How long does it take to get the hang of at home BG testing?

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amylenora

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My 13 year old male tabby, Rusty, was just diagnosed with diabetes about 4 weeks ago - his first reading was 539! I'm giving him insulin twice a day and have taken him to the vet 6 times so far to get his BG read at $16.50/visit (I've been unemployed for over a year, too!). I bought the ReliOn home testing kit (I accidently bought the meter that reads 0.6 microliters, tried to return it unopened to get the ReliOn meter that reads only 0.3 microliters but they would not let me return it because it deals with blood. UGH! cat(2)_steam I paid $50 for the meter and strips...but I digress.).
What I'm curious about is, how long did it take for others to get their first successfull reading? I poked his ear a few times yesterday and a few times today with no evail. I haven't done the warm washcloth or rice in a sock because his ears seemed warm enough but I guess not. Everytime I got blood, if I got any at all, it was such a small amount and it stopped bleeding almost immediately even after milking it. I don't get it. It's really frustrating for me and Rusty. Poor Rusty has bruises on his ears and has become a kitty pin cushion. He never cared for his ears to be touched in the first place.
Also, is there an alternative site that can be punctured?
Please help me! Thanks.
 
Re: How long does it take to get the hang of at home BG test

It took us an entire weekend of poking before we got a drop. Don't give up. We can help.

Heating the ear was vital for us. I would make the rice sack and put it up against the ear for a minute or so. You can also use a medicine vial filled with hot water. Either way, you can use the sack or the vial to poke against. That helps, to have something to poke against. And you can double poke - twice quickly in the same spot. If you get blood and he starts to move away, you can get the drop on your fingernail and test that.

You can use neosporin with pain relief to help his ears. Also, hold the spot where you poked for a few seconds before you let him go - that helps with bruising.

Re your meter. I would call ReliOn and tell them you bought the larger meter and wanted the smaller one. They may be willing to refund your money or send you a new one. But, don't tell them it is for your cat. Rusty can be your son who is diabetic.....
 
Re: How long does it take to get the hang of at home BG test

It took me a couple of days for my first cat. One think is that the ears learn to bleed after a few days. With my latest diabetic cat, Tinos, it took a couple of days for the ears to bleed easily. What is important is to first set the lancet pen at it deepest setting and work back from there. Also make sure to to firmly backup the ear. I use a cotton cosmetic pad.
 
Re: How long does it take to get the hang of at home BG test

It took me over a week and I thought Houdini was going to run away from home.... I was frustrated and ready to quit when the wonderful folks here kept me going.

Don't give up!! You'll find what works for you......It's worth the trouble.
 
Re: How long does it take to get the hang of at home BG test

Thanks everyone. I'm not going to give up. My vet said he never saw a cat's bg numbers so erratic as my Rusty's. Tuesday I had to take him in because he was hypoglycemic. His bg was so low the meter only read "low." It took me 7 hours to get him back to normal. When I took him in the next day his bg ws 38! I have to keep him off insulin for a couple days and then start from the beginning dose. :YMSIGH: So, I need to be able to know his levels before it's too late.
 
Re: How long does it take to get the hang of at home BG test

Dear amylenora, and, of course, you too, maybe not so sweet Rusty,

amylenora said:
My vet said he never saw a cat's bg numbers so erratic as my Rusty's. Tuesday I had to take him in because he was hypoglycemic. His bg was so low the meter only read "low." It took me 7 hours to get him back to normal. When I took him in the next day his bg ws 38! I have to keep him off insulin for a couple days and then start from the beginning dose. :YMSIGH: So, I need to be able to know his levels before it's too late.
Click to expand...
Oh my...

It could be Rusty has a sputtering pancreas. That means it just needed some insulin to give it a rest before coming back to life.

Can you tell us what insulin and dose Rusty was getting before his hypo? And, have you changed his diet recently?

And, yes, most definitely, test before even thinking about giving him more insulin.

Please respond when you can, okay?

Love and hugs,
Deb and Nikki -- and, Giz, forever dancing in my heart...

PS: An alternative site would be his paw. Personally, I've never gone there because I know where paws go... I'm an ear girl. After warming and massaging and a tiny smear of Vaseline, I use my index finger on the inside of Nikki's ear for support before I poke the outside. Nikki requires speed, so sometimes I double poke, hope I don't have to knead her ear (but sometimes I do...), sip that bead of blood, and let her go as quickly as is humanly possible. Then she smacks me. It seems to make her feel better...
 
Re: How long does it take to get the hang of at home BG test

It took me a little while to get a hang off it. Little bit off time, lot a bit of tears and stress. It was easier to have my husband hold and pet Ali while I poked her ear. I used the lancers that came with the rel ion meter and I think they were too small so I had to double poke to draw blood. It was very stress inducing for both Ali and I but in the end the knowledge of knowing her glucose levels outweighed the panic of doing it to her. Good luck
 
Re: How long does it take to get the hang of at home BG test

amylenora said:
Thanks everyone. I'm not going to give up. My vet said he never saw a cat's bg numbers so erratic as my Rusty's. Tuesday I had to take him in because he was hypoglycemic. His bg was so low the meter only read "low." It took me 7 hours to get him back to normal. When I took him in the next day his bg ws 38! I have to keep him off insulin for a couple days and then start from the beginning dose. :YMSIGH: So, I need to be able to know his levels before it's too late.
Click to expand...

That is great that you are learning to test so you can get things under control. That sounds really scary with those low numbers.

I have to sign off but a couple thoughts:

- Can you post your insulin & the dose you are giving? You may want to start a new thread with that kind of info. There is a lot of expertise on the board, and people can help you fine-tune and find the right dose. Sounds like you already know what dose is too high, so that helps in a way, you know the upper limit already.

- Testing took me a lot of time to get the hang of, it was a couple weeks before I started to feel comfortable with it. Once you find the groove though it gets really easy, and you will laugh that it was ever so hard. Hang in there, and keep posting whatever questions you have, and what problems you are having with it.

- For the meter and test strips, I know people sell test strips on eBay, so you may be able to do something like that. You can post in the Supply Closet forum also if you want to try to sell them here. You can also donate them to someone here or to the Newbie Kits program (there is a sticky about that up top I think). Sorry you had to pay that and can't return it, grrrr. Might be worth a call to Relion for coupons or something. Heck, you bought two of their meters, seems like they could send you a coupon for *something*!
 
Re: How long does it take to get the hang of at home BG test

When we (my DH and I) first started home testing, we tried the ear. Willy is a big guy and it was TERRIFYING how angry he got about it. Even making a kitty burrito didn't protect us much. He also has very very densely furred ears and its difficult to see a vein-- even with a light on the other side. His ears are very cold, even after using a number of the methods here to warm them, they still didn't seem to retain heat very well. :? We had to do a curve for the vet, and we spent an hour, 3 different times one day, (and then an hour here and there for a few more days) trying to learn how to do it. To make a long story short-- we couldn't get blood from his ear, he was very stressed/angry/traumatized, and we were covered in scratches and bites. Even if we had gotten blood, this method was impractical for us-- there was no way we could spend this much time doing this on a regular basis and it took BOTH OF US (which limits the days it can be done).

We took a break trying to home test because we all needed it, and made a plan to try again the following week doing the pads. We were very reluctant to do this because of the bacteria factor and we thought it would be much more painful for him. Willy doesn't mind them AT ALL. It took us about an hour to get the pad prick to work the first time and went down very quickly from there. I can do one in about a minute now, maybe 3 if he is being fussy or if his foot needs to be warmed up. My DH takes longer, about 5 minutes.

If you would like some information about pad pricks, feel free to PM me! I can tell you what works for us!
 
Re: How long does it take to get the hang of at home BG test

My cats go crazy for catnip, so I sprinkled it all over a towel to lure Maisey and keep her occupied/happy. I live in a coldish apartment, ground/basement so I had to warm her ear for nearly two minutes. Found if I spread the warm sock over her ears head, I had more options - i.e. either ear. The first week was very rough on both of us. With the 31 lancets I always had to poke multiple times initially. I finally found a pharmacy with huge-21 lancets and got them=thing is they really do hurt more. Maisey scarcely noticed the 31's.
Since I'm old and live alone, I also learned to put my forearm on her back between her shoulders just before poking- so she couldn't get traction to run. And of course treats.
And yes, it took us over a week to get testing down, and I needed a break (I have MS and stress cripples me) after which we we both more ready.
 
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