First Post and Lots of Problems

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Jeremy & Henry the Cat

Jeremy & Henry the Cat

Member Since 2012
Hello! I got my testing kit today and tried my first round of home testing. Fail! I couldn't get ANY blood to appear. I used flashlight to find the vein, I warmed the ear, and I stuck a few times inside and few times outside. No luck. :sad: I guess practice makes perfect. But my cat Henry has historically had pretty high blood sugar, so it's upsetting not being able to check it for myself! I'll try again in a couple hours, after his shot I guess. I just thought I'd vent a bit here and see if anyone had any tips! Any alternative spots I could try maybe? He's got black fur, so it may be easier for me to spot the blood on the inside. He's always stubborn! GRR!!

Thanks for reading and I'm glad to be part of this forum! So many helpful cat lovers!
 
We spent a weekend poking poor Oliver before we got a drop of blood. It's a matter of figuring out what works for Henry and you. Do you have something behind the ear when you poke? We used a small makeup sponge; some people use a folded up kleenix. What size lancets? 25-28 gauge make a bigger hole for new diabetics. You can always double poke too. A quick second poke in the same spot as the first.

Others will have ideas of things that helped them. Keep trying; it will work. And remember, a treat always, whether successful or not.
 
I didn't have anything behind the ear, I'll try that next! I'm not sure what size the lancets are, they came with the donated kit from this site. How can I find out? And sadly, Henry just scoffs at treats! I've never found a treat he likes, except maybe some chicken or crushed up tortilla chips! Stubborn, like I said!
 
Hello.
The tortilla chips would be hi carb. Not so good for diabetics.
If he likes chicken, that sounds like a good place to start. You could boil some and cut up pieces for treats , that freezes so you could just
pull out little snack size ziplocs for each day. Or baked.

Do you have a lancing device or just lancets? And is there a name on them. I can look up most gauges to find out if you have too fine a gauge.
The fine gauge are harder for newly poked ears. The needle is so fine that it makes to tiny of a hole and will take more pokes to get a successful drop. It does work, I did it for weeks before buying a larger gauge.
After a few weeks, the ears will get more capillaries forming in response to all the poking.
These are ears in training. It does get better especially when you figure out what works.

I have a cat with black ears too , and early on I took some scissors and trimmed a little hair off, tried shaving but it was too much hair.
So you definitely need light to see when the blood starts to bead up.
It helps to put some Neosporin ointment ( not cream) with pain reliever, just a tiny dab on before the poke and then after for pain relief and healing.
When you put the ointent on before, it helps the blood to bead up and that also makes it easier to see. It's hard to see if it's running and soaking into the hair.
I use a folded up paper towel and make sure I have adequate pressure behind the place I"m poking.
 
Yeah, I didn't figure the chips were hat good for him. He mostly comes sniffing around when I'M eating them so I have to give an offering to get him to leave me be! That's a really good idea about the chicken bits! I should keep some on hand for him. He also loves lunch meat of just about any kind! More often than not I have a rotisserie chicken I can pick bits off of for him.

I checked again and he has Bayer Microlet lancets and a OneTouch device. The Neosporin tip sounds good, I have some here and I'll try that the next time around. Thanks for all of your help!
 
It looks like those might be 28 gauge unless they are the newest one on the market which are 30 gauge.
The smaller the number , the better. I had a 30 gauge at first and it was a lot more difficult than when I switched to a 28.

If you device has an adjustment for depth, it may also help to put it on a higher setting. Most of us practice on ourselves to see.
You don't want it to be set so high that it goes thru the ear. And as the ears bleed easier over time, you can go to a softer setting.
Here is the comparison chart I found.

http://www.walgreens.com/marketing/library/centers/diabetes/lancets.jsp

Do look on your food labels of lunchmeats to make sure you are avoiding sugar.
I was sharing a strip of bacon and then found out it was sugar cured. :o I also discovered it in the higher bg. :roll:
There are usually some available where they don't add the no no's for our kitties.

