Lancet gauge

[Amybee and Pandora (GA)]

I now have a BG meter (after doing some research I decided to opt for Alphatrak 2, the insurers will be paying!)

I set it up today and pricked my fingertip 3 times with the lancing device at 5, 4, and 3 depth and got enough blood each time.

It hurt though! I looked at the lancets and they are 28G. Should I try something finer, or will this be ok? Maybe it hurt me more because fingertips are sensitive or I was going too deep?

I have made the lancing device noise several times in Pandie’s ear and she didn’t react other than to look a bit bemused. She didn’t jump as such. So I thought I might try it rather than freehand. I tried to freehand prick my fingertip and I was too tentative and couldn’t get it done.

The conditioning is going well so far. She goes between my knees and has the rice sock, then ear massage and then I am gently poking the “sweet spot” with my fingernail to simulate the prick. Next step is going to be putting a little Vaseline on and the cotton ball as if I am about to poke. I haven’t been bitten so far although after a while she gets a bit bored and impatient and tried to leave.

If I try to tent her skin she turns around and does a mock bite. But I will worry about that later!

At the moment I am struggling to get a urine sample because after the diet change she now pees so infrequently, and usually just once at night! I want to get the results of that before I start poking her.

 

[Larry and Kitties]

26G is a good starting lancet size. I always start my cats with a the deepest depth setting which is the highest number, usually a 5. A cat's ears tend to develop more capillaries after poking for a while and thus bleed easier. With time you can usually reduce the depth setting. With time you might be able to reduce the lancet size (diameter) by using a lancet with a larger dguage number. Make sure you backup the poking site on the ear. I found out a cotton cosmetic pad works better than a cotton ball.

 

[Amybee and Pandora (GA)]

26G is a good starting lancet size. I always start my cats with a the deepest depth setting which is the highest number, usually a 5..

Surely that will hurt even more though? I was hoping to go with something she would feel less given likely reaction. I have 3 little bruises on 3 fingertips now from doing it to myself!

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

Always aim for the sweet spot warm the ears up first, you can put rice in a sock and put it in the microwave, test it on the inside of your wrist to be sure it's not to hot, like you would test a babies bottle. You can fill a pill bottle with warm water and roll it on the ears also.Just keep rubbing the ears with your fingers to warm them up

6. As the ears get used to bleeding and grow more capilares, it gets easier to get the amount of blood you need on the first try. If he won’t stand still, you can get the blood onto a clean finger nail and test from there.
When you do get some blood you can try milking the ear.
Get you finger and gently push up toward the blood , more will appear
You will put the cotton round behind his ear in case you poke your finger, after you are done testing you will fold the cotton round over his ear to stop the bleeding , press gently for about 20 seconds until it stops
Get 26 or 28 gauge lancets
A lot of us use the lancets to test freehand
I find it better to see where I'm aiming

Here is a video one of our members did
VIDEO: How to test your cat's blood sugar

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

It tends to be easier to get blood if you're using a wider gauge lancet in the beginning. If the lancet is too narrow, you end up having to poke multiple times to get blood. (And usually, this leads to the caregiver getting frustrated and feeling like s/he's doing something wrong.) Once the capillary bed has built up, you can switch to a thinner lancet (e.g., 30 gauge).

 

[Amybee and Pandora (GA)]

Ok, thanks everyone. I’ll stick to what I have then and see how we go. I am using the rice sock which she seems to quite enjoy.