Frustrated/blood sugar testing

Status
Not open for further replies.
Roops

Roops

Member Since 2019
Bit frustrated. Trying to take blood from Rupie's ear to test for blood sugar at home. Not going so well. Last time ended up getting 2 error reading from AlphaTrak 2 glucose monitor...yet had good sample. Finally gave up for that day.

No better this morning. Same thing. Today our boy not so giving. Poked his ear in several places. I was using my own One Touch lancet but will be using those with AlphaTrak kit. Ran out of One touch one. AlphaTrak might work better. Larger lancet with AlphaTrak. Have pricked my own finger while poking cat's ear...so I know I'm making contact.

We are warming his ears with a bean bag prior to poking, rubbing them as well to warm them up. And 'milking' the ear...trying to get enough blood before what blood there is coagulates. Use a flashlight too. Monitor timed out on us this morning. Frustrated again. btw we do keep the glucose stick loose in AlphaTrak glucose monitor before fully pushing it in when we think there is a big enough sample to test.

Question...do you wash your hands before doing test. Can sugar etc be transferred from your hands, or lips to cat's ear? I know washing of hands is necessary when testing people.

Also how many times should his blood be tested throughout the day.

Has anyone ever had problems with Alphatrak monitor or glucose sticks. Is it possible to use my own One touch and covert numbers over. I know or think mine glucose sticks and lancets cheaper.
 
Most of us use human meters here due to the insane cost of the AlphaTrak strips....the important thing is to pick one meter and stick with it.

All our protocols here were written with human meters in mind, so we're all very familiar with them. At low numbers, a human and pet meter are actually pretty close. The "time to act" on a human meter is when they drop below 50....On a pet meter, it's when they drop below 68.

Roops said:
Also how many times should his blood be tested throughout the day.
Click to expand...

Preferably (if possible) as many times as you can, but always before each shot (to make sure they're high enough for insulin at all, and then (if possible) at least 1 test mid-cycle on the AM cycle (5 to 7 hours after the shot) and then at least 1 test "before bed" on the PM cycle. If you can't get mid-cycle tests during the day due to work, it's even more important to get a couple of tests on the PM cycle.

Most cats go lower at night, so it really is important to get at least that "before bed" test in and if they're dropping too quickly, set an alarm to get more tests later in the cycle.

One trick you can try when you're testing is to scrape the blood onto your fingernail (which should be clean of course) and then test from the drop on your nail
 
Chris and China
Thank you for helping. I'm a Canadian, so our blood sugar numbers are slightly different than those in the US. But I know there are charts online to convert our glucose reading to US numbers. https://www.joslin.org/info/conversion_table_for_blood_glucose_monitoring.html I had no idea that human and pet meters were pretty close. My daughter did ask about using my One Touch (given free here by diabetic clinic) but it was not an option. I did not know most cats go lower at night. I will be paying close attention. I have noticed Rupie is playful first thing in the morning and very attentive. I am an early morning riser about 4 a.m. Thank you also for that trick of scrape the blood onto your fingernail. A very good idea. We will be trying it. I will be sharing all this information with my children.
 
I'm curious, which OneTouch model do you have? I had several Ultras left over from DH, but they all require a larger blood sample than I could get easily from Catcat, however I was recently told that the Verio needs only a .4 sample; strips for that are, I'm guessing, less expensive than the Alpha Trak's

I have a 5 am "alarm cat" who won't stay still for me to apply meter to blood droplet; my fingernails are too short :nailbiting:; so I use a tiny plastic sample spoon I got from Baskin-Robbins ice cream, I can scoop up the droplet off his ear with that, then insert test strip into meter without rush and panic, and sample the blood from the spoon without bugging Catcat
 
I use two of the older One Touch meters that require 1 ul of blood. They are good bleeders, especially in the summer. When I started many years ago I used the One Touch meters (they were new at the time) and they required 1 ul of blood. I stopped using them because the cost of the One Touch strips go too expensive, almost what the AlphaTrak strips are now so I stopped using the One Touch meters. Now I uses "generic" One Touch (GenUltimate) strips. They are $31 for 200 strips.
 
