Pumbaa
Very Active Member
Today was my first day of trying to do a BG test on Pumbaa, or as I call him, Mr. Wiggle Butt.
First attempt: Tried to find a comfortable position with him sitting on my lap, so as not to scare him or traumatize him. We sat at the kitchen table, which is actually the cat feeding table. (Don't worry, since I had to implement this arrangement 7 years ago to prevent the Border Collie/drooler from eating all of the cat food, the humans eat at the dining room table, not the kitchen/cat table. *LOL*) I thought this table would be good as, a) I am keeping all of the supplies in a drawer in my kitchen; b) Pumbaa likes the kitchen and the cat feeding table; c) I have good light at this table and can keep everything I need handy; and d) Doing this on the floor is for the younger people who still have good knees, good backs and good eyesight! *LOL* I distracted Pumbaa with cheese treats, did the warm rice sock before the prick, used a 28 gauge lancet, massaged the ear afterwards...but didn't get enough blood. From what I've read, that was no surprise. Oh yeah, I THOUGHT I was totally calm but my knees were shaking even though I was sitting down.
Second attempt - a few hours later: I was calmer and more confident, Pumbaa was still Mr. Wiggle Butt but was purring, and I got more blood this time, but not enough to fill the test strip. That's okay.
Third attempt - tonight after making Easter dinner and cleaning up the kitchen: I was much calmer (aka "exhausted"), and Pumbaa was being very good! Did the prick, massaged the ear a tiny bit, and got a good drop of blood! Yeehaw!!!! I immediately reached over and pushed the test strip into the Relion Micro, picked it up, wicked up the blood...and then saw the match code come up followed by an error message. grr_red I was so excited by that nice drop of blood that I didn't wait for the machine to do it's thing before I did my thing, and we still don't have a BG test tonight. Poor Pumbaa. He still loves me even though I do have my moron moments! I gave up after this attempt. But that's okay, too, because tomorrow is the one-week point where we do want a comparison reading to the reading from the vet visit last week.
Other good news from today, I was able to capture urine, mid-stream, with the spoon method, on my first attempt! I've been patting myself on the back about this one for hours! Hahahahaha! Of course, I only had the test strips the vet gave me, but had no directions on how to use them, and nothing to compare the colors to...but I caught the urine mid-stream the first time I tried! (I did go to Walgreens today and get the Bayer ketone and glucose strips as WalMart didn't have them yesterday when I got the Relion Micro.) Now, just you so all know why I am so proud of myself, I have two cats and a drooler. Drooler loves getting into the litter box and treating herself to afternoon snacks, then smooching me. *ICK* So the covered litter box faces a wall, and is wedged between a closet door and a heavy piece of furniture, with only enough room for the cats to get by and get in. It was pure luck on my part to catch Pumbaa heading to the litter box, and having enough time to race to the kitchen for an old soup spoon, race back to the spare bedroom/litter box room/Border Collie home security lookout room, unlock the top of the litter box, put it aside, and still catch Pumbaa mid-stream. If only I was THIS lucky in the lottery! 'Ya know what I mean! *LOL*
The bottom line is that dealing with feline diabetes sounds daunting in the beginning, and none of us wanted to hear that diagnosis. I cried my tears and stressed, a lot. But there are so many good resources out there, including these boards (I've read, and bookmarked so very many good posts!), and so many good videos out there showing examples of how to do what you need to do, that we are blessed in this day and age should one of our furry friends be diagnosed with FD. That is why I can laugh at myself, tonight, not even a week after Pumbaa was diagnosed. I'm not going through anything new...so many others have already been through this and have shared their hints and experiences, which has made me more relaxed.
So, if I have any advice to any other newbies to the realm of FD, it would be to do a lot of research (made simple with these boards and the internet in general, and if I may recommend one website it would be catinfo.org), and relax. If you are relaxed, your furry friend will be relaxed. Pumbaa bit me at the vet last Monday before they even started the exam, because he was so agitated. But today, he let me collect his urine mid-stream, and let me prick his ears several times, without once hissing or growling or biting. Laugh at your mistakes instead of stressing over them. We're all going through a learning curve, and you'll get better, quicker, if you don't beat yourself up for mistakes and can laugh about them, instead. :smile:
First attempt: Tried to find a comfortable position with him sitting on my lap, so as not to scare him or traumatize him. We sat at the kitchen table, which is actually the cat feeding table. (Don't worry, since I had to implement this arrangement 7 years ago to prevent the Border Collie/drooler from eating all of the cat food, the humans eat at the dining room table, not the kitchen/cat table. *LOL*) I thought this table would be good as, a) I am keeping all of the supplies in a drawer in my kitchen; b) Pumbaa likes the kitchen and the cat feeding table; c) I have good light at this table and can keep everything I need handy; and d) Doing this on the floor is for the younger people who still have good knees, good backs and good eyesight! *LOL* I distracted Pumbaa with cheese treats, did the warm rice sock before the prick, used a 28 gauge lancet, massaged the ear afterwards...but didn't get enough blood. From what I've read, that was no surprise. Oh yeah, I THOUGHT I was totally calm but my knees were shaking even though I was sitting down.
Second attempt - a few hours later: I was calmer and more confident, Pumbaa was still Mr. Wiggle Butt but was purring, and I got more blood this time, but not enough to fill the test strip. That's okay.
Third attempt - tonight after making Easter dinner and cleaning up the kitchen: I was much calmer (aka "exhausted"), and Pumbaa was being very good! Did the prick, massaged the ear a tiny bit, and got a good drop of blood! Yeehaw!!!! I immediately reached over and pushed the test strip into the Relion Micro, picked it up, wicked up the blood...and then saw the match code come up followed by an error message. grr_red I was so excited by that nice drop of blood that I didn't wait for the machine to do it's thing before I did my thing, and we still don't have a BG test tonight. Poor Pumbaa. He still loves me even though I do have my moron moments! I gave up after this attempt. But that's okay, too, because tomorrow is the one-week point where we do want a comparison reading to the reading from the vet visit last week.
Other good news from today, I was able to capture urine, mid-stream, with the spoon method, on my first attempt! I've been patting myself on the back about this one for hours! Hahahahaha! Of course, I only had the test strips the vet gave me, but had no directions on how to use them, and nothing to compare the colors to...but I caught the urine mid-stream the first time I tried! (I did go to Walgreens today and get the Bayer ketone and glucose strips as WalMart didn't have them yesterday when I got the Relion Micro.) Now, just you so all know why I am so proud of myself, I have two cats and a drooler. Drooler loves getting into the litter box and treating herself to afternoon snacks, then smooching me. *ICK* So the covered litter box faces a wall, and is wedged between a closet door and a heavy piece of furniture, with only enough room for the cats to get by and get in. It was pure luck on my part to catch Pumbaa heading to the litter box, and having enough time to race to the kitchen for an old soup spoon, race back to the spare bedroom/litter box room/Border Collie home security lookout room, unlock the top of the litter box, put it aside, and still catch Pumbaa mid-stream. If only I was THIS lucky in the lottery! 'Ya know what I mean! *LOL*
The bottom line is that dealing with feline diabetes sounds daunting in the beginning, and none of us wanted to hear that diagnosis. I cried my tears and stressed, a lot. But there are so many good resources out there, including these boards (I've read, and bookmarked so very many good posts!), and so many good videos out there showing examples of how to do what you need to do, that we are blessed in this day and age should one of our furry friends be diagnosed with FD. That is why I can laugh at myself, tonight, not even a week after Pumbaa was diagnosed. I'm not going through anything new...so many others have already been through this and have shared their hints and experiences, which has made me more relaxed.
So, if I have any advice to any other newbies to the realm of FD, it would be to do a lot of research (made simple with these boards and the internet in general, and if I may recommend one website it would be catinfo.org), and relax. If you are relaxed, your furry friend will be relaxed. Pumbaa bit me at the vet last Monday before they even started the exam, because he was so agitated. But today, he let me collect his urine mid-stream, and let me prick his ears several times, without once hissing or growling or biting. Laugh at your mistakes instead of stressing over them. We're all going through a learning curve, and you'll get better, quicker, if you don't beat yourself up for mistakes and can laugh about them, instead. :smile:
