Easier to get blood from a stone - can't find FF Classic in stores

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Zipdrive

Zipdrive

Member Since 2017
I bet I could get blood from a stone easier then getting it from Simone's ear or paw pad. This cat must be a quart low or not of this earth as she just does not bleed, LOL.

The other day I tried to get blood from both her paw pads and the sweet spot on her ear but no go. Granted the poking of the rear large pad was easier then the ear, but I couldn't even milk out and blood, though she did enjoy the foot massage.

Today though I did manage to get a sample from the ear so at least it's a start. Too bad her BG level was still really high at 20.1 mmol/L about 4 hours after her 2u Lantus dose. I'm going to try a fasting sample tomorrow and hopefully I can get some blood.

With wanting to switch Simone to wet food I went to 4 stores today looking for the Fancy Feast Classic food, but no go. Same for the Friskies variety. The stores in my area just don't carry any choices with "Classic" on the label. So is it OK to get the Pate versions like these:

https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/purina...ner-cat-food/6000071408703?rrid=richrelevance

https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/purina-friskies-turkey-giblets-dinner-cat-food/6000001836139

I live in a small community so there are not a lot of choices for brick & mortar stores other then Walmart, Real Canadian SuperStore, and a couple independent grocers. There are 2 small pet supply stores but they too are independent and pricey.

Thanks.
 
What size lancet are you using? They should be pretty big (smaller numbers, 26 or 28) when you are first starting out or using the paw, usually marked "alternate site" on the box. The ones that come with the meters are usually thinner 30 or 33 gauge, great for human fingers (or experienced kitty ears), but too thin when you are first starting.
 
Zipdrive, I had the same problem with Noah. Only his left ear is any use, his right is a vascular wasteland. He's old and can get cranky about his paws so that's a no-go especially with the litter that gets stuck between his pads. Superstore/Loblaws and Metro sometimes sells BD 33 gauge lancets, they're hard to get. They're also very long and I've gone right through Noah's and Nigel's ears hundreds of times over 5+ years, what a nightmare. Now I use Freestyle 28 gauge which are much shorter and will not go through the ear, a painful lesson to learn. It's more like driving a nail through Noah's ear but it's either one poke with that or five no-blood pokes with the 33 gauge. N2CATS
PS I have some old zipdrive blanks in the basement next to my floppy disks, want em?
 
Chris & China said:
In Canada, the Fancy Feast "Classics" are called Fancy Feast "pates"

The Friskies you got are fine too

Are you warming up the ear (or pawpad) good before trying to poke? It can really help....also, you can poke twice close together so if you only get a little from each "hole" you will get enough from two
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I'll pick up some individual tins today so as to try and get her to at least taste it. Yes I have been warming up her ear and paw with a warm water filled pill bottle, then I place a cotton pad behind the ear then poke it freehand with the lancet. With using the lancet plunger I find that it's size blocks my view of the sweet spot on her ear. It's bad enough my eyesight is going so I don't need any thing else to hinder what I need to do.

Nan & Amber said:
What size lancet are you using? They should be pretty big (smaller numbers, 26 or 28) when you are first starting out or using the paw, usually marked "alternate site" on the box. The ones that come with the meters are usually thinner 30 or 33 gauge, great for human fingers (or experienced kitty ears), but too thin when you are first starting.
Click to expand...

Getting a larger gauge lancet was mentioned to me in my introduction thread but with running all over yesterday looking for the "classic" wet food I forgot to ask at the pharmacy about them. It's been added to my shopping list for today. Getting old(er) sucks.
 
Noah & me said:
PS I have some old zipdrive blanks in the basement next to my floppy disks, want em?
Click to expand...

LOL. It's because of my extensive use of the old Iomega Parallel port Zipdrive back in the 90's, before CD burners, that my buddies nicked named me after it and it's stuck. Thing is I never developed the click or death like my drive did.

I'll check the SuperStore pharmacy for the larger qauge lancets, thanks.
 
Hope the larger lancets work for you. We're paw pad testers, and using the alternate site lancets made a big difference for us (as did warming the paw and Neosporin to help the blood bead up).

Hang in there - it does get easier! :)
 
Managed to find a pharmacy that carried 28 gauge lancets and they do work better. I also bought a few different tins of Fancy Feast and Friskies for Simone to try and so far so good. I put a 1/4 tin of Fancy Feast Chopped Grilled Feast in a bowl and sprinkled on a few of her kibble and she is eating it so at least it's a start.

Shelly & Jersey said:
Hope the larger lancets work for you. We're paw pad testers, and using the alternate site lancets made a big difference for us (as did warming the paw and Neosporin to help the blood bead up).

Hang in there - it does get easier! :)
Click to expand...

The larger lancets did work better. I found it a lot easier to get a blood sample from her ear this afternoon. I use the Canadian equalivant of Neosporin - Polysporin as it does help the blood bead up. She seems to like the warm water pill bottle against her ear too. I'm going to try her pads with the bigger lancet and see how that goes.

Now with the testing starting to show promise I'm going to begin recording her levels throughout the day and go from there. I done a BG test 2 hrs before her evening dose today and her level was quite high at 16.9 mmol/L (304) so we've got a ways to go yet, but at least I can see what's going on without taking her to the vet. With eating a little wet food and hopefully more during the week it will be interesting to see how the BG levels change.
 
Hope this is some help.
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