newbie needs reassurance about BG sampling

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KarenAmelia

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I think I had beginner's luck with the lancet pricks for the first day or two: seemed very easy to get a small drop of blood from the ear and didn't seem to bother my cat. Now, in day three of testing, it's getting more difficult. Is there a danger of damaging the veins along the edge of the ear so that they won't give blood? I read in the guidance about testing that the ear "learns" to bleed more freely as more sampling is done. Can I get some reassurance as I try to get a BG test every three hours and have to keep poking the poor cat? I think I had to try a half dozen times just now before I could get any blood, and of course Terra is getting more and more annoyed. Thanks for supplementing what the tutorials have to say on this topic.
 
Two things that made the difference for us. Heating the ear. It needs to be really warm. You can just a pill bottle filled with hot water or a sock filled with raw rice and heated in the microwave. Second, a large enough lancet. 25-27 gauge works well for nrpew diabetics.
 
Hi from Poopy and me! :smile:

I could not help but laugh at myself when I read your post. You sound just like me a week ago, except I wasn't getting any blood at first. I think I might be jealous. :-D

Yes, the ears do learn to bleed more (the ear forms more capillaries). A few things I learned, even though I was bent on getting those BGs, is three tries and give it a rest. Breathe. Love on the kitty. And treats all around.

The suggestions I found the most helpful:

Breathe
Shining a flashlight under the ears to see the veins (my biggest problem here was Poopy moving his head trying to follow the light on the ceiling)
Warm the ear (great time to add extra lovings too) and massaging it
Breathe
Put something firm under the ear when poking (I use a folded up paper towel and also use it to stanch the spot to help keep from bruising)
Poking the outside edges of the ear instead of trying to do the inside (ok, so I'm backwards sometimes! LOL) This also helped when he would try to jerk away, holding his ear firmly against the paper towel
A larger lance
Breathe
If a drop started to form, I would massage the ear to help it along
Scooping up the blood on the backside of my nail so Poopy could go to the treat area while I finished the testing

Hope something here helps you, and good luck! It will happen you know. ;-)

Poopy also seemed to fair better if I loved on him between poking tries. I figure he was as frustrated as I was. ohmygod_smile
 
(my biggest problem here was Poopy moving his head trying to follow the light on the ceiling) LOL. I need to remember to laugh through this.
 
Yes, laughter is good. :smile: I know it's hard to do though when we're fretting over our fuzzy loves. Glad I could help you laugh. :smile:

And you'll get there. If I can, you can! :-D
 
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