How do you warm up your cat's ears to draw blood?

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Cat Ma

Cat Ma

Member Since 2015
What do you use to warm up your cat's ear before poking it for blood?

I've seen some suggestions i.e. warm water in a pill bottle, damp wash cloth inside a plastic bag, warm rice filled socks.

Other ideas?

I've tried massaging my cat's ear, like all the videos I've seen show, and get blood to come out but it doesn't bead enough to get it on to the strip for a reading.
 
In the morning my cats ears are very cold and I do the warm wet washcloth in a plastic bag. Later in the day they seem to warm up and I don't need it.
 
Try massaging towards the tip of the ear. After you poke it, you may have to continue massaging it towards the tip to get the blood out.
 
It took me awhile to be able to get a large enough blood drop to test, but to warm out my cat's ears I use a small pill bottle filled with hot water and kind of wrap the outside of the ear around the bottle (not tucking it inside the ear). A couple of minutes seems to do the trick if his ear is cold. It does get much easier!
 
All these tips are very helpful. Thank you.

A warning in the videos should say "This is harder than it looks!"
 
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It might help to put a little Neosporin oinment (not cream) or Vaseline on the ear first..just a tiny bit though, you don't want to put so much on that it gunks up the strip, but by using one or the other, the blood will bead up a lot easier
 
Chris & China said:
It might help to put a little Neosporin oinment (not cream) or Vaseline on the ear first..just a tiny bit though, you don't want to put so much on that it gunks up the strip, but by using one or the other, the blood will bead up a lot easier
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Thought ear had to be completely dried before poking. Wouldn't the ointment/vaseline make it harder to apply the lancet and get an accurate result? I am still struggling to get the blood to bead up, though.
 
I also massage the ear to warm it.

And I used a teensy weensy smear of Vaseline on the edge of the ear for the first couple of months when I started testing. It helped enormously. The blood formed a little bead on the surface of the ear, and didn't disappear into the fur.

Massaging immediately below the ear prick can help to 'milk' out more blood. I almost always do this.
And two ear pricks close together can often get enough blood for a test where one ear prick might not.

After a little while the ear 'learns to bleed' more easily. It grows more blood vessels! There was a point where I realised I could put the Vaseline away because I didn't need it any more....:cat:

Eliz
 
Thank you for the suggestions. I will try the vaseline/ointment approach and, if necessary, two ear pricks.
 
How large a drop does your meter require? You might have an easier time with a slightly larger gauge lancet. I use a 28 gauge lancet and need a blood drop of 0.3 microliter and never have an issue. I usually get far more blood than I need even when her ears are cold. Many meters require a 0.6 microliter drop and provide a 31 gauge lancet. The lower the number the larger the lancet. I was helping with another cat with the smaller lancet and bigger drop requirement and it definitely is a bigger challenge to get enough blood at least until the cat's ears "learn" to bleed better.
 
I did it!! I warmed a towel in the microwave, bagged it and rubbed it on my cat's ear. Applied a tiny dab of ointment. First time didn't work. Second time was a charm. Thank you very much for all of your suggestions!
 
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Can the ointment or a heated wash cloth affect BG readings? My first reading was 45. My second, after giving food and Karo syrup was 38.
 
No, that is probably meter variance.
Test again and if still below 50 mg/dL, feed some more syrup.
Wait another 30 minutes and test again.
Repeat as needed until past the nadir, rising, and up around 100 mg/dL.
 
So sorry your furbaby's BG is so low. Hope everything is ok.

In answer to the warm ear question... I rub his ears and sometimes I breathe on them. Yup. Like I'm trying to huff out warm moisture to clean my glasses or something.

But you're talking to a girl who trained her cats to let her clip their nails by gently biting their napes while clipping with two hands.

Girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do when there's nobody else there to help hold!
 
I used to heat up a small heating pad that came in one of Cedric's toys. It is about the size of my palm and I would heat it, then wrap it around his ear. Worked great.
 
doombuggy said:
I used to heat up a small heating pad that came in one of Cedric's toys. It is about the size of my palm and I would heat it, then wrap it around his ear. Worked great.
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Cat toys have heating pads? What brand/company?
 
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