Home testing problems

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Rachel

Rachel

Member Since 2013
I finally managed to get home testing for Gypsy to work. We've been doing tests before each meal and shot. She doesn't love it but tolerates it and her ear is getting better at bleeding. For some reason though, last night and this AM she wont tolerate it. I pretty much had to hold her down last night...and her reading was 235 which is about 15 points higher than norm. I think it may have been from the stress (it took several tries and about 15-20 min to get the reading). This AM I didn't want to put her through it so after 10 min of struggling to get her to sit still on my lap I just let her go without testing. I didn't want to forcefully hold her down since I don't think the reading would be accurate. What do you suggest? Is it better to do it even if the readings are higher due to the struggle or not? I don't know why she suddenly just freaks out about this !!
 
You are consistently giving a snack each time? Do you use a new lancet each time? Are you warming her ear so it is nice and warm?

One thing that might help is to get the drop on your fingernail if she is ready to bolt. You can test from there.
 
Does she like being scratched in a certain place? My TooToo calms right down when I massage under his chin. He also likes his ears massaged which seems to get blood moving too. I know all cats are different, and it might not work for you. I do a few minutes of massage before picking up the lancet. Then he hardly notices when I prick ear. Talking to him and kissing seems to help too. I make quite a production, and anyone watching.... well...But it seems to work.:-)

Debbie
 
Thanks for the tips. I tried again tonight...no luck. She squirms around so much that I can't even try to prick. Holding her down is clearly a bad option. The way the vet showed me to pricked is the vein. The stuff I've seen here looks like the side of the ear though...you don't need to prick on a vein? Can you do from the back of the ear or is the front better?

I'm so discouraged...we were doing well all week and then yesterday she decided she was over it. I do give a treat after but she doesn't even want it anymore...just wants to get as far from me as possible. I have no idea what to do.
 
Burrito wrap:

Place towel on floor.

Place cat halfway between the ends.

Wrap each end around the cat, including paws.

Additional restraint may be done by kneeling straddled over the cat and compressing your thighs along the cat's body and slightly sitting over the cat to reduce upward motion.

Test from there.
 
Most people poke the back of the ear. If you have a darker colored cat, that's when the front usually works better (with Henry who is black-eared, I sometimes use the front of his ear). You don't want to aim for the vein long-term, but when first starting out, that makes things easier to get blood. You want to aim anywhere along the ear in between the vein and the outer ear. Their ears grow more capillaries with the pokes (it's called angiogenesis) and "learn to bleed" over time. This usually takes a couple of weeks to a month or two and their ears can look rather horrible and bruised, but it all clears up and gets better. My vet is always wowed when he sees Michelangelo because he can't even tell I test him 4 to +10 times a day and I almost exclusively test him on his right ear (it bleeds better than his left and he prefers me testing it over his left).

Also, try to make a point to spend more time with her each day in excess of the testing. Approach her and pet her and walk away so she knows that it's not every time you see her, you're trying to test her.
 
Heres some more tips https://docs.google.com/document/d/13c_CPZVKz27fD_6aVbsguadJKvjSrSAkD7flgPPhEag/pub

I dont hold my boys. I try and wait till they are nice and sleepy and I go up and start stroking them and their ears, then its poky poky test treat done. And sometimes I do it without the poky poky so they dont assume its always poky. But they dont mind the poky. as lond as they get the treat.

Are you using the tool or freehanding the lancet?


Wendy
 
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