Hope the next few tests go better.

It would be nice if you started a spreadsheet , I also keep a written notebook too, just in case of power failure or internet outages
but the ss they have here is very nice.
spreadsheet info
 
I second the recommendation for larger (smaller gage number... it gets confusing :smile: ) lancets. The poking went MUCH more easily for me when I switched. Luckily lancets are pretty cheap and can be picked up at any drugstore in the gage size you want. As mentioned, 25 or 26 is a good number to start with.
 
How about free handing the poke and not using the device.

I found the devices to be too challenging and I just free handed. If you try this way, poke at an upward 45 degree ish angle. Here is a pic of what I mean:

101_0669.jpg


For black ears, use a flashlight. I have a handheld one that I put between my teeth and used like a spot light. It kept my hands free and let me angle as needed to focus on the poking area.

Maui isn't a treat girl either, her treat is getting brushed. If Henry likes to be brushed, you could use that as his special time.

And are you poking in the correct place?

sweetspot.jpg


You want to aim for the area between the vein and edge of ear.

I always poke from the inside of the ear to the outside (front to back). I know others poke from the outside in (back to front). This may work for you.

And he has two ears, don't be afraid to try both. Sometimes one bleeds better than the other.
 
Well, another night of failure. I warmed his ear with the sock, I applied Neosporin, I put a folded paper towel behind the ear when I stuck him, I even got some blood to come out. The meter just read ER4. Apparently that's an error for moving the meter, which I didn't do. To be honest, this is all getting very frustrating and I'm already at my wits end!!!! Poor Henry sure doesn't like getting his ears all stuck up either. :( I'll try again tomorrow I guess.
 
Moving the test strip can cause the machine to display an "Er4" error message. One Touch is a good meter and the strips sip fast. This too shall pass but don't give up or get discouraged. In a week you'll be a pro at it :mrgreen: Once you've sipped the blood, lay the meter down so you don't accidently move the strip. It only takes 5 seconds to get a reading once the blood is in the strip. If you get a good drop of blood, just put the end of the strip into the blood. You don't have to line the end of the strip right up to the blood, just get it in the blood starting at the bottom of the drop. It grabs the blood quickly.
 
My cats are really picky....they aren't even interested in people food. But they LOVE freeze dried chicken. Go absolutely bonkers for it.
 
I take boneless/skinless chicken breast and bake it. Then I put it in my food processor, process it into little bits, put about a cup to a cup and a half into a Ziploc freezer bag and then freeze it. Lizzy comes running when she hears me go to the fridge, now. Her brother was not much of a treat guy, is now due to the chicken. He thinks he has to have a treat when I test Lizzy.

Also, hang in there on the testing. It may be you need to find the right spot on the ear. Lizzy does not give much blood when I test higher on the ear. It took me a while to figure out I have to use the middle to just below the middle of the ear and that I have to be very close to the edge of the ear. Lizzy has black hair on her ears, too, so I use the under side of the ear where there is less hair and it is much easier to see the blood to test.

Good luck!

Andy
 
Another thought if you are concerned about moving the meter is to gather the blood on your finger nail and put the strip to your nail to sip.

this works for kitties who don't like to sit still long enough and for tempermental meters too.
 
I was going to suggest that, too Hillary. I put the blood on my fingernail, just scoop it up off the ear. THEN put the strip in the meter. You can get it out of the canister but wait until you get the blood before seating it in the meter. That helped me greatly.
 
That's a great suggestion! I'll try that tonight! He certainly doesn't like sitting still through the process. Last night I gave him a good brushing afterwards though, so maybe that will help too!
 
oooh brushing is Maui's favorite form of treat. If I didn't brush her after poking, she would sit in the same spot and wait for me to get a clue. Sometimes she would turn and meow at me just to remind me that I can't do a poke without brushing. Even if the brushing was only 1 minute, I had to give her brushes after every poke.
 
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