Roops said:
Question...do you wash your hands before doing test. Can sugar etc be transferred from your hands, or lips to cat's ear? I know washing of hands is necessary when testing people.
Click to expand...
I'm always careful to wash my hands before I test Jack. I know it's not the same as piercing our own skin to test our own BG, but I'm still concerned that maybe my hand lotion or something else will transfer onto that glucose stick. By the way, I used the fingernail trick for a couple of months, as I found it so much easier to sip it off of my nail than to struggle to get it from his ear. It's gotten easier however, and now I sometimes just sip it right from Jack's ear. I also warm his ear by filling an empty pill bottle with hot water. The ear wraps nicely around the bottle, and I hold it there for a little bit to warm it up. And as far as going lower at night, every cat is different. Jack has always run lower on his am cycle than has p.m. cycle.
 
CandyH and Catcat said:
I'm curious, which OneTouch model do you have? I had several Ultras left over from DH, but they all require a larger blood sample than I could get easily from Catcat, however I was recently told that the Verio needs only a .4 sample; strips for that are, I'm guessing, less expensive than the Alpha Trak's

I have a 5 am "alarm cat" who won't stay still for me to apply meter to blood droplet; my fingernails are too short :nailbiting:; so I use a tiny plastic sample spoon I got from Baskin-Robbins ice cream, I can scoop up the droplet off his ear with that, then insert test strip into meter without rush and panic, and sample the blood from the spoon without bugging Catcat
Click to expand...

Dear Catcat
I have a OneTouch Delica. It was given to me a couple of years ago. I don't use it anymore. I never needed to take insulin myself. Pills and weight loss did the trick. I think at that time a pack of lancets were about $40 CAD, and the glucose sticks about 75 each to a dollar. Roops doesn't get me up. I just get up. I will admit since he has gotten worse with neuropathy, I am not sleeping well. I get up sometimes before 4 just to be with him and keep him company.
 
Larry and Kitties said:
I use two of the older One Touch meters that require 1 ul of blood. They are good bleeders, especially in the summer. When I started many years ago I used the One Touch meters (they were new at the time) and they required 1 ul of blood. I stopped using them because the cost of the One Touch strips go too expensive, almost what the AlphaTrak strips are now so I stopped using the One Touch meters. Now I uses "generic" One Touch (GenUltimate) strips. They are $31 for 200 strips.
Click to expand...


Dear Larry and Kitties That is a very good price for strips. I wonder if they are available up here. I will be asking around.
 
Daddy Jack's Mommy said:
I'm always careful to wash my hands before I test Jack. I know it's not the same as piercing our own skin to test our own BG, but I'm still concerned that maybe my hand lotion or something else will transfer onto that glucose stick. By the way, I used the fingernail trick for a couple of months, as I found it so much easier to sip it off of my nail than to struggle to get it from his ear. It's gotten easier however, and now I sometimes just sip it right from Jack's ear. I also warm his ear by filling an empty pill bottle with hot water. The ear wraps nicely around the bottle, and I hold it there for a little bit to warm it up. And as far as going lower at night, every cat is different. Jack has always run lower on his am cycle than has p.m. cycle.
Click to expand...


Dear Jack's Mommy. It's early days for us here. We are just beginning to test at home. Time will tell if Rupie runs higher toward the evening compared to morning. We were finally able to get a sample of blood to be tested about five today. It took several tries. I find the lancet/pen useless that comes with the alphatrak kit. I was pushing the button but not piercing his flesh. Finally we just used the lancet. that worked. My daughter took the sample from inside his ear. His blood sugar is on the high side but I am not surprised. I expected it. I don't think he is feeling the best. I have noticed him urinating more or larger spots but it is not as strong (ammonia smell) as it was when he was first diagnosed. He was tested for ketosis at the time. Not sure if a A1C or the equivalent was done or not. Tonight's reading was 19.5 or 350. We will be giving him 4 units of Prozinc tonight. We offered him 2 or 3 Temptations after the test but he was not interested. I think I will be giving him some probiotics in his wet cat food tonight. I think his tummy may be off again. Seems every time I try to switch his food his tummy/digestive system goes off. Thank you for sharing your experiences with me. Sorry about the bold print. I can't get it off for some reason.
 
