Not Drawing Blood

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catpoems

catpoems

Member Since 2014
After my cat Mac was diagnosed this summer I changed his diet without trying insulin (with the vet's approval). At first, things seemed to be good, as his glucose went down under 200.

But I have not been able to get blood from his ears. I have read the directions in a thread on this forum, and have tried other suggestions from the internet as well. I have used the lancet with the plunger and without it, used warm cloth, warm bottle, and warm rice in sock to warm his ear. Nothing works. Yesterday I had the vet tech come here to do it (he can't go to the vet because of his heart--it stresses him too much and he has a bad heart) and at first she didn't get blood either, then she did when she took the lancet out of the plunger. She got a 260 reading! This hasn't been verified because I tried a lot today and can't get enough blood.

In fact, the only time I got blood and completed a test on him was when I accidentally did it 1/2 hour after eating. It seems like his ears had more blood after eating.

Has anybody else had this much trouble? I haven't shown him anxiety or anything. But he can be a very difficult cat and after I messed around trying today he did nip at me and scratched the surface of my skin with his teeth.

And we haven't even tried insulin yet!

I feel like I'm failing him, but I don't see how I can possibly monitor him on insulin if I can't master testing his blood! I feel that it would be so dangerous to put him on insulin until I really can get his blood.

By the way, I can't try his paws. He would definitely bite me if I did that.

Any thoughts are appreciated!
LUanne
 
Just keep trying. The ears do learn to bleed because of the repeated pokings. Make sure you firmly backup the ear otherwise the lancet will deflect the ear vice penetrating the ear.
 
Hello LUanne,

I am only 30 days into my "Sugar Dance" but do have experience drawing blood from the ears. I have done it about 75 times (from 2 cats).

I have a "Dear Foams Woolly Wrap" for my bad back. It has a microwaveable bean bag that I put in for 60 seconds. I use it to warm the ear. This works wonders. I use the lancet with plunger from the AlphaTrak 2 meter. The vet tech showed me how, with a bare lancet, to do it on the foot and I said nope, too hard (my perception) and risk of infection put that option right out the window.

What I have found is that you need some backing to the plunger. After all the ear is very pliable and plunging into the air (i.e. not close enough to the skin) does not produce the desired results. While I was backing it with a bare finger (to get the plunger on the ear), I stuck myself and thought this is not good. Got blood but both of our blood was not the goal.

I now use one of those rubber finger tips that you use to flip through papers. You know, it gives your finger traction while trying to flip through a stack of papers or in the old days count money. I have the Rubber pebbly kind but I suggest a smoother one (for their comfort) if you are going to Staples or Office max to buy one. A quick look just now, I find Lee Tippi Micro-Gel Fingertip Grips. Open tip for Finger nails. Probably good for a woman with nails. $6.65 for 10.

I usually do it on the ear on the other side of him while kneeling on the floor. With his head to my left, I take my left hand and rubber index finger and go over the back of his head (keeps the teeth away to a degree) and back his ear from inside (tip to bottom as if I was pointing into his ear) with my left index finger. Lining the underside edge of his ear with my covered finger. I then take the plunger lancet in my right hand and hold it tight against his ear over my finger underneath and plunge. The vein is about 1/8 of an inch off the ear edge and with the plunger style it is hard to see exactly where you are but with the long edge of the plastic plunger cap lined up with the edge of his ear seems to find blood most every time. With the heat, the more blood I get. I do massage the ear while heating as well to get the blood flowing. Cats ears are typically kinda cold and therefore blood flow is low.

I slide the strip in the meter, grab the meter in my right hand while keeping his head down with my left, still backing/holding his ear with my left index finger and I take up the blood with the meter. Voila!

I thought when the Vet first informed me of Jacks Diabetes, that I wouldn't be able to do at home testing. And the shot, I figured was not going to be possible (fuggettaboutit). But with will and determination, I overcame both obstacles. You can too. After all, they are counting on us.

Since Jack has been getting better, at times, he has been feisty and wants to get away. The wrist and hand over the back of the head reduces his squirm.

I hope this helps and wish you the best of everything to you and yours.
 
While you work on blood testing, see my signature link Secondary Monitoring Tools for some additional assessments you may find helpful to make in evaluating progress.
 
This sounds good. I will get one of those rubber finger things right away and try that. