New to this group - how do I avoid bruising her ear and how do I know if it's bruised

[ctmorris]

Hi - my name is Celia and my diabetic kitty's name is Lucky. I recently moved and had a new vet take a look at Lucky. I have just started trying to monitor her sugars. I've been giving Insulin (Lantus) for about 5 years now but the BG testing is new for me and due to her having a hypoglycemic episode earlier this week. This testing thing is tough but I know that I need to learn to do this.

Here looking for support and tips - I've read a lot of posts in the past few days and have managed to test her BG once on my own. I do want to know how you can tell if they have a bruised ear and how to avoid bruising the ear. I have gone to manual lancing as the Lancet device is hard to "aim" in the right spot.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[Shiloh & Rhonda (GA)]

If you apply gentle but firm pressure for between 15 - 30 seconds after the poke, it should prevent bruising. If you look at Shiloh's spreadsheet attached to my signature, you will see how much I tested, and never had an issue with bruising.

 

[ctmorris]

Got it - Thank you!!

 

[BJM]

Welcome to FDMB, the best place you never wanted to be.

There are 4 things you'll need to manage your kitty's diabetes:
- You - without your commitment, the following won't work.
- Home blood glucose monitoring with an inexpensive human glucometer such as the WalMart Relion Confirm or Target Up and Up (the pet ones will break your budget!). This saves you the cost of going to the vet for curves and done regularly, removes the need for a fructosamine test.
- Low carb over the counter canned or raw diet, such as many Friskies pates. See Cat Info for more info. If already on insulin, you must be home testing before changing the diet. Food changes should be gradual to avoid GI upsets - 20-25% different food each day until switched. There are 2 low carb, dry, over the counter foods in the US - Evo Cat and Kitten dry found at pet specialty stores and Young Again 0 Carb found online.
- A long-lasting insulin such as ProZinc, Lantus, BCP PZI, or Levemir. No insulin lasts 24 hours in the cat, so giving it every 12 hours is optimal for control.

 

[Cat Ma]

Aim for the sweet spot, the area between the vein and the edge of the ear.

Cats have few nerve receptors in their ears so poking doesn't hurt them. The more you poke, more capillaries are formed, making drawing blood easier.

To make beading up the blood easier, a handy tip is to apply a very tiny amount of ointment such as neosporin, polysporin or vaseline with a q-tip prior to the ear prior to poking.

Starting out, we suggest using a lower # lancet gauge such as 26 or 28.

Here are some links with handy tips and videos on home testing. In the first post in the first link, you'll see a photo of the sweet spot: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/testing-and-shooting-tips.85113/

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

 

[CarolynE]

My main tip is to make sure the ear is nice and warm before you test. The blood flows much more easily when the ear is warm - important when you're starting out and your cat's ears aren't used to the testing yet.
Don't stress too much if you're not successful every time. Give a treat, take a short break, then try again with the other ear.
Good luck!

 

[Bojangles' Mom]

And give lots of ear kisses...Bojangles now is purring up a storm when we do the ear pokes even though I'm not always successful on the first attempt or two.

To warm the ear...fill a sock (baby socks work nicely) with a couple of tablespoons of uncooked rice & tie it off. Warm in the microwave about 15 seconds. Test on yourself first to make sure this isn't too hot. Hold against the "skin side"/inside edge of the ear to warm it up.