Baby and back from vet new #'s

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lmummaw

lmummaw

Member Since 2014
I have figured out how to get blood out of Baby's ear, but not enough. This is going to be an adventure. We have appointment at vet at 9 am EST for blood glucose reading on canned food only diet. She also does not seem to have an interest in the freeze dried treats. She has never tried to get human food like some of my other furbabies. Everybody seems hungry so going to feed the group she is in and maybe try again right after she eats. :YMSIGH:
 
Re: Baby and testing

I just looked at the one tutorial again, are we supposed to get the blood from the outside or back of the ear. I don't think I am going to get a test before we go to the vet. She's hiding under the bed which she seems to do right after she eats.
 
Re: Baby and testing

Are you warming the ear?
Are you using a lancet pen? Or the lancet by it self?
If pen then make sure you start at the deepest settings.
Also, what diameter/gauge lancets are you using? You want to to use the larger diameter one like 25-27 gauge vice the thin or ultra thin ones (29-31 gauge). The larger diameter one are typically marked for alternate site testing (other than fingers in humans).
Make sure that you firmly backup the ear so the lancet penetrates the ear rather the than lancet just pushing the ear away.

You can use either side. Some fine poking from the inside (less fur) is easier.
 
Re: Baby and testing

Here are some hints that may make it easier.

1) If you are using the lancet pen, try using the lancets freehand instead. I find I have more control.
2) Massage your cat's ear before and while you are trying to get blood. It will help to get the blood flowing plus your cat will like the extra head scritches. cat_pet_icon
3) Try using a larger size on your lancet, around a 25. The smaller the number, the larger the lancet guage.
4) If you hit the vein, don't worry. Just make sure you have either a paper towel or cotton ball handy. You will get a lot more blood, but if your cat is like mine, she will shake her head and your walls will look like a scene from CSI. :shock:

You can take the blood from either side of the ear, which ever works best for you and Baby. If you have a problem finding the vein, try using a flashlight to see it.
 
We're back from the vet, she was at 355 which is down over 200 from last Friday. She also gained almost 1 1/2 pounds. He asked if I was using the DM or M/D and I said I was mixing. The tech who is new tried to sell me more and I said I still have some. He doesn't want to do insulin yet since the improvement this past week.

I'm taking my CRF kitty in next week for a check up, so Baby is going along. I will take readings along, because now I can practice and not feel rushed. That way he will know I know what I'm doing. He's leery about internet sites. Can I let him check this out if he wants to, or just surprise him with readings next week. He is slowly selling the practice and I don't like the vet who is buying it out. I have a back up vet lined up already who has evening hours and he has seen a few of my younger cats. :smile:

Ooops in reply, I was using a pill bottle with warm water to heat up her ears. The lancets are 30, so will try to get larger ones. I was using the lancet pen.
 
30 gauge lancets are tiny - get slightly thicker ones - such as 28 or 29 gauge. you may find that you get more blood with that. Also, you can poke more than one time to get blood.

I don't like the lancet devices and prefer to free hand the poke. Might be worth trying, as I feel I have more control and can feel what I am doing better.

If you do free hand, you want to angle the lancet at an upward 45 degree angle and not poke straight (horizontally) in the ear like with the lancet device. Here is a pic



I also poke the inside edge of the ear. I found it easier with the way Maui was positioned to do it that way. Honestly, you can poke the outer edge or inner edge - it really doesn't matter. The goal is to get blood from the sweet spot area:



To answer your question about the vet - OF COURSE direct him to this site. The more vets that visit and take a real interest to see that we are not all crackpots and giving bad information, the better. Maybe the vet will learn something and even start directing clients here and help spread the word.

Of course if the vet is fixated on prescription food - he may not agree with what we have to say about it and that's ok. Maybe he will be open minded about it.
 
It took a while, but my vet finally refers their patients to this site. Unfortunately, often we have to train our vets instead of them training us. :roll:
 
Give him a copy of the AAHA guidelines. Also, either give the link to Cat Info or print a PDF file from there.
 
Baby wants dry food. I have 2 boys who need urinary tract food. The one boy does not eat canned except I have seen him take just a nip of it, Baby just tried to eat some of their food. Now I'm wondering if I can give her a little bit of dry. I bought the freeze dried treats and she won't eat them. I guess I'll have to check the treats list. I can't separate the cats more than they are already.
 
Hello,

The vet I used for years sold the vet practice to other vets several years ago and I don`t like them either so know what you mean. I live in a rural part of town and there are not a lot of vets down this way and they are expensive. I have been at a loss since then.

Terri
 
If you can't separate your cats any more than you currently do, you might want to consider meal feeding instead of free feeding.

Meal feeding is what I do for my cats.

You might also be interested in reading this vet's take on Urinary Tract Health.

ETA: My sugardude Wink is a dry food addict too. He'll rip through the plastic on a package of bread to get dry food! He only gets the low carb canned now and seems happy with it.
 
