Lancing Devices

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wondercat

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Help! Our 18 1/2 year old kitty, Monkster, was diagnosed with Diabetes in July. Last week we attempted to do our first home blood glucose curve, thinking it would be less stressful for her at home vs. a day at the vet's office. Although I thought we were well prepared with 3 different lancing devices and 3 different gauges of lancets, but none of the lancing devices penetrated her ear deep enough to obtain a sample even though I had the lancing devices set on the deepest setting. They didn't work on her tail either. Does anyone have any suggestions on a brand of lancing device you use and have success with? We ended up doing "freehand" ear pokes with a 25 gauge syringe needle, but she's not a very patient kitty and doesn't like to be restrained, so unfortunately, we had one incident in which I completely pierced her ear (and my finger) because she jerked her head away from me as I was poking her ear. I felt absolutely terrible about it, but at least the bleeding stopped fairly quickly with some light pressure. I tried to be a good Mom, but ended up hurting our pooor little girl. I would like to find another lancing device before we do our next BG curve, so if anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them. Many thanks! Joanne
 
Are you supporting the back of the ear very firmly? You you do not the lancet will deflect the ear vice penetrating the ear. I use a cotton cosmetic pad. I found a cotton ball too squishy so it would not adequately support the ear resulting in the ear deflecting and not being penetrated. I like the lanced pens that come with the One Touch Ultra meters.
 
My favorite lancet pens are also the One Touch Ultra ones, the small and the large, both work great.

I just bought the new One Touch Delica and really love it. Got it free with a coupon, haven't bought a supply of lancets yet, so depending on cost, I may stick with the OTU regular lancet.

I use my finger on the back of the ear for support, but since I sometimes miss and get myself, I would agree that the cosmetic pads would probably work great too.
 
You can get 25 gauge lancets. You can also double poke - just another quick poke in the same spot. Also coming in at a slant sometimes helps. We helped us to take the clear cover off the lancet so we could really see where we were poking.

Are you heating the ear? That made all the difference for us.
 
I removed the cap from the lancing device - it was just not allowing enough lancet to emit.

I come in at an angle. I also position it very close to the ear. I back up the ear with a round, white, makeup sponge.

HTH
 
I too like the One touch Ultra lancets-I stopped using the lancet device when I wasn't getting blood and my cat's ears were taking a beating. Once I was able to use the lancet by itself or I say: "free style" I would heat the ear up by gentle rubs, heating it with my hot air or just place ear between fingers for a few seconds- then placed a square cotton pad on back side of ear. I could see where the vein was. The top of ear I always was able to get a lot more blood than needed. Down the sides sometimes I must be patient and not squeeze out the blood. The blood droplet does appear 9 out of 10 times and just enough (like tip of a pencil) for the strip to suck up. Then I fold over the cotton pad, place light pressure so the bleeding stops. if Khan fusses it tells me it hurt so I dip the cotton in water quick and place it back on. Has worked great!
 
In my experience, what really helped was to keep poking. Once I'd gotten through my first box of lancets (that's 100 lancets, so maybe 400 or so pokes to my cat's ear), the ear had gotten a little inflammation going, and now it bleeds pretty easily; sometimes on the first poke.

That's not going to cheer you up much, but home testing does get better.

For now, see if there's a low-carb treat (freeze-dried chicken or fish snacks, for example) that you can give your cat after testing or attempting to test.

J.
 
FYI---

I just bought a new box from Shopko of 33 ultra thin and just NOT working like the One touch Ultra lancets did. I'm poking thru the ear, not enough blood - I have poke more than once ( didn't have to before) and have to work a small drop of blood out.. and seems to be more painful and is leaving more bruising. . I'm going back to One touch Ultra lancets.
 
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