Eva & Butters
Active Member
Hi, Everyone ~
We're running into some challenges testing Butters' blood glucose levels. His ears have suffered some pretty severe injuries/frost bite and are very frayed around the edges from his days outdoors before he appeared in our yard as a stray. Over the past week and a half, we've tried everything, and we're unable to successfully draw blood consistently from his ears.
Yesterday, we tried drawing blood from Butters' paw, and he freaked out. Our next step is to try blood draws at the base of his tail as is done for some dogs. My husband plans to shave a small area above Butters' tail. Has anyone here tried that, and if so, do you have any advice/suggestions for us? I wonder how different the blood glucose readings might be at the tail area versus an ear tip?
My husband and I refuse to shoot insulin blind, so we've got to find a way to do successful blood draws. Our vet has suggested that we shoot without blood glucose readings and bring Butters in regularly for curves. That's not acceptable to us.
By the way, we've had a diabetic cat before, so we're experienced at doing blood draws from a cat's ears. My husband is particularly adept at it and has even shown other cat people how to do the draws.
Thanks for any help you might be able to give us.
Eva & Butters
We're running into some challenges testing Butters' blood glucose levels. His ears have suffered some pretty severe injuries/frost bite and are very frayed around the edges from his days outdoors before he appeared in our yard as a stray. Over the past week and a half, we've tried everything, and we're unable to successfully draw blood consistently from his ears.
Yesterday, we tried drawing blood from Butters' paw, and he freaked out. Our next step is to try blood draws at the base of his tail as is done for some dogs. My husband plans to shave a small area above Butters' tail. Has anyone here tried that, and if so, do you have any advice/suggestions for us? I wonder how different the blood glucose readings might be at the tail area versus an ear tip?
My husband and I refuse to shoot insulin blind, so we've got to find a way to do successful blood draws. Our vet has suggested that we shoot without blood glucose readings and bring Butters in regularly for curves. That's not acceptable to us.
By the way, we've had a diabetic cat before, so we're experienced at doing blood draws from a cat's ears. My husband is particularly adept at it and has even shown other cat people how to do the draws.
Thanks for any help you might be able to give us.
Eva & Butters
