Hometesting hell....

[Sue and Polly]

My cat was diagnosed on 9th March and started insulin on the 10th. As explained in previous posts, we 've had a bit of a roller coaster with a bout of pancreatitis and refusing to eat but she has been on 1 unit of insulin (caninsulin) twice a day for the last 2 weeks. She started off on 1 u went to a half and now back to 1. She went to the vet last week for a glucose curve and is still not right, in fact it is worse. She has lost more weight (I'm so disappointed and upset by that), her back legs are really not good and, having started to pull myself together, now feel back where we started. I know I have to be patient but am beginning to despair that we can overcome this. She will not eat any sort of meat product - unlike her siblings she has never even eaten a mouse although she loves catching and playing with them - and the vet thinks we are better to keep her on her biscuits as at least she will eat (she has never been overweight). When she was in hospital the vet tried every sort of food but she steadfastly refused to eat them. The vet has started her on a course of Methyl B12 injections and over the weekend her legs were a little better but she is still not well. The vet very kindly came to the house on her day off to show me how to home test but she couldn't draw blood from her ear despite three attempts using different size needles (although she said she had been successful in the surgery). I then tried three times yesterday, using every trick garnered from hours of trawling through posts and articles (and numerous videos showing how easy it is) but she simply wouldn't stay still long enough for me to attempt to poke her (although I did get my finger). I tried restraint (she went mad and was so distressed I gave that up very quickly), waited till she was sleepy, clothes peg trick, hot sock, treats, analgesic for her ear etc. etc.. I never pushed it too far and left a decent interval between attempts but by the end we were both very frazzled. My only other thought is to go and get a feliway diffuser in case that might help keep her calm. I am desperate to help her but I am at a loss to know what to do next. She is, by the way, quite unperturbed by her injections so I wonder if it was just I wasn't quick enough? Having said that she has never been keen on having her ears or feet touched!

 

[Sue and Oliver (GA)]

I am sorry you and Polly are having such a hard time. If you would like to post your city and state and ask for hometesting help, maybe we have a member who lives near you. If she really doesn't want you messing with her ears, we do have some people testing paws. A targeted new topic there might draw some eyes.

One thing that helped us was to really heat the ear; leave the rice sack there for a minute or more. Also use a bigger gauge lancet - 25 to 27 gauge is good. You can double poke to make a bigger hole. Have something behind the ear to poke against - the rice sack or a folded kleenix.

As we have said, Canninsulin is a difficult insulin to work with. If you have other choices like Lantus, Levemir or PZI, it would be better for you and Polly.

The trouble with her legs is probably neuropathy: http://petdiabetes.wikia.com/wiki/Neuropathy The Methyl B12 will help as will getting her regulated. But it does take awhile.

 

[Kathyh]

My heart goes out to you. I had lots of trouble with this in the beginning too. Did a couple of things, you might have tried. I sprinkled cat nip all over a towel and then wrapped Maisey in it, best I could. After she settled a bit, I found her head. I warm her sock in the microwave for 33 seconds, test it on my wrist and when I'm sure it's not too warm, I wrap it around the ear I want to test, and try to leave it for 2 minutes. Usually rubbing under her chin with other hand. When I go to test, I put pressure down on Maisey with on the the arm holding the sock, she can't squiggle away that way because her legs can't work. Until I got the large lancets I got good at poking 2-3 times really quickly. Now I can use the fine lancets just once - I think the ears need training.
Maisey didn't like wet food most of her life. I worked on it fairly gradually, and have discovered she likes it much more if it's soupy or like gravy. Again, I have resorted to catnip on top, my cats all LOVE catnip. Have you tried poaching a little fish? That usually gets Maisey's attention, I "accidently" drop pieces on the floor and then I can add it and the water to canned food, that I know has all the other stuff she needs, and it works for a couple of meals.

 

[Sophia]

we did have a terrib le time with Sophia too. DH and I had to do it together. I put Sophia on the side and held her down that way.. she still has her claws so we had to be careful. Our neighbor felt that this was terrible and we should just pts her... which I thought would b e horrible. After that 'ordeal' she would jump down and purr again and never held it against us..