Baby seems to be pretty much happy with the low carb canned food. My Billy with the urinary tract problem has been doing much better since he had to get cathed last year when he blocked when the new vet said for him to stop taking cosequin for inflammation. Billy would never eat canned cat food so he got the meds mixed in with the juice from Friskies shreds. He has actually started eating a little bit of the canned food which is probably good for him. But he finally looks good weight wise so I don't want him to go backwards by not having the dry food available. I pull the food when I'm not in my bedroom.

One of my friends is trying to sell her house and I have a bunch of her cats also until they can sell and get moved. That is why there is a crunch right now, plus my basement was flooded in September and I haven't gotten it completely fixed so can't let cats down there.

I'll check out that article you mentioned.
 
Baby seems to be pretty much happy with the low carb canned food. Everybody in this section of the house gets canned food when she does. I've been trying to keep her eating as often as possible because she doesn't eat a whole lot at one time. My Billy with the urinary tract problem has been doing much better since he had to get cathed last year when he blocked when the new vet said for him to stop taking cosequin for inflammation. Billy would never eat canned cat food so he got the meds mixed in with the juice from Friskies shreds. He has actually started eating a little bit of the canned food which is probably good for him. But he finally looks good weight wise so I don't want him to go backwards by not having the dry food available. I pull the food when I'm not in my bedroom.

One of my friends is trying to sell her house and I have a bunch of her cats also until they can sell and get moved. That is why there is a crunch right now, plus my basement was flooded in September and I haven't gotten it completely fixed so can't let cats down there.

I'll check out that article you mentioned.
 
It has been close to a month since Baby had her original blood work done where she was diagnosed with diabetes. We were back today at the vet and her reading was 98. She had eaten about 45 minutes before her test. I see on the spreadsheet that it is in the green. My vet was thrilled it was lower but not to thrilled that I am using Friskies food. He wanted to sell more prescription canned food. I haven't been on here for a while because of weather related problems. I have an appointment to go back in 2 weeks for another test. I'll be honest I slacked off in trying to do testing because I was nervous and stressed the couple of times I tried the ear testing. I feel like I should do some kind of testing since she went from 355 to 98 in 10 days. I put fresh canned food out about every 4 hours.
 
98 is a wonderful non-diabetic number! This is from just a food change, right? No insulin? Your vet may not be pleased with the Friskies, but he can't argue about the result.

Keep doing what you are doing - it looks like Baby doesn't need insulin.
 
Yes this was just from a food change. But I'm still going to keep an eye on her. I'm hoping it's a level number now. I'm going to have to try and get tests to make sure she doesn't go too low. I'm concerned that with the low number will it go lower.
 
If she isn't on insulin and has no other medical problems, its OK if she goes down low.
 
One of my civies (non-diabetic cats) tests in the 40's. My sugardude Wink is usually somewhere in the 70-99 mg/dL range.

You know, Friskies is a good, inexpensive canned food. It may not have the highest quality of ingredients, but neither does the Hill's M/d or the Purina DM or the Royal Canin that the vet wants to sell you. The Friskies is what I feed my cats, along with some Fancy Feast. Not everyone can afford to feed the expensive prescription vet cat foods.

There are other foods that are appropriate for diabetic cats and this vet, Dr. Lisa Pierson, put together an entire food chart with the protein, fat, carb and phosphorus content of the different canned foods. We suggest that anything with a carb % <10% is good for your diabetic cat.

You feed what you can afford. Plus, you are getting good results.

A curve or at least a couple of tests before food would give you a better idea if your cat Baby is in remission. Numbers can vary quite a bit during the day, so a single test is not an indicator that Baby is in remission. The clinical signs, like peeing, pooping, purring, preening, and playing tell you a lot too.

So, you might want to give home testing another try. Let us know how we can make this easier for you. We have lots of tips on testing, like warming the ear first.

Did your vet run a fructosamine test? That would be a better indicator of Baby's BG (blood glucose) levels over the past couple of weeks than a single test after she has been fed.
 
Did your vet run a fructosamine test? That would be a better indicator of Baby's BG (blood glucose) levels over the past couple of weeks than a single test after she has been fed.

My vet has never mentioned a Fructosamine test. I will read up on it and ask him if we can do that at her next visit.

I bought rice today at the store when I was there so I can make a little sack to warm her ear. She is eating more than 2 meals a day. I can't work due to my health problems so when I see she's hungry she gets food. She doesn't eat very much at one time, she eats and then grooms and then goes back and eats some more. We've been using the classic pates and the special diet for my kitty with the possible kidney problems. I'm really going to try with the testing. I'm going to read the testing information again and then try it again.
 
Its fine for her to graze/nibble the 10 hours after a shot.

You pick up the food 2 hours before the shot so that the pre-shot is not a food-influenced number.
 
I am not giving her shots. She has come down to normal levels just with food. I'm going to test her to just keep an eye on her levels.
 
It is so great to see that the food change has already helped her get her numbers into normal range! :thumbup Here are some more ear testing tips that you might find helpful.
 
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