Newbie Can Not Prick Ear

[Pace and Frank]

Hello to All

Frank is doing great . I have a friend and her Kitty was just dx with diabetes. She is desperately trying to home test and I am helping . Her problem .... she just can not prick her kittie's ear. She tries but after 3 sticks the kitty gets upset. Her kitty wants to eat asap....my question......if she feeds her kitty first then tries to take her BG , how long after eating can a BG reading be accurate or close to accurate.
Thanks Pace and Frank :lol:

 

[hmjohnston]

It is always great to help. I tested a friends cat for possible diabetes last Friday- and since it had never been pricked before I just REALLY warmed up the ear, gave it a good 5 minute massage on both and Smokey was drooling at the end :lol: . I got enough blood for the test- 57, so his problem wasn't FD (turned out to be really bad allergies to grass :shock: ).

One- food can impact the BG levels really fast, so it is iffy to feed and then test as you don't know how much will be food related.

Two- it will take time for the capillaries to "grow" into the part of the ear that is being pricked. We didn't get a lot of blood until Sneakers was into her second week of testing- but we kept trying.

Three- don't frustrate the kitty is good- 3 tries is good, give a treat and pet. The treat and praise/petting will help the cat associate good things with the prick. Sneakers doesn't even mind anymore- and knows it ALWAYS comes before food.

Four- what size are the lancets? New beginners need the smaller gauge number as they are bigger and make bigger holes- 26, 28- does not need to be using 30 or 31 until the capillaries are in.

Hope this helps.

 

[Julia & Bandit (GA)]

What gauge lancets are you using? One big help when starting out testing is to use 26-28g lancets, and not the 30-33g lancets that come with your meter. The smaller lancets actually impede testing, because it's harder to get a drop of blood with them. Testing doesn't hurt the cat--they have very few nerve endings in their ears. What they hate are being restrained and startled, so the faster you can get that drop of blood, the better.

Make sure you're giving a low carb treat after every test, successful or not. This will help positively reinforce the tests so that she'll stop fighting you.

Another thing you want to make sure of is that you're backing the ear with a tissue or cotton pad while you're poking--if you don't, the lancet glances of the ear rather than getting an actual poke.

 

[BJM]

If the first 2 tries don't succeed, you can aim for the vein itself.
If you hit it, it will bleed profusely (why we normally aim outside of it!).
Be prepared to get blood on a (clean) fingernail for the test and blot the wound quickly, lest it be flicked all over you and the room.