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Buffy-&-Cindee

Buffy-&-Cindee

Member Since 2014
Hi...first day testing blood and it went ok but not stellar. My poor cat's ear is a little beat up but I finally got enough blood for the test. I quickly realized that this was not going to be as easy as I thought, not on my part, but my cat is not very cooperative. So I looked around to see if there was an alternate way of drawing blood. I came across a video where a woman took blood from her cat's paw instead of her ear so I thought I'd give it a try. My cat was actually sleeping, so I cleaned her back paw off with Vetericyn Wound and Skin Care, used the lancet device and within seconds had blood and results...my cat never woke up. It couldn't have been easier, especially for my cat.

My question is: What is the general consensus about testing blood on the paw?

Cindee
 
Whatever works best for you, works best for you. That said, make sure the area is cleaned.

Applying direct pressure afterwards reduces bruising and scabbing.
Use of Neosporin ointment plus pain relief will help either ear or paw heal better, plus the blood beads up better if you apply a dab first, wait a minute, wipe off, then test.
 
Thats the way my vet wanted me to do it, but I was unsuccessful on the paw so quickly went to the ear lol. As long as your ok with it, your cats ok with it I think its fine as long as you make sure to clean the area every time and use the tips BJM suggested.
 
I use a hot bag that I stick in the microwave for 1 minute. His ear is toasty warm and no trouble getting blood. One ear seems to be easier than the other so I make sure I switch along the ear so he's not being scarred. My boy loves the associated treat and now I have to give it BEFORE the test so he will sit still for it. Try warming the ear. I know some people use the paw - but you'd have to be sure to clean and disinfect it afterwards as they use those same paws to walk in their litter tray.

Juliet and Silver.
 
Whichever works best for you two then that is what you use. Just if you are going to use the paw pad, use the big 'palm' one as that is a non-weight bearing pad, you just don't want to use the ones on the toes. And Hey, you've got 4 paws to choose from while we that use the ears only have 2 ear to work with. :-D

Mel and The Fur Gang
 
MommaOfMuse said:
.. And Hey, you've got 4 paws to choose from while we that use the ears only have 2 ear to work with. :-D

Mel and The Fur Gang
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That's exactly what I thought! :-D

Thanks to everyone for your replies. Tomorrow we start insulin so I'm sure I'll have a zillion questions. I've been reading as much as I can, there's so much to take in. At least I don't have to deal with changing her food. She's always been fed canned Wellness or raw Radcat.
 
Hi. If you're starting insulin tomorrow it would be a great idea to get your spreadsheet up and running and in your signature. You'll find a link to it in the Tech Forum unless someone jumps in and posts it here for you - I'm not sure how.

You can add a link to your signature so anyone can take a look and offer you informed advice.
 
I've got it ready to go. I'm still trying to figure out why I can't upload my avatar. My image is 90x90 - 72px. I keep getting an error that it needs to be between 0-9KB. That's incredibly small even for a 90x90 image. Anyone else have this problem or a solution?
 
Cindee said:
I've got it ready to go. I'm still trying to figure out why I can't upload my avatar. My image is 90x90 - 72px. I keep getting an error that it needs to be between 0-9KB. That's incredibly small even for a 90x90 image. Anyone else have this problem or a solution?
Click to expand...

I think you need to resize your pic - I had to do the same thing...just open your picture in your picture software and select the option to resize to what it tells you. It works then. If it doesn't pop into the Tech Forum and someone there will be able to help you.

Juliet and Silver
 
Awe man!!

I tried to get a picture of Hank to work for avatar but yep, kept telling me to resize so I gave up.

I'm too tired tonight to try so maybe tomorrow.

Kimmie
 
MommaOfMuse said:
Awe she's beautiful!!!! Calico or is that just the lightening in the picture?

Mel and The Fur Gang
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Thank you. She's what's called a Brown Patch Tabby...a little bit of Calico and a little bit of Tabby. Here's a photo of her when she was about 6 months old.
 

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Now that is one pretty girl. Autumn is a tortie, she is my Avatar. First Tortie in the house and I realized when I adopted her that Torties are an acquired taste...lol All the years of being owned by cats, never truly appreciated the tortie until my Autumn. Now I think she is the loveliest cat in the household shhhhh don't tell my other cats, but she is kind of my favorite child...lol

Mel and The Fur Gang
 
MommaOfMuse said:
Now that is one pretty girl. Autumn is a tortie, she is my Avatar. First Tortie in the house and I realized when I adopted her that Torties are an acquired taste...lol All the years of being owned by cats, never truly appreciated the tortie until my Autumn. Now I think she is the loveliest cat in the household shhhhh don't tell my other cats, but she is kind of my favorite child...lol

Mel and The Fur Gang
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LOL...you sound like me when it comes to Torties. I LOVE Torties! I've had 5 and loved all them more than I can say. They truly are special cats with unique personalities...Tortitude. :-D

Autumn is very pretty. She reminds me of my Mizi (lost her 2 yrs ago to bladder cancer :sad: )

Baba is my newest baby. We've only had her for 2 years. She's quite the little princess. Just before her was Tobi (the best cat we've EVER had and miss terribly..yes we lost 2 cats in one year). She was a rescue cat that came to us all the way from Mannitoba, Canada, we're in California. Sadly, an emergency vet gave her two drugs that put her into acute renal failure with in a matter of hours. It's a long horrible story that I don't want to relive by telling it...suffice it to say that if I was ever inclined to physically hurt someone it would have been that vet. On the bright side, I got her into a great hospital in Seattle, and they saved her life. She had three wonderful and happy years after that but her little kidneys finally gave out.
 

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Oh yes! Another lover of kitties with Tortitude! My civie Dancer is my 3rd tortie, preceded by Libby and Madeleine. Love those amazing tortie swirls.
 
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