No blood AGAIN!!

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terriy

terriy

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Well poo! No blood again this morning. I warmed the ear real good! After 4 pokes she was getting upset so I put her down and gave her a treat then I warmed the sock again and started all over after 4 or 5 pokes that time I only had one itty bitty speck of blood. Not enough for a test. Well I dont want her to get afraid of the test so I put her down and feed her. That was at 4 AM so I did not shoot. Im going to wait until about 6:30-7:00 am and test again and then shoot if I get blood. I know that this will knock her off her schedule but so be it. I fed her and she was done at about 4 am but I let her go outside and I know that she ate a few bugs out there so I'll try to wait as long as I can to test again however I have to leave at 7.
 
Did you say what size lancets? 25-27 is a good size at first. You can also quickly poke twice in the same spot. And "milk" the ear - moving from away from the poke toward it to get the blood moving. The only other idea I have is to be sure the poke is firm, not tentative. Are you using the lancet device? What setting? Do you have something behind the ear to poke against?
 
Im using 28 gauge. Thats the only size I could get!. Ill see about ordering the other size if I have to. Took her blood again at 6:30 thats 2 1/2 hours later than normal. I got it and she red 336. So I injected with only 1 unit so that I can leave at 7 without any fear. I was hoping that only 1 unit will allow me to inject on schedule at 4 pm? By the time she was done eating and I shot the 1 unit it was 2 hours 45 minutes later than her normal shot. Wont be back until until lunch to check on her.
 
28 is better than 31. What did you do differently this time? This whole thing is a process of getting your technique down pat and repeating the same thing each time. Glad you got it this time!

Let's see where she is this pm. That's pretty early.
 
I did not think I was doing anything any different but I must be. I'll take blood again at 3:30. Do you think its ok to inject at 4 since I was 2 hours 45 min late with injection this morning?
Also I have another issue -
I am also very upset and worried. I've had someone just invite them self to spend the night at my house tomorrow night. Chicken Little is named Chicken because she is scared of everything. I am the only one she will let touch her and up until she had diabetes she would not let me touch her either!! Diabetes actually made us bond. Well she is going to hide under the bed the whole time they are here (possibly 2 days) and not come out. This is going to make testing and injecting very hard. Any suggestions on this problem?
 
If I were you, I would just call this person, tell them your cat is sick and you are treating it and can't manage that with another person there as the kitty is very skittish. You're just making strides; I wouldn't be willing to give that up. You can always go out to a meal with this person or invite them over for a meal, but not to stay?
 
I should have supplied more details. Its my husbands son and there is nothing I can do about it. My husband and I have been married for 6 years and in all that time he has never heard from him. Well he calls and said that he is living in Kentucky and him and his girlfriend are on their way to Alabama to see her mother and they want to stop here and see my husband. I dont know either one of them!! My husband and I have already had a big fight about this and he said that he is not tip tow'ing around any old cat or dog!! He always gets mad at me because my animals come first. I really get angry about this because I had a talk with him about my cats before we ever got married! Well you know the story - they'll say or do anything before you get married and afterwards its always a different story! He has not done anything but complain about them since I moved in here 6 years ago! He even said that he was glad that I had to put George down and that was not even 2 weeks ago!! He thinks that I should just get over it like it was nothing! I had George for 15 years and CL is 14. I had them both a long time before I ever even met him! Well he said that his family comes before my animals and that I should feel the same. It just ticks me off that they just invite them self to show up here and spend the night and my husband just lets them. Me and him do not see eye to eye on that kind of stuff. He sees nothing wrong with it and thinks Im nuts for being upset. Anyway I did not mean to write a book - I just needed to vent. We go through this every time he lets someone come and stay. If it would not stress her out more than staying home I'd pack me and her and the dog up and go to a motel however I know that would be worse on her than locking her in the bedroom and staying under the bed.
Thanks
 
Should you shot early if you were late this morning? I would not. Try to stay on a 12 & 12 time schedule. Consistency is important. Also, remember shooting early is like a insulin increase & shooting late is like a decrease.
If I am late I try to work back to Baxter's schedule by 30 minutes each time sometimes a little more.

Alright...uninvited house guest are the worst. I have a few thoughts & tips I hope might be possible for you.

Keep in mind if CL doesn't eat then don't worry about giving insulin or testing.

But...you really don't want him to starve either...so...is there anyway he will go into a spare bedroom closet? Putting him in a closet could give you access to feeding, testing & shot. Not to mention love & comfort. It would be alot easier than trying to get to him from under a bed.
Not sure when your "house guest" :oops: are arriving, but maybe next feeding put his food in the closet. Start showing him the closet. Put his bed in the there & put him on it. He will probably jump off or want out, but when company comes that's where he just might want to go instead. Just show him that's where you want him. It might take a couple of times, but he might get it that the closet is the safe place.

