used to it. I know it's not as easy as that sounds...

Where do you live? It's possible a member in your area might be able to come help if you need.
 
Hi Louise and Penny! You've come to the right place, and what a refreshing thing it is to hear you have a vet that supports home testing too!!

China was also one that hated having her ears touched...what you might try is to NOT poke her at all for awhile...just put her in her "spot" you're going to use for testing, and rub her ears a little...very little at first...and then give a yummy treat..something she never gets any other time. Boiled chicken works well for most of our kitties..as long as it's low carb, whatever Penny loves is fine (I live alone so don't cook a lot of chicken so I usually get some at the deli to use....but you can also buy chicken, boil it, cut it into bite sized pieces and freeze what you won't use in a day or two)

If you can only get one rub in on one ear at first, that's all you can do...give the treat after! Hopefully, at some point, she'll associate the touch of her ears to the treat and you can work your way up to poking

The other thing I'd ask is what kind of glucometer do you use? The Relion Confirm Micro (available at WalMart) require the smallest little sample of blood....it's amazing how little it will work with! Different meters require different sample sizes so it might be worth looking into

Good luck to you and Penny! After awhile, most will learn to accept the routine...China now reminds ME it's time to test!
 
I am using the AlphaTrak2. I bought it before I knew that you can use human glucometers and I am not sure if I can return it. :?: It is shorter and wider than a pen but it still clicks.

I think I will do the chicken route for now and choose a different place to do the test. I give her the insulin on my bed with some of her treats.

I took her to the vet today and the tech showed me pretty much the opposite way of using the meter. She said you use it on the inside part and that you can use any vein that you can see. But on the AlphaTrek video and other youtube videos it says you use it on the outside and towards the end where the "sweet spot" vein is.

I tried the Kitty Burrito when I had to give her antibiotics a couple of years ago. Yikes! That sure didn't work. :)

I will give her a rest for a few days with that. She was rather traumatized after today.

Another thing... is there a dry food that works well with diabetes? I haven't been giving her much dry food lately, trying to get her out of her grazing food habit. I tried the Hills Prescription dry food and it was fine for a little while at the beginning but I tried it again recently and her water intake and litter box use increased, so that is out. Right now I have been giving her some of the Purina prescription one and she has been pretty good with that every once in a while. It is more of a treat than a meal. However, it is very expensive. I also get the Purina prescription canned food which is working better than the Hills.

Having a diabetic cat is so overwhelming and expensive. :(
 
Check my signature link Secondary Monitoring Tools for supplemental assessments you may make.

Urine ketone testing is important while working on regulating your cat. Ketones form as a by-product of fat breakdown for calories. Too many may indicate diabetic ketoacidosis, a potentially fatal complication of diabetes.

We don't recommend dry food for all the reasons given at Cat Info. It does not clean the teeth. It may aggrevate any tendancies towards urinary tract disease, such as renal failure, stones, and infection.

If you are giving insulin, until you are able to easily home test the glucose levels, do not change the food carbohydrate levels. You must be able to compensate for glucose changes due to food changes.
 
is there a dry food that works well with diabetes?
Click to expand...

The quick easy answer is No...not unless your cat totally refuses to eat wet. Dry food is high in carbs and will just keep the blood glucose numbers up. It's much easier to regulate on low carb (less than 10%) wet food.

The GOOD news is you don't have to go into the poor house to buy it either!! The Fancy Feast pate's, and Friskies Pate's are available at WalMart and a lot of us use them. Stay away from the "gravies" and "sauces" and stick with the pate varieties. I can get a 13oz can of Friskies for .79

Here's a list of some of the more "approved" foods to start with...Food lists

There are other links to even more food charts available here....it will just take me some time to find them :)

The other nice thing is that we've had several kitties just lately that once they were transitioned to LC wet were about to come off insulin completely, so what you feed is one of the most important things that can help "predict" if your kitty could be "diet-controlled", "OTJ" (off the juice)
 
Hi there

yes you can totally use the inside of the ear.. its easier esp with furry cats.

I have some ides o cut your costs
1. Buy a relion meter (prime or confirm) from walmart and strips. Keep the alphatrak for backup. The relion is almost as good and much cheaper for strips. And pick up some big lancets (26/27/28/29g ) that you can then freehand - no clicking device.
2. Forget the prescription food and try the wet as suggested above - Friskies pates are cheapest cos they come in big cans
3. Try and get the testing done at home - saves $ on expensive vet curves
4. What insulin are you using? Lantus, Levemir and Prozinc last up to 6 months if kept in the fridge (not the door) . you dont roll or shake Lantus. Contrary to what they say on te label.

How does she feel about ear rubs?

Wendy
 
Hi Louise and sugarprincess Penny and welcome to the FDMB!

I'm Deb and that sugardude tuxie on the right is Wink, my diet controlled diabetic cat. He eats Fancy Feast classic pates and Friskies pates. Once I switched him from the high carb dry to the low carb wet, his BG readings came right down and he went OTJ, off-the-juice, insulin being the juice. His favorite flavor is the Fancy Feast Turkey and Giblet.

