My girl Smokey and I are new to insulin

[BJM]

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[bettyandhank]

Try spreading her feedings out to several small meals spread out over the day. Add some water to each serving (also good for urinary health). FF classics are good option and low carb. Here is a food chart we all use from the catinfo.org site. Looking at columns on left hand side You want to stay under 10% calories from carbs. You will see there are many, many to choose from. She may like some variety. Also grab a few cans of medium and high carb in case you ever need to steer up lower numbers. Ff gravy lovers is a good one, because you can just squeeze out the gravy which is where all the carbs are. Be sure to mark them as HC and keep separate from your LC foods so you don't accidentally feed it for regular daily food.

If you are feeding 2 cans per day now, you could split that into 4-6 meals over the day. I always fed a before bed meal to tide mine over. And like Sue said you need to reward every test with treats. Most cats go ga-ga over freeze dried chicken or shrimp.... Cheaper to buy these in the dog food section...same treat in bigger bags. This is pure meat and virtually no carbs. Mine also love boiled chicken breast. I cube these up and also use for snacks. Even my totally finicky civvie loves em.

 

[bettyandhank]

Are you warming up the ear before poking? I also like to rub it between my thumb and forefinger for a minute to get it circulating. And be sure to hold something behind the ear to keep it firm and to poke against. I used a folded tissue which I then used to fold over the ear and pinch it to apply pressure for a minute after the poke. This also helps fend off bruising

 

[Luanne Cigic]

Are you warming up the ear before picking? I also like to rub it between my thumb and forefinger for a minute to get it circulating. And be sure to hold something behind the ear to keep it firm and to poke against. I used a folded tissue which I then used to fold over the ear and pinch it to apply pressure for a minute after the poke. This also helps fend off bruising

I go in at the edge, I get blood every time and use the neosporin with a tissue and pressure afterwards

 

[Rachel]

The treat is key! My cat fussed some, but she was mostly like "Mom where is my treat already!". I always used the same place to test her too....we had a towel on the floor by the fridge. All her testing supplies were right there and I think she felt better knowing she could escape since she was on the floor if necessary...though she never tried.