Baxter is a big baby when it storms or hears the lawn mower & blowers outside. He hates company :evil: he goes into a guest closet & hides. I showed him where to go (Baxter isn't young & I haven't had Baxter for 6 years.) so it doesn't take days of training or a kitten to show a cat what you want them to do. Use some treats if you need to.

Also, remember you have us to keep you sane through the weekend. :-D :YMHUG:
 
They do not arrive until tomorrow and the bedrooms she always runs to is mine and it has a very nice walk in closet! I'll start trying to get her in there right away. I'll have all night tonight and a greater part of tomorrow. They wont be here until dinner time. Im so glad that I said something because it never crossed my mind that if she did not eat then dont test or try to shoot. In the past when we have had guest and it was crazy and a lot of racket going on she would not come out from under the bed for anything, not even to eat and I kept trying to test and shoot her anyway - thank goodness I never did manage to test or to shoot. I just had to wait till the next morning when all was calm and she came out on her own. The closet is much better and Id never have thought of that.
Thanks so much for the info and for the support. Maybe it wont turn out to be as bad as I think it will.
Going to feed her at 3:30 and do it in the closet and see what happens. Actually I think that I will keep on with this so that if something like this happens again I'll always have a back up plan and I wont freak out~~ :dizcat
 
Hand them a list of house rules when they come in.

You're not a hotel, nor a restaurant, nor a maid so show him the kitchen and the laundry.
And have lots of boring stuff available to eat, nothing fancy/expensive. Plain sandwiches, no beer, etc. Keep it very minimalist.

If he wants to take both of you out for dinner that'd be great, given that he's not paying a hotel bill while staying!
 
I want to kind of clarify something I said about the no insulin, no testing.
Of coarse it's important to test a diabetic cat. Also, if you arent giving insulin. Because they can develop ketones if their BG goes to high...how would you know if the BG is high if you didn't test? If you don't give insulin then a cat can't hypo. Which if a cat isn't eating & doesn't get insulin then no hypo. If a cat is eating & doesn't get insulin then that is dangerous.

So in your case for tomorrow....say the closet plan works....CL is eating, but maybe not her normal amount you might want to decrease the dose of insulin. Try, try to get a test.
Say she isn't eating then still try to get a test in, but I wouldn't give insulin. Especially, if you have to attend dinner somewhere other then your house.

Keep in mind if she is scared...then her BG might be elevated from being scared.

I am sure some others will chime in on her & what amount. If you can tomorrow after the guest are there & its PMPS time post & ask how much to give based on if she has eaten & how much food.

Oh & sorry in the previous post for calling CL a him...when CL is a her... :lol:

Need any excuses to get out of dinner plans...I got a few I use that tend to work when I don't want to attend something...all thanks to FD.... :cool: :roll:
 
Thats ok! You can call CL anything you want except late for dinner! haha_smiley That cat has to be really upset not to eat. Ive only seen her that upset one or two times. Sometimes if she is hiding under the bed I can just leave the food and she will come out when she wants to. I'll just post as things happen and get advise as things go along. I guess its no use to worry yet. I do hate it that we got off schedule today. It would have been much easier to get the test in and shots at the usual 4 am and 4 pm since I dont think anyone would be here yet! But hey thats the way it goes. Her shot was at 6:45 this morning so Im am going to feed right about now and see what that reading is and get the shot done!
Thanks bunches and I'll let you know if I need any of them excuses out of your excuse book! haha_smiley

Ok PMPS is 341 and gave her 1/2 can FF and then shot with 2 units at 6:15. That moved her up 30 mins closer to her normal 4 pm shot. So do that mean that her am shot can be moved up 30 mins and then again her pm shot could be moved up another 30 min as long as her numbers indicate she needs a shot?
Thanks bunches everyone! I dont know how I could do this without you! Now i need drinking24
 
It is ONE 30 minute move per 24 hour period. Or 15 minutes for each 12 hour cycle.

Early dose = increase
Late dose = decrease
 
Relatives !!!! I hear ya !!! :roll: :roll:

Hope all goes well.

Just a silly reminder....don't forget to pop a litter box in the closet. ;-)

Sometimes it is the simple things we don't think about. :smile:
 
Maybe I should rename my civie Monet to Chicken Little. ;-) He is scared of everyone except me. With me, he is loving and very affectionate.
 
Everybody thought that I was nuts for naming her that however that is the name that came to mind when I first found her about 14 years ago. She was a stray cat that was feral and I was a single girl in Florida who already had one cat named George. Well all of a sudden I started seeing this tiny black kitty everywhere in the apartment complex that I lived in but every time I came anywhere near her she ran away. Well I'd been seeing her for about a month and the day we got off work for Christmas vacation I heard something at the door. Well when I opened the door that little black kitty was hanging on the screen door! For the first time she let me pick her up and bring it inside. It did not take me long to realize that that little kitty was very sick so I took her to the vet and $400 later she was now my kitty. She let me hold and touch her the whole time she was sick but when she got well she turned into a wildcat!!! She used to walk around the apartment with eyes so big and hunkered down like something was going to drop on her that before long I was calling her Chicken Little. I also always thought of her as my Christmas Kitty. Until she got diabetes I had just about never picked her up! I still remember the first time I tried to put her in a carrier to take her to the vet to get fixed. Lets just say it never happened and so far to this date she has never stepped a foot into my lap! She has come a long way since then! When she got diabetes a year and a half ago I thought that I would never be able to do it but we get strong when the life of our baby is on the line! Diabetes actually made us a lot closer than we have ever been. She lets me pick her up now and brush her. She used to hate the brush and now she loves it. She will come to me for a pet and a chin scratch every now and again. Not much but some and once in a blue moon she will sit on the arm of the couch next to me.

Gosh - thanks for the memories! I had not thought about her history in a long time. My my how fast 14-15 years go by!! It was a good way to start off today.
laptop_smiley
Have a happy blessed day everyone!
 
Some cats just never take to the "affection" thing except on their terms. We had a feral named Oreo, a HUGE tuxedo cat that came in at 28 lbs and the vet said he was solid muscle. His picture hung in the vet's office with a little caption that read "Heavyweight Champ" under it cause he was the biggest kitty they had at the time. He was an indoor/outdoor kitty and he would take off for weeks at a time but always come home. He was finally caught and neutered and then he began staying around the neighborhood at least. He was a sweetie but ONLY if he wanted to be. He would not allow anyone except my daughter to pick him up. She is the one who coaxed him in the house when he was a kitten. They were playing badminton outside and this little black and white streak came flying by with the birdie in his mouth and the kids were trying to get it back and my daughter finally coaxed him in the house with food and got the birdie back.. :-D
After that "cookie" aka "Oreo" was her baby and didn't want anyone else picking him up. Took us a few years to finally catch and neuter him cause as I said, he was feral and would come to us only to eat on the back deck. He wasn't even afraid of my golden retriever cause he was so big!

He lived to the ripe old age of 19, even though he was an outdoor cat the majority of the time, only coming in near the end of his life to sleep in the winter time. What a character he was. You reminded me of his story with yours about CL.

Here is to a stress free day with her!
 
What a wonderful cat!! Cracked me up as I could just see him in my mind streaking by with the birdie!! :razz: He truly was one of a kind!! Thank you for sharing that unique boy with us!! Made my day!!

This AM after reading posts from someone else that shot late I decided to just give CL a break from it all and get her back on schedule with the 4 pm shot. The up'ing it 15 min at a time will take to long because I have to get up at 3:30 on Monday and I could not get her back on track by then. Plus if I shoot at 4 pm like normal today it will be before all the ruckus starts and I wont have to worry about her at all! Just when I think there is no hope for the hubby he goes and does something super nice. He said that since I've been so worried, stressed out and in grief that he is going to put them up in a hotel close to the restaurant!! :RAHCAT They are all coming over here before dinner but it should be after 4 pm and then when we leave for dinner no one will be back until Sunday morning. They are coming from the hotel to visit before they get on the road on Sunday. However that will be way after the 4 AM shot! So it looks like there will be some fuss going on however it should not be for long and not at any of the injection times. Since I did not test or shoot this AM should I do any test during the day today just to check and see how high she is?
Thanks bunches!!
 
Yay For Hubby !!!! party_cat

So glad he is making the weekend easier for you & CL. Now you can relax and enjoy the weekend + CL will be happier too. :-D :-D :-D

Loved your (and Simon'sMoms too) story of how kittehs came into your life. :-D :-D

Have a wonderful weekend!
 
Aww good for hubby, what a guy.

Who ever told you to move up the shot time by 15 minutes must be a Lantus/Lev user.

Prozinc is much more flexible than that, you could move the shot times by 30 minutes to an hour each shot and adjust the dose down. You just don't want to shoot less than 10 hours apart.
 
