Need help with home testing!

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NewAtDiabeticCat

Member Since 2012
Hi. I'm new here, and new to tight-regulation and home testing.

Marty is a 12-year-old hairless sphinx, diagnosed with diabetes about a month ago.

Here's what I'm going through with home testing. I'm so close to giving up. Please help!

BG testing is one of the hardest things I've ever done! Sometimes I get a reading after only 3 or 4 attempts. Sometimes, like just now, I try over a dozen times with either no blood, not enough blood, or enough blood that then gets smeared around or shaken off because Marty jumps every time I get close to his ear.

He won't even let me pet him now. Both ears are bruised badly, and I'm running out of test strips (again). And he's still eating those freeze-dried treats like there's no tomorrow!

I've tried warming his ear, but he doesn't want me to come close to his ear with anything, even something that should feel good.

By the way, since he's a sphinx, his veins, including some that wouldn't be available on a furry cat, are very visible. But I'm just really doubting my ability now. Seemingly every internet site, and my own vet, all say they've never seen anyone who couldn't learn this, but boy I'm really discouraged!

I don't know if there's any advice anyone can give me, but some encouragement maybe? Have you seen many people having this much trouble? Do they figure it out eventually? Should I take a break and put him back on the blind-dosing 3.5 units that the vet originally suggested? :cry:

Thank you!
Steven.
 
Hello Steven - and Marty!

Oh, poor you! It sounds like you are having a really hard time... But you are not alone in finding it hard to learn to home-test. Some people really do struggle with it at first. And I expect quite a few of us have felt - and sometimes still do feel - like giving up. We all have our bad days! But those feelings are usually borne out of a wave of frustration or fear, or tiredness, and they do pass... You've landed among friends here and I'm hopeful that we can help you. :smile:

First thing that strikes me is that you're saying Marty's ears are bruised. There are very few nerve endings in the edge of the ear so the ear prick itself shouldn't be that painful. But bruising would certainly make the ear sore. Are you pressing firmly on the test spot (with a little cotton wool or tissue) for a few seconds straight after each attempted test? I didn't do that in the early days and my cat's ears became very red and swollen, but as soon as I started pressing firmly on the test site the bruising and redness diminished really fast. Some people here use a little Neosporin ointment on the ear to relieve pain too.

Is Marty OK with you touching his feet? Some people here use their cat's paws to get blood from instead of the ear. So that might be an option for you..?

Are you able to tell us a bit about how you hometest? Can you take us through your routine? Then maybe we can come up with other suggestions for you.

Also, where do you live? There might be another FDMB member living nearby who can help you?
 
Thank you, Elizabeth!

Little successes (and a couple hours sleep) do wonders for self-confidence! Just now I got a reading after the second stick! One thing that helped is that I finally realized after reading through some web pages again that I should be aiming for the sweet spot BETWEEN the vein and the edge of the ear, not ON the vein as my vet instructed me. Before, when I would prick on the vein, it would clot really fast. When I prick closer to the edge, it seems to bleed a little first.

That's such good advice about putting pressure on the wound! I wish I had thought of that because I know it's true from experience. For a few weeks I had to give myself shots in the thigh (not diabetic but something else), and my thigh would kill me for days afterward. The way to prevent the pain was to put pressure on it immediately, apparently so that blood would not pool under the skin. I've got to do that with Marty!

I'm still working on my procedure, but here's the gist of it:

1) Give Marty a little food if he's hungry. Otherwise, he walks in circles in the kitchen. He needs to be sitting/lying down for the test.
2) Put the test strip in the glucometer.
3) (Sometimes) try to warm his ear with a rice sock, but that seems to agitate him more.
4) Spread a thin layer of Neosborin on the sweet spot to help blood bead up and aid in healing.
5) Hold a small folded-up square in place inside his ear so his ear won't bend when I prick him. But the paper towel annoys him. I might buy some cotton balls.
6) Prick the sweet spot between the vein and the edge of his ear. I have better luck using the lancet freehand without the lancing device, but I haven't totally given up on the lancing device. It works great on my other (non-diabetic) cat who takes it like a champ.
7) Catch the blood on the test strip and do a little dance if a glucose level appears. :-D
8) Give Marty some freeze-dried chicken treats (whether or not I got a glucose level).