Here are some home testing tips for
you to look at.

This document on ear testing psychology may be particularly relevant to you.
 
I think I am going to try Friskies once the food I have right now is done. I have some Fancy Feast right now but I am not sure if that is ok to give her. It is a lot of trial and error. The problem with Penny is that she is a grazer. I leave a little bit of dry food in her dish but her primary food source is canned food. Right now I give her some as treats so she doesn't notice me giving her the insulin. I tried without it and she moves and runs away.

I have not been able to give her the test yet. :\ I tried the holding your cat like bagpipes method to no avail. She doesn't really like to be held like that. I tried the lap but when I start rubbing her ears she moves so I can rub her whole face. What kind of treats do you recommend using? I am assuming a lot of treats are loaded with carbs. I have the Friskies Whisker Lickins' but I haven't given her those in quite a while.

She urinated on the rolled up rug my mom just spent 300 dollars cleaning. It has paper around it, it was deep cleaned... she urinated on it last night. She hasn't even been using her litter box in the last day or two so I am worried that she is going someplace else.

She vomited a ton a few days ago. Dry, canned and liquid came out. Towards the end it got kind of pinkish but after that she stopped.

I feel so overwhelmed and it is getting so expensive.

Oh, and she had a test for ketones and that test came back fine.

:cry:
 
Friskies pates ( just the pates - no gravy ones) are cheap and low carb. As are the fancy feast classic pates. good for your wallet and the diabetes. I leave the food out all day and refresh it morning and night. Also add a little water to it to stop it drying out. No need to feed dry at all - its high carb generally.

I dont hold Tiggy to test him. I find him where he is snoozing. I stroke him and rub his ears. He enjoys that. Then.. poky.. poky.. measure.. treat ..more ear rubs. ECID (every cat is different). You need to find what works for Penny and get her used to it. For now if she likes ear head rubs then go with that and gradually spend more time on the ears.. get them nice and warm. Do it a few times a day before attempting a poky.

I give freeze dried chicken treats (as do many people here) but here is a list of low carb treats. http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=9172.

Also I would use a relion meter (see above posts) as the alphatrak is expensive and the walmart relion is much cheaper and almost as good. Many people here use it. Home testing will save you vet $.

What kind of insulin are you using?

Wendy
 
I cannot leave canned food out all day because she would eat it all. Sometimes I give her some chicken if I have some made. I give her canned food about 4 times a day but she is still hungry because is a grazer.

I am using Lantus.

Does anyone use the paw pads instead of the ear? If so, is it easier?

She is sleeping right now, I might give it a try.

So frustrating!
 
Yes, you can use the paw pad...our one concern about that is the chance of picking up something from the litter box, but if it's easier to do, it's more important that you get those tests...you can put some neosporin ointment on her paw pad after you're done (but be watchful for any signs of infection)

As for feeding, there's no reason you can't leave it down and let her graze. Actually several small meals are better for most of our sugarcats so their BG is more stable. Figure out how much she should be eating and put down 1/4 to 1/6 of the total amount down 4 -6 times/day...she'll get used to eating while it's down, and you just have to steel your heart against those "looks" our cats are so good at...the ones that say "Hey mom, I'm starving here..don't you love me anymore??"

She's probably eating a lot more now because she's not controlled. Once you get the diabetes under better control, she'll probably need a lot less food. Diabetic kittys can't get the nutrition out of their food, so they eat a LOT more of it to try to compensate. If you'll tell us how much she weighs, we can help you figure out how much she should be eating too

Just make sure you take the food up 2 hours prior to shot times. You want to be able to test her before shots without having the number influenced by food. She WILL get used to scheduled feeding times, no matter what she tries to tell you....lol

A lot of us use chicken as our "testing treats"....catch it when it's on sale, boil one piece and freeze the rest. Chop it up and use it for her "reward" for getting tested...even if you're NOT successful! If you get her used to having her ears touched and rubbed, and she gets a reward for letting you do that, you should be able to move forward into poking. If you try 3 times and aren't successful, reward anyway, and try again later.

If you've gotten the Relion meter, you'll safe a lot of money on test strips. And the Friskies pate's and Fancy Feast Classics are both good choices for low carb foods. It really doesn't have to break the bank to give Penny the best chance at getting regulated...or even off the juice completely!!

How much Lantus are you giving Penny? How often? Lantus needs to be dosed every 12 hours and if you let us help you, we can give you all kinds of tips as well as help you with dosing to keep Penny safe as well as getting her under better control.

Don't get discouraged! Many of us know how it is to be on a tight budget and not have real cooperative kitties, but with practice and support, we know you can be successful!!
 
You might see if this works for you.

Burrito wrap:

Place towel on floor.

Place cat halfway between the ends.

Wrap each end around the cat, including paws.

Additional restraint may be done by kneeling straddled over the cat and compressing your thighs along the cat's body and slightly sitting over the cat to reduce upward motion.

Test from there.
 
Weigh her every couple of weeks - if her weight is stable then the food amount is ok. If not you can increase.

I like grazing as its good to help support and not overload the pancreas with large meals.

Wendy
 
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