BG Testing....What fun!

Max must have really been feeling like death last week when we had our little episode as he didn't even twitch when I tested him. Of course now I have a happy, healthy and very energetic cat on my hands, who is NOT happy about this ear prick thingy. I will perservere!!! At least I got to test his urine, ketone negative. But after four tries over the weekend and not one usable result (almost got one, but he squirmed as the strip was sucking the blood...and not enough) and four little bruises on his ears....le sigh. This is what I need to improve on:


1. It's getting really cold here, which means really cold ears. He growls when he sees the sock, so I have to try and massage warmth into them, which is taking forever...
2. He won't keep still and he won't let me hold his ear properly, so yesterday I kitty burrito- ed him. He growled the whole time, we almost got a reading, but he didn't bolt afterwards, and I praised him as if we did get a reading...going to try this again today
3. I'm freehanding the lancet, which gives me better control. I apply vasaline but I'm just not getting a proper bead, by the time I finish getting the vasaline on and am ready to prick, the ears are cold again, maybe this is the problem
4. I tried to get neosporin because I can see the little bruises of all my failed attempts, but you need a prescription here for it. The pharmacist suggested Bactroban....can I use this or what else can I use for the bruising. I do press the ear afterwards but it' still bruising a bit.

I'm determined to get this right, and I need to curve him this weekend coming as I'm sure his dose is still not right, and I just can't bear to take him into the vet again. I got it right the first two times when he was sick, but now i'm battling. When I evetually upload his spreadsheets, there will be a gap of readings with a comment that says "Cat not co operating"

 

Hi! I think we can help with your problems =) I can answer a few things and someone will be along to answer the rest =)

1. Baby sock. Or a foot from a pair of pantyhose, I prefer the baby sock myself. Put some rice in it and tie the top off. You can then warm in the microwave for a few seconds. Then hold it to Max's ear to warm it up and get the blood flowing. Massaging helps. Tugger loooooooooooves the rice sock. Even if he's not cold he still likes it =)

2. Treats. I don't know what you have available to you there but most of us use a dog treat, it's freeze dried chicken, single ingredient treats. It's kind of like crack-cocaine for kitties. They can't get enough of the stuff. You can also use boiled chicken that you cook yourself. Use whatever will work but try to make it low carb. Treat every time you test, successful or not. Lots of praise and sweet talk. Be very calm yourself. When you get upset, it will upset him. If you don't get it in three tries, stop, regroup and try again in a few minutes.

3. The tip that helped me get blood the best was to (not too hard) pinch the tip (or above where you're about to poke) of his ear to stop the flow of blood. I guess the blood flows up the outside edge, over the top and down the inside edge. So if you pinch it off, then poke, wait a second or two and maybe milk it just a bit, you'll see a nice bead form. If you can keep Max still

4. Bruising... Tugger's ears were bruised a bit in the first days of testing. I put pressure too. I think it's just that the ears need to toughen up. They also need to learn to bleed. It's an exercise of patience =) The pressure helps the most I think. I pinch the poked spot about as hard as I pinch off the blood flow in the above suggestion and I hold it while the meter counts down... or till he yanks his ear out of my hand. Whichever comes first

I don't know anything about that medicine... that's where I need to let other more experienced/knowledgeable folks step in. The other stuff is all stuff I learned here and has helped me, others may have different ideas. Just keep trying till something works for you guys. It can be frustrating, but don't give up! We all struggled a bit in the early days. I now know which position is most comfortable for both of us, I know what situations I can/can't test in (dog hovering over my shoulder is not a good time!) and with the tips I've learned here and patience, it works out now.

 

If you can get a proper drop and place it on your fingernail, then test that blood, it may help you in the beginning. That way if he shakes his head the droplet isn't gone.

Try to stay calm, our cats can sense when we are not at ease, if you're relaxed and take this time as special time with those treats that Marvie mentioned, it will be more of a bonding experience then a testing BG experience.

You're doing great, this really will come together for you

 

Does kitty bleed even when the ear is cold? I personally have never had any trouble with Oscar cold- or hot ears, and have never needed the sock. I just rub his ears for a few seconds to stimulate them - which he loves anyway!

 

He does bleed when cold, but the blood takes a while to come and it doesn't really bead properly...and of course the longer it takes the more chances that Max is going to make sure it doesn't happen. Anyway, will try again tonight, will try the suggested pinching technique.

 

I had this problem in the first couple of days I started testing my cat. He growled and I couldn't get a proper bleed. My vet suggested I change lancets of all things, he told me to buy generic lancets and what do you know, it worked! Perhaps the ones I bought previously were too fine. Now Tray doesn't flinch and even purrs during testing. (prob cause he knows he'll get a treat afterwards)

 

Just keep trying. My experience with all my diabetics (nine total so far) id that:
- Over time, they all have bled easer with time and it only takes a couple of weeks.
- Some cats just bleed less/more than others. My Mitten is a bleeder even with the shallowest setting of the lancet pen while I have a hard time getting enough blood with Thunder at the deepest setting.

 

WEll I finally did it!!!! At the fourth try...my poor cat, and I couldn't actually believe the result.I got a 7.7 (138) at +4. I'm planning to curve him this weekend, so I don't know if at +4 is his nadir, but I was shocked that he went to blue numbers, ...now I totally get the importance of BG testing. And, then at his PM shot he was 22.9 (412). This morning was another struggle though (I guess you win some and then you loose some), so didn't get a reading, and as today didn't get off on a good start, I think he might have also got a fur shot...my plan is to test again at +4 and see if it compares.