I was warned to be cautious with Temptations, they are very high carb -- I'm saving mine now in case Catcat shows a very low BG, threatening hypo -- I look at ingredients and see: chicken byproducts meal, ground corn, animal fat, meat byproducts, brewers rice, wheat flour, brewers yeast, plus flavors, vitamins, and preservatives

Catcat loves it when I give him catnip sprinkled on his treat, I'm giving him the canned seafood stuff as treats, also dried sardines and bonito flakes (the winner) -- there's fish included in some of his regular food but it's primarily poultry or beef, some with liver

I haven't stayed up past normal bedtime to see how he's doing at night, but the +3 values are usually right at the top of "normal" or a little higher -- I'm getting by with 5 or 6 hours of sleep when my body really wants 9 to 10

what I'm hearing is that it's sort of a trade-off, insulin is less expensive in Canada, test strips are more expensive -- we usually go through Vancouver BC in late fall, I'm hoping to schedule a stop at Mark's Marine to get the insulin in person, save that $25 shipping since we would be going that way anyway --

if there are Canadian members in that area who need USA-cheaper or unobtainable-in-Canada products at that time, I'd be open to trading, save the hassle of customs going across border -- since we're traveling up for time-share week, we're seen as "no threat" -- have never been hassled when I bring back fluconazole for my personal use, USA = Rx, Canada = OTC

the many-years expired strips still kicking around here, were covered under Kaiser's HMO policy, not even sure if we had to pay a copay, their "first time kit" included meter, several boxes of strips, several packs of lancets, lancet pen, and antibiotic/sanitizing wipes

remember, though, I'm still a newbie -- some of what I know is from experience with human diabetics and prediabetics, some is gleaned from the message board here, what a godsend .. both the people and the information
 
Last edited:
Roops said:
Bit frustrated. Trying to take blood from Rupie's ear to test for blood sugar at home. Not going so well. Last time ended up getting 2 error reading from AlphaTrak 2 glucose monitor...yet had good sample. Finally gave up for that day.

No better this morning. Same thing. Today our boy not so giving. Poked his ear in several places. I was using my own One Touch lancet but will be using those with AlphaTrak kit. Ran out of One touch one. AlphaTrak might work better. Larger lancet with AlphaTrak. Have pricked my own finger while poking cat's ear...so I know I'm making contact.

We are warming his ears with a bean bag prior to poking, rubbing them as well to warm them up. And 'milking' the ear...trying to get enough blood before what blood there is coagulates. Use a flashlight too. Monitor timed out on us this morning. Frustrated again. btw we do keep the glucose stick loose in AlphaTrak glucose monitor before fully pushing it in when we think there is a big enough sample to test.

Question...do you wash your hands before doing test. Can sugar etc be transferred from your hands, or lips to cat's ear? I know washing of hands is necessary when testing people.

Also how many times should his blood be tested throughout the day.

Has anyone ever had problems with Alphatrak monitor or glucose sticks. Is it possible to use my own One touch and covert numbers over. I know or think mine glucose sticks and lancets cheaper.
Click to expand...
Are you sure you are dipping the little protruding points sticking out from the side of the strip into the drop? You are dipping, not trying to scoop the drop onto the black dot, correct?
 
After piercing my own finger quite a few times I found that rolling up a single piece of toilet paper into a long rectangle and placing it on the underside of Bella's ear gives me a little bit of protection from the lancet. I also first tried with the pen but found it mostly pretty useless and just go straight for using the lancet.
 
I only use the lancet too, without using the lancing device. I have much better control without that little contraption. And you may have already read this or been told this by other members (maybe too many times?), but Rupie's ears really will start to bleed more after he's poked and poked again. As you keep sticking him, new capillaries will grow in his little ears, and he'll bleed more. You're doing a fabulous job, as testing is one of the most challenging things for so many of us. (I never thought it could/would actually get easy to do, as it was so frustrating in the beginning.) And... no worries about the bold print! I thought you were just really serious about what you were saying. :woot:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top