I think that's it. If I can't get a good blood-producing prick in step 6, I keep trying and trying and trying. That's when things generally get upsetting. I don't know when to give up.

I live in the Greensboro, NC area. I'd love to hear from anyone nearby!

But for now, it's a good morning. I plan to give Marty his next test in 12 hours. I prefer 8 hours, but I'll be at work. Besides, I think he and I can both use a break.

Thank you again and again!
Steven.
 
Steven, you can also just spread a little vasiline on the ear to bead the blood. Cosmetic pads work great for support under the ear and once you sip the blood you can just roll part of the pad over the top of the ear to stop the bleeding and minimize bruising. Treats work well but never forget hugs and praise.......they work wonders also no matter the years of sticking :smile:
 
What size lancets are you using? One common mistake many new people make (including myself when I started) was using too small lancets--you want to use 26-28g lancets, not the 30-33g that come with the meter because they don't give you a big enough drop of blood, if any at all.

Another common problem is not backing the ear firmly enough when you're poking--you want to make sure there's a tissue or cottonball behind it so that the lancet doesn't just glance off the skin.

Make sure you're putting pressure on the poke spot for 20 seconds after you get your blood, and dab a tiny bit of Neosporin + pain relief ointment. This will prevent bruising.
 
We have several members in North Carolina. I'll send out some emails and see if we have anyone in or near Greensboro. It really helps to have someone in person show you the ropes. It sounds like your system is good with the right steps. It may just be one little thing that will make the difference.

Warming the ear is important so if you can figure out a way to do that, it may help a lot. Maybe try the rice sack (or a pill bottle filled with very warm water) alone, without the poke, with treats and lots of praise and petting until he gets more used to it?
 
About the dose. It's scary to think about him being on that large dose, shooting blind. What kind of insulin? Was 3.5 the starting dose? Did the vet say why he/she started so high? (we suggest starting at .5 to one unit for all insulins)
 
Another trick is to massage the ears before you test. Add in a few head scritches and you usually have a very content cat. :mrgreen:

The more you make testing pleasant for your cat, the easier it becomes. If you are not doing it already, give the head scritches & massages even when you are not testing so your cat looks forwards to them. Before long, all you may have to do is call his name and he comes running for them. bcatrun_gif
 
I think it's key to make sure you have everything set up ahead of time. Also, the ear warming is definitely helpful in getting the poke to bleed well. I discovered Buster loves to be brushed so I have incorporated that into the routine at times. I also use a little headlamp, like people use for camping, so my hands are free and it adds a little more light on the subject.

Great job, Steven! Your perserverence is quite impressive! You WILL conquer this! :RAHCAT
 
Hi Steven -

I used to refer to Grayson as "My LIttle Turnip" - getting blood was nearly impossible. Since I live by myself, I had to figure it out, cuz I couldn't shoot him blindly. It took a while, but I got it figured out, and now he jumps up on the table where he's tested.

Check your PM - I'll send you my phone number and will talk you through all the tricks I did to make it through.

Lu-Ann
 
Sue and Oliver (GA) said:
About the dose. It's scary to think about him being on that large dose, shooting blind. What kind of insulin? Was 3.5 the starting dose? Did the vet say why he/she started so high? (we suggest starting at .5 to one unit for all insulins)
Click to expand...

Oh, yeah. The starting dose was one unit. Then the vet did a series of glucose curves until she found that 4 units took him too low, so we ended up at 3.5.

Thanks!
Steven.
 
Thank you everybody! Wow, I can't believe the response I've gotten on this forum! You are all amazing!

Testing went well all 3 times today (midnight, 7AM, and 7PM). I think I'm figuring it out, but I will try all the tips you all suggested. I'm sure it will help!

Thank you again!

Steven.
 
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