How to screw up a blood test?

[MaryB & Chester]

Something I haven't read much about that I probably need to know...
What do I need to avoid doing so that I don't screw up our blood tests?
Proper handling of BG test strips?

I know I want to keep my hands dry.
I know i don't want to touch the testing end or the computer chip end.
Keep the strips sealed up in the jar until I'm ready to use them

Sometimes when I test, I get blood all over the end of the strip. Could that be a problem? Getting enough blood isn't an issue, but getting too much might be.
I just wonder if I'm doing something wrong when I test Chester.
Thank you all for your insight and support.

 

[KPassa]

The test strips are really not as sensitive as all they're made out to be. I have literally gotten a blood test off a smear of blood on my finger numerous times. In the early days, I'd test him again just to be sure, but when the numbers matched up every single time, I stopped wasting test strips on duplicate tests. Basically you want to avoid touching the ends, but if you do, it's usually not going to destroy the test strip.

My brother also spilled almost an entire container of strips all over the floor one day. We picked up most of them, but a couple of days later, I found a lone strip. I had gotten a fairly large blood sample that test, so I figured, "what the heck" and ran a test with a "good" strip and the strip I had just found. They came out the same. You don't want to leave them exposed forever, of course, but if you forget to close the cap on them, I don't think you'll have much to worry about.

For the amount of blood, I've gotten "off" numbers when there's too little, but not really when there's too much blood, so I wouldn't worry about this either. Remember, all glucometers have ~20% variance anyway, so even if it does affect the numbers, it usually won't be severe enough to cause a problem.

The more you test, the more you'll get familiar with your cat's numbers so you'll be able to tell if a test might be "off," which can also happen when seemingly nothing has happened to the strip. Trust your judgment and when in doubt, retest.

 

[BJM]

Wash your hands.
If you are setting anything on a counter, make sure it is reasonably clean.

If there is a lot of blood, you can get some on your clean fingernail to test and apply pressure to the cat's ear afterwards.
Dipping the strip onto a bead on your fingernail may be less likely to get it all over the strip.