Ok. Thanks a bunch. I'll remember that if it ever happens again. It does not happen often where we get off schedule but every once in a while thing are out of our control. Im going to test at 3:30 and feed her 1/2 can FF and then shoot and she should be good to go for today and then everything with her will be back to normal. Or I should say some version of normal flip_cat
 
Well the best plans of mice and men! My plan fell apart and we are still off schedule!! I was waiting till 3:30 to take blood and inject and a little after 1 PM the "guest" called and said that they are on their way. Well I decided I'd go ahead get blood and feed and shoot at 1:30 before all crap breaks loose. Well the first prick no blood, second prick no blood, third prick got blood but the meter timed out while strip was sucking it up!! ohmygod_smile Well I loaded a new strip and pricked one more time and no blood. I felt so bad for CL that I let her go and went ahead and fed her and then shot with 2 units. That takes care of her for today and I wont leave for dinner until 6 pm so I can keep and eye on her for 4 1/2 hours after shoot. So we should be good. I'll have to get up and 1:30 in the morning to do all this over again but I think that will be fine. I'll bet I'm up anyway because we are getting thunder storms over night and the drooler will bark his fool head off and keep me up anyway. I've not been sleeping much anyway so thats fine! At least I got her a shot today and we are close to schedule. I have a litter box in my bedroom and a bed for CL under the bed so she should be as ok as I can get her. Just a few more hours to get through and a dinner but at least I can drinking24 at dinner!! I need a good glass of wine!
 
If things are quiet on the home front when you get home from dinner, try to test CL and post number on ss just to see where she is.

She may have 'felt' your stress when you tried to test her at 1:30. Maybe after some wine (YUM YUM) you will be calmer. ;-)

Don't worry everything will get back to ahhhhh normal (????) soon. Hard to use the word "normal" here with our sugarcats deciding make us crazy every so often. :smile: :roll:

Enjoy your dinner. :-D

I have to get up for night-job at 10:30PM .... yeah.....another 2-1/2 sleep-fest for me before going to work. YUK !!!! :roll:
 
I will do that. It should be quiet. I dont think anyone will be returning to the house with us. I dont know how you work a night job! Most nights Im asleep at 6 or 7! I do however get up at 3:30 every morning. I've always had to be at work early because no one else wants to! Right now Im not working but I have stuck to the same time because of CL. Have a great night!
 
Rob & Harley (GA) said:
Aww good for hubby, what a guy.

Who ever told you to move up the shot time by 15 minutes must be a Lantus/Lev user.

Prozinc is much more flexible than that, you could move the shot times by 30 minutes to an hour each shot and adjust the dose down. You just don't want to shoot less than 10 hours apart.
Click to expand...

Yes, please ignore this silly advice from a Lantus user that forgot she was posting over in the PZI forum. Silly me. Sorry.
 
terriy said:
I will do that. It should be quiet. I dont think anyone will be returning to the house with us. I dont know how you work a night job! Most nights Im asleep at 6 or 7! I do however get up at 3:30 every morning. I've always had to be at work early because no one else wants to! Right now Im not working but I have stuck to the same time because of CL. Have a great night!
Click to expand...


I used to be in bed by 7:00PM.....until.....da da da da da ..... boldy feline diabetes decided to show up. :roll: :roll:

Now I don't hit the sack until 8:15PM at the earliest. My body only allows a 45-minute nap during the day....sometimes it says "no nap". :YMSIGH: @-) @-)

I have a goofy work schedule so it really took some adjusting for me to deal with the new FD test/feed/eating schedule. Saturday nights are the worst, since I have to be at work 11:00PM. Other 6 days (yeah...I work 7 days a week) I get to sleep until 12:30AM ... YIPPIE !!!! :lol: Why am I :lol: ????

Will check your post in the morning.

BTW....let us know where you live. Nice to know if someone here is close to one of us. :smile:
 
Deb & Wink said:
Rob & Harley (GA) said:
Aww good for hubby, what a guy.

Who ever told you to move up the shot time by 15 minutes must be a Lantus/Lev user.

Prozinc is much more flexible than that, you could move the shot times by 30 minutes to an hour each shot and adjust the dose down. You just don't want to shoot less than 10 hours apart.
Click to expand...

Yes, please ignore this silly advice from a Lantus user that forgot she was posting over in the PZI forum. Silly me. Sorry.
Click to expand...

Deb & Wink, please don't take that personally, it wasn't meant with any malace. That is just one of the differences between the L's and Prozinc. I was just pointing it out in case she gets off schedule again.
 
Robin,

I was taking your comment to mean that a Lantus user forgot that PZI is different. And I absolutely did forget. That is why I wanted to post a reply, because as soon as I read your comment, I realized I had made a boo-boo. I was just saying that I needed to pay attention to which forum I was posting in and give the advice appropriate to the insulin being used.

I wanted to make sure the caregiver realized the advice I gave was wrong and would know that your advice was the correct advice.
 
Once again all my plans out the window!! No reading tonight. We did have some return to the house with us and CL is hiding. Im sure that she will be out before I hit the sack but Im not going to try and take a reading from her. I know she is scared and I dont want to mess with her anymore tonight. I think she is just like me and had enough for today!! I'll get up early in the am and get a reading and post.
Also, Rumpelteazer I live in Birmingham Alabama. Anybody else live close to me?
Thanks everyone for posting and replying! Its the only thing that has kept me sane this weekend!!
 
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