Glucose - urine instead of blood measurements?

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bodhithecat

Member Since 2019
Our Bo was just diagnosed with diabetes last week. We have really been having trouble getting enough blood to test his glucose. Even at the vet it took them a few tries. We have tried multiple locations, tried using the gun, without it and just pricking it with the tool. We can usually get a tiny bit but it never seems to be enough to make the glucometer tell us his reading. Maybe it will get easier in time but I was wondering if anyone uses urine to check on the glucose levels regularly instead? Is that doable?
 
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

Above is a link to how to home test kitty’s blood. It does take a few days so don’t expect to be able to do it the first few times. We all started off where you are now. Confused, frightened and sure we would never succeed. But we all did!!
Testing the blood is MUCH safer than just testing the urine. A urine test will tell you how the blood sugar has been since kitty last peed. So if he peed 12 hours ago and then again just now and you test it, you will get an average of the last 12 hours .... and he could have been really high in the beginning but now really low.
If I were you I would start off picking a spot where you are going to test every time and take kitty there and just play with and rub his ears for a day. Give him a treat every time.
Do you have a large enough lancet? A 26 or 28 gauge is best to start with.
Warm the ear with a sock filled with rice and warm in the microwave but check it is only warm not hot.
Kneel down then sit on your heels and put kitty between your knees facing away from you. You then have him restricted but not held tightly and easy access to his ear. Try and relax when doing it. Humming helps.
Be prepared for a few failures in the beginning. Always give a treat to kitty even on failed attempts. It can take a couple of weeks for the ears to learn to bleed but you will succeed. Everyone starts off like you and it becomes very routine I promise. It might help to give him a small low carb treat while you are testing to distract him.

Testing the blood sugars is definitely a much safer way and you will be able to see how the insulin is working in kitty’s body.
Can you tell us what type of insulin and dose you are giving and the type of meter please.
Are you feeding a low carb diet?
Keep asking lots of questions as it is a steep learning curve in the beginning and we are very happy to help you get on the right track. :)
Bron
 
Thanks, that is good to know - will try and use some of that info to get better at testing his levels via blood.
We do have a 28 gauge lancet. Maybe the warming will help move some blood to his ear, good idea. Bo loves food so much I am worried about getting food out distracting him too much but we have been trying to give him treats after. We will make sure to be consistent with it.
Right now we have the alphatrak and are giving him 2 units of Prozinc.
We have him on an all wet food diet now, but are also considering making out own.

Thank you :)
 
You might like to set up your signature. It's easy. Just go to the top right of this page and click on your user name . Choose signature and tell us yours and kitty's name, date of diagnosis, type of insulin and meter, any other illnesses or medications. Country you live in. This will then appear at the bottom of all your posts and we won't have to keep asking you questions.
You might also like to set up Bo's spreadsheet as we use it all the time to help you. I will post the link at the bottom of the post. If you have any trouble just post and ask for help.
I would recommend you start posting over on the Prozinc page where there are people who use Prozinc all the time who will help you.
Prozinc link
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/prozinc-pzi.24/
Spreadsheet link
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
 
Unfortunately glucose strips only tell you they're over renal threshold and spilling glucose into the urine. That renal threshold is 230-250 for most cats. It won't tell you how FAR above 250 that number is nor does the absence of glucose tell you anything more than their short term glucose was between too low and 230.

It takes time and repeat testing for their ears to 'learn to bleed'. Technically every time you poke, their bodies grow small capillaries to that wound to heal it. After a couple of weeks of testing, you've got lots of those small capillaries which is what gives you the blood drop almost every time. Remember tho' - cold or even cool ears don't bleed - they're cold because there's very little blood running thru them. Of course you can't get blood! The warmer the ears, the better they bleed so use that warm rice sock

You CAN do this! Give it a couple of weeks of struggling and you'll then look back and wonder what all the big deal was...promise!
 
To a degree the urine test strips do tell how high blood glucose is above the renal threshold. That is because the typical glucose test pad is not a go/no go reading. I am looking at some Bayer strips and they list 5 different degrees of how much glucose is in the urine. The higher the degree, the higher the BG would be.
 
Good I know that now about the urine. And that is interesting! I didn't know that doing that more (poking) would increase our ability to get the blood or how large a role temperature could play. It is pretty cold here (and we don't really have any control over the temperature in our current housing situation).
We finally got a reading for him today! The tips helped.
 
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