Kitty boy Charlie diagnosed Jan 17. He is 12 years old (13 in April) On Nov 9 I took him to vet because of increased urination/peeing. He FREAKS OUT at the vet, so no good blood glucose test results. Fructosamine was 306, so vet called it pre-diabetic state. Charlie is also overweight. I had been feeding him Orijen dry cat food for years, and Wellness canned food. I also realized in horror last month that in the chaos of moving to a new town in May I accidentally put the wrong measuring cup in the food and was feeding him more calories than I had calculated for him. I immediately switched his diet to the Wellness canned only. He lost weight. 1.2 kg in 2 months. From 9.2 kg to 8kg. At Jan 17 checkup fructosamine was 450. And vet felt a mass in his abdomen. Ultrasound shows 4 large masses attached to his liver. Masses made up of "multiple coalescing cysts", so not necessarily cancer according to radiologist, but they will have to be removed and tested to make sure. Problem is they want to have his diabetes stabilized before surgery. Surgery tentatively scheduled for Feb 15.
Since starting insulin shots Jan 17, (Lantus, 2 units every 12 hrs) he is drinking less and peeing less, and has more energy. So this is good. However I do want to do home testing of blood sugar for all the reasons you all already know. But I can't get any blood from his ear! I have Accu Chek Aviva glucometer, which came with a Multiclix pen. Lancets are 30 gauge - too thin maybe? Charlie has surprisingly let me poke and poke and poke, but no blood. I tried a paw too. Nothing but a growling swatting cat from that attempt. I have watched the videos, used a flashlight, warmed the ear, aimed for the sweet spot, etc. No blood. Today I thought I would cleverly get some different lancets so I could manually poke him instead of using the pen. He jerked his head and I ended up ripping the edge of his ear. Sigh. Sadly not enough blood to get a good sample. He let me squeeze way more than he should have, poor guy.
I have read posts saying to be patient, etc. I want to be patient. And my kitty boy is enduring this more than I thought he would. But we need to get the tumors out of his body, so I feel like I don't have time to be patient.
Any suggestions? Bigger needles perhaps? Until his ear learns to bleed? I saw a post suggesting 26-28 gauge. Could that be the key?
Thanks for all the great info on this site. I was overwhelmed by that first insulin shot, but he took it like a champ. And now it is just an easy part of the day. But this blood testing is really frustrating me.
Since starting insulin shots Jan 17, (Lantus, 2 units every 12 hrs) he is drinking less and peeing less, and has more energy. So this is good. However I do want to do home testing of blood sugar for all the reasons you all already know. But I can't get any blood from his ear! I have Accu Chek Aviva glucometer, which came with a Multiclix pen. Lancets are 30 gauge - too thin maybe? Charlie has surprisingly let me poke and poke and poke, but no blood. I tried a paw too. Nothing but a growling swatting cat from that attempt. I have watched the videos, used a flashlight, warmed the ear, aimed for the sweet spot, etc. No blood. Today I thought I would cleverly get some different lancets so I could manually poke him instead of using the pen. He jerked his head and I ended up ripping the edge of his ear. Sigh. Sadly not enough blood to get a good sample. He let me squeeze way more than he should have, poor guy.
I have read posts saying to be patient, etc. I want to be patient. And my kitty boy is enduring this more than I thought he would. But we need to get the tumors out of his body, so I feel like I don't have time to be patient.
Any suggestions? Bigger needles perhaps? Until his ear learns to bleed? I saw a post suggesting 26-28 gauge. Could that be the key?
Thanks for all the great info on this site. I was overwhelmed by that first insulin shot, but he took it like a champ. And now it is just an easy part of the day. But this blood testing is really frustrating me.