Thank you for the tip, the sock really helps, and also I figured out my timing with the meter, switch it on, then prick. Most of the lost shots was me either trying to hold a cat and pressing the strip into the meter, as I was afraid I didn't have enough time before the meter switched off or too little blood. I'm just really a little concernd for his poor little ears, they are really very bruised everywhere. (Ahhh, yes and I figured out that he seems to bleed better lower down the ear and not on the exact sweet spot in the pictures)

Thanks again for all your help

 

I had that happen too the first few times, and I got really angry because I was wasting strips. When the meter timed out and i HADN#T GOTTEN ENOUGH BLOOD YET. Then I had my "ah ha" moment....Take your time don't worry about timing out, make sure you've got a good sized drop before attempting to suck it up, if the meter times out before you start applying blood simply remove the strip wait a second then push it back into the meter! I was throwing away unused strips thinking they were no good after being placed in the meter (duh!). In addition at least 2 of the meters I have used give you quite a bit of time to get enough blood and you can keep adding. The Freestyle for example keeps flashing the "blood drop symbol" until it has enough then it beeps to tell you it's "full" and the countdown starts. Once I was able to keep adding blood when i didn't have enough for about 30 seconds ( even had time to set the meter down, poke a second time and then add blood). It gets easier and you get much quicker after you've done a few times. It takes a while to find "your style" and get coordinated, it's like you at some point have grown a third arm :lol:

 

I'm so happy it's working out! It gets easier =) You're doing great! You will find the position that works best for you, the spot where he's most comfortable, etc. As time goes on, the little things work out. The biggest hurdle is getting past the first few tests.

The bruising will stop before too much longer. What color are his ears? Seems like the lighter colored the ears are, the more noticeable the bruising is in the early days. Tugger's ears still bruise once in a while but that first week his ears were pretty sad looking. It got better for us, it will get better for you guys too =)

I'm glad you were able to see how important the tests really are! Sometimes those numbers drop a lot and they'll do it at unexpected times too. The nadir can move around, usually just when you figure out when it is, it changes So don't get locked into the idea that his nadir will always be at +6 or +4 or whatever. You'll want to get curves when you can and whatever spot checks you can squeeze in on other days. Get in the habit of testing before you leave the house, when you get home from being out, and before bed. Make those tests as habitual as the pre-shot test and you'll start seeing trends and gathering more info and learning his patterns. The more you test, the more information you have and the easier it will be to make dosing decisions.

Those before you walk out the door tests will tell you a lot too, you'll have an idea of where the next few hours will go and can leave out lots of food if he's dropping and it's early in the cycle (Tugger liked to drop at +2 sometimes!) You can choose to feed medium carb is you think he's going low and you know you won't be home. Stuff like that. That's where I found knowing how Tugger responded to certain carb contents came in handy. I learned he'd respond to 7% as if it were medium carb food so it helped me keep some control over his numbers. Other cats can eat 11% and it doesn't phase kitty's numbers at all. So you just kinda pay attention to what the numbers do in the few hours after feeding and you'll start to see if/how the foods you feed effect his numbers.

 

Apologies for the rant, but man...I'm just so fustrated I feel like bursting into tears. Four attempts today and nothing...nada. Not enough blood. Once my meter starts to suck it starts to time down and I can't add more blood, and he is bleeding very very little. Once, even with the vasaline, the blood didn't pool, it spread onto his fur, so no reading.
I'm running out of places to poke that arn't bruised, he has very light coloured ears. I tried to poke a bruised spot hoping maybe there would be more blood there, and he had a fit, so the bruises obviously hurt a bit more. These little bruised ears are killing me, I feel so sorry for him, but I know this must be done.

What kills me is that once I finish and let him go, he still comes up to me and gives me lovies,like "mom, why are you hurting me? you know I love you anyway"....That's it...here come the tears. Sorry guys, its been a long day....

 

Sorry you're having such a hard time of it. Have you tried poking his paw? I know there's a risk of infection if you don't clean it well but it might be an option if the ears don't do what you want.

 

Oh I'm sorry! That sucks. One of the foster cats DCIN is helping out has light colored ears and had the same bruising, her foster mom was really feeling badly about poking her too. Maybe try the paw? I know there are some folks around here that do it, try a search on the Health forums maybe? There are probably videos and lots of tips.

I wonder if it would be ok to let him have a day of less tests, only getting preshots for one day to let them rest a bit.

Silly question, but are you changing the lancet needle often? I found I could use it twice (if I capped and cleaned it before the next use) maybe three tests before I have to put in a new one. They're so cheap here though that I just use a new one each time.

I find that spending a few seconds or minutes paying lots of attention to his ears (deep massage, skritches, lightly massaging base to tip) before I poke helps along with the warm sock. Pretty soon, his ears will "learn" to bleed and you'll soon find yourself with too much blood. Or I did at least! Cold ears slow down the flow, so warming and massage are great. Did you try putting pressure just above where you're about to poke? If you need pictures I could probably get hubby to take some when I do Tugger's evening test so you can see how I've been doing it.

Take some deep breaths, lay down and relax with your kitty and spend some time just enjoying each other. Then maybe try the test again, when you're both nice and relaxed.

 

Have you tried using a paw pad instead of an ear? I still haven't gotten the hang of ears- but paw pads are 'easy' for me. Kazi was squirmy at first but now she starts to purr and half goes to sleep while I massage her foot/use my heated rice sock.