If you're using the pen, you can try a different depth setting and seeing if that helps. I preferred the greater control that using a lancet without the pen device gave me. Regardless of which you use, you'll have better luck with the pricking if you have something on the other side of the ear to poke against. (Think of trying to write on a piece of paper dangling from your fingertips -- it'll keep moving away when you touch it with a pencil.) Some folks use rice socks to get the blood flowing; I just used a vigorous ear massage, and held a cotton ball to the other side of the ear.
> The lancets that came with the meter are 33 gauge, but the ones I have to use by hand are 30 gauge.
> I would think a smaller lancet would cause less pain.
30 is a larger size needle than 33 gauge, so a 30 gauge lancet will hurt more. But there's no reason you can't take the lancets that came with the meter and try freehanding them and see how things work. After getting the blood on the test strip, put pressure on both sides of the ear, to help reduce bruising, which will make the next test somewhat less painful.
The other side of using a smaller lancet (33 is smaller than 30) is that the hole you poke is smaller, so less blood will come out. You may want to use a larger lancet here at the start, until you're both more comfortable in getting blood. Other things you can try:
if the blood is soaking into the fur before you can get to it, you can try putting a tiny bit of Vaseline where you plan to poke, to help the blood bead up. If the problem is that Podo moves her head before you can get the blood on the test strip, try scraping the blood onto your fingernail and testing from there. You can try 'milking' the ear: put your thumb behind the ear and press in with your forefingers, kinda like you're trying to pop a pimple; do that several times until you have enough blood. And, instead of pricking the ear just once, if you're freehanding, you can try pricking the ear twice, real close together.
And, yes, crazy as it sounds, the ears really *do* 'learn' to bleed better
-- Jean and her Gwyn