How to Reduce Home Testing Stress??

Hi everyone,

My cat, Pepper, got diagnosed with diabetes a week ago. We had a bit of issues with her not eating at the beginning of her diagnosis, but those problems have subsided and she is eating normally again. She has also been taking the insulin shots well (we do 1 unit of Glargine twice a day 12 hours apart). The biggest issue we are having is that it is very hard to monitor her BG levels. She does not like getting pricked on her ear or held down for me to do so. She gets very stressed and will growl and try to run away. I try not to prick her ear when she is eating or drinking water as I don't want her to associate negative things with that.

My question is what are some ways to get her more comfortable/used to home testing? Her BG levels have been quite high when I've tested it (>500) and I worry that stress hyperglycemia may contribute to it. She is an extremely anxious cat, so any suggestions are more than welcome. Thank you so much!

 

Hi Tiffany and Pepper and welcome to the forum.
Well done setting up your spreadsheet and signature and also to start hometesting. What a lucky kitty Pepper is to have you.
It is always more stressful and overwhelming in the beginning but you have come a long, long way since diagnosis. Look at home much you have achieved.
I will get to hometesting in a minute but I just wanted to mention a couple of things…
The proplan dry DM is 18% carbs which is high carb and not suitable for diabetic cats. You will see it is labelled diatetic, not diabetic as they are not allowed to call it diabetic now. Will Pepper eat canned food? You can get a lot of low carb canned foods which are suitable for diabetic cats. If she will only eat dry, there are a few low carb options which I will give you later.

I can see you have chosen SLGS…have you read through the information on it on the Lantus page?

I know you are only very new to testing. To keep Pepper safe, always test before every dose to make sure the BG is high enough to shoot. And then try and get a test in each cycle around the middle of the cycle to see how low the dose is taking him.
Any time the BG drops under 90, you need to reduce the dose by 0.25 unit. Looking at her SS now, there is not a lot of data yet, but seeing a yellow BG and later black BGs, that makes me thing she could be dropping low during the cycle and then bouncing up higher, which is very normal in newly diagnosed cats, but we need to check that the low BG are not below 90. That is why we like to see those midcycle tests
Here is an explanation on bouncing

• Bouncing - Bouncing is simply a natural reaction to what the cat's system perceives as a BG value that is "too low". "Too low" is relative. If a cat is used to BGs in the 200's, 300's, or higher for a long time, then even a BG that drops to 150 can trigger a "bounce". Bouncing can also be triggered if the blood glucose drops too low and/or too fast.The pancreas, then the liver, release glucogon, glycogen and counter-regulatory hormones. The end result is a dumping of "sugar" into the bloodstream to save the cat from going hypoglycemic from a perceived low. The action is often referred to as "liver panic" or "panicky liver". *Usually*, a bounce will clear kitty's system within 3 days (6 cycles).

With hometesting it will take a week or two for you and Pepper to get used to it all. Perfectly normal to be stressed and wonder if you will succeed. Expect to fail a few times…we all did! I will give you a link on hints below. We recommend you choose a spot to test and always go there. Always give a treat even if you fail, Pepper doesn’t know if you have got a result or not but she will look forward to a treat. My Sheba would race from wherever she was in the house when she heard I was at the testing strips.
Try not to restrain her too hard if you can. I always gave a small low carb treat as I was testing so Sheba had her head in the bowl as I tested. She rarely noticed I was doing it. Make sure the ears are warm first….you can use a sock with rice in it warmed in the microwave, but make sure it isn’t too hot. You can milk the ears up towards the tip. Get her used to having her ears touched.
With actual testing, I used to get everything ready, then kneel down in her spot and sit on my heels. I would put Sheba inbetween my knees facing the same way I was, so if she tried to back away, she backed into me. I just had one hand gently on her chest, under her chin to stop her moving forward and had the other hand to do things. When I was ready I put the bowl with the small amount of low carb food in front of her and while she had her head in the bowl I tested her. You could try this multiple times during the day, with just touching her ears and getting her used to the procedure without actually testing.

Here is a link to HOMETESTING. HINTS AND LINKS

A link to THE BASICS, GETTING STARTED

Keep asking questions as we are very happy to help you.
Bron

 

Hi Bron,

Thank you for all of your guidance thus far, you are a beacon of hope in this forum. Regarding the Purina Pro DM dry, I feel like I have spent so much time and money this past week trying to figure out what is best for her, and to hear that the Purina Pro DM is high in carbs makes me feel like a failure. The reason she is eating that is because our vet said that would be the most ideal option for her since she does not like wet food. I've tried so many times and she just does not like it. Could you give me some recommendations for other low carb dry foods?

I've chosen SLGS because my vet wanted to see how she would react to a low dose and increase from there. Based on her readings, I assume we will be upping the dose in the future. I was able to read through a few forum posts and saw that people had success with putting their cats on the kitchen counter. I just did that and was able to get a reading (after a few failed attempts). I have been trying to pair her testing with treats, but her stress levels are so high she immediately runs to hide afterwards. Like I said, Pepper is a very anxious cat so I'm worried her anxiety may be contributing to her high BG level of 644 which is way higher than I've seen thus far. What are you thoughts on getting a FreeStyle Libre in terms of cost, reducing her stress level, and in general? I'm seriously considering it because of her anxiety but I also don't want to jump the gun since we are so new to everything.

 

Hi Tiffany these are about 5 or 6% carbs

Dr Elseys you can buy on chewey site
https://www.chewy.com/dr-elseys-cleanprotein-chicken/dp/146269?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=12791446238&utm_content=Dr. Elsey's&utm_term=&show-search=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0PvU2Zj79wIVRIdbCh3JawEkEAQYASABEgIInfD_Bw


Dr Elsey's also at Walmart
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Dr-Elsey...ViI3ICh0suwO_EAQYAiABEgJrOPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Dr Elsey's Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FCJHDPR/ref=twister_B09GHFJY65?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

From what I have read on our site they are 5 or 6% carbs so that's ok
I read the same thing about The Young Again Kibble stinky poops

Dr Elsey's will send you a sample . You can see if Callie likes them before buying them ,get the chicken flavor. Dr Elsey's Clean Protein

Dr Elsey's web site
https://www.drelseys.com

I think this is there phone number
Phone: 877-311-2287

 

There are a few things you can to to make home testing easier. First we will look at making it more enjoyable for Pepper.

You want to help Pepper associate testing with somethin good. One way is to start getting her to feel comfortable with you handling her ears. I recommend you start gently massaging her ears any time you can. Start from the base of the ears and massage towards the tip. This will help her feel comfortable about you handling her ears and it also helps to get the blood to flow when you test. Don't forget to give a few head scritches too.

Also whenever you test, reward her with a favorite treat. Freeze dried chicken is a good choice. Even if you are not successful, give her the treat. You want her to associate testing with treats.

Next advice is for you. Cats are very sensitive to our feelings. If you are stressed or anxious, it will make her feel the same way. First you need to relax. One recommendation is to sing while testing. The sillier the song, the better. Yes it sounds crazy but it is hard to be stressed when you are doing something silly. Also if possible, try not to restrain Pepper when testing. Most cats do not want to be restrained because they feel threatened by it. One option to help you while training yourself and Pepper is to have the vet place a Libre glucose monitor on her. They are good for a couple weeks but a lot of cats manage to remove them. But it will help you track her glucose levels until you can get her used to being tested using her ears.

 

Thanks @Diane Tyler's Mom for posting the info on low carb dry food. I got distracted and forgot!

 

No problem at all Bron
@Bron and Sheba (GA)

 

Welcome Tiffany and Pepper~

I had the same problem when I first started to pricked her ears/paw. The second I took out the testing kit, she ran away.... Sometime I just couldn't get enough blood for the test. After I failed many times, I figured out how to do it. I hide in another room to get the testing kit ready so Evey can't see it. While I am doing that, I play cat relaxing music in the background to calm her down (you can find the music from youtube and I play differnt music everytime because I don't want her to associate a certain music with being pricked). After I get the test kit ready, my hubby will use a big blanket to wrap her up and "pretend" to hug and pet her. After she is calm and ready, I prick her ear/paw before she even realize it. Sometimes she was purring after she rested in his arm and it was a lot easier. I hope these tricks will work for Pepper.

 

In addition to everything already said, I used to sing a lullaby while I tested them to calm us both.

Bobo is on Dr. Elseys and he loves it. Depending on where you bought the proplan, see if you can return it. If it was Chewy, they’re great with refunds.

Hang in there. It will become second nature soon.

 

Welcome Tiffany! You've definitely come to the right place for help, this forum is probably gonna be your second home for the foreseeable future. Luckily it's one of the nicest and most helpful places on the entire internet!

I also struggled with testing at first so I know how you're feeling. There were lots of tears shed and I bled from accidentally sticking myself and I felt like I was never going to figure it all out. Then one day is just clicked and it's been pretty smooth sailing since then. Now I feel like a pro and Tessa often goes running to her test spot because she knows she's getting food or a treat afterwards.

I ended up trying a Freestyle Libre and used it for about 2 months. There is absolutely no shame in trying this option. It can be a bit pricey but it depends on your area and what pharmacies you have access to. Mine came from Costco and I think they were about $35.

I have a document written up about using the Libre if you want to check that out: https://docs.google.com/document/d/...f13UiOiEM-6MsrFNpR9ztaPawF6dLk2b906QZ6VP6/pub

I included information on how to apply the Libre at home but you'll likely want the vet to apply the first one. Just ask them not to use Vet Bond or any type of glue because it damages the skin when you take the Libre off. Ask them to cover with a bandage or wrap to help it stay on instead.

Using the Libre might be the right call because then you can use the 2-ish weeks (they often fail a bit early) with the device to get Pepper used to the testing process.

How are you currently pricking her ear? Are you using a lancing device or freehand poking her with the lancet? A lot of cats are scared of the noise of the lancing device so you might want to try freehanding it. It sounds scary but once you get it down, it's actually way easier than using a lancing device.

You might want to turn off any beeping on your glucose meter too. Some cats are more sensitive than others. Tessa doesn't seem to mind the beep on her glucose meter but I recently got a ketone meter to use as well and she hates the beep on that one. It's too loud so I turned it off. It's a little annoying because you can't tell as easily that you got enough blood but after awhile you'll get a feel for how much blood you need and you won't have to rely on the beep to let you know that you got enough.

For now, I would try familiarizing Pepper with your testing process and giving treats along the way. You might have to go step by step and give treats for each thing. Like giving a treat for just pulling out your testing equipment. If she runs away, that's okay, you can still put the treat in her bowl so she starts to realize that testing stuff = food appears. I agree with the above comment that you always give a treat even if you fail to get blood or fail to get a good test. It's disappointing to not get a test result but Pepper still put in the work and she deserves that treat.

Be patient and be kind to yourself. This is hard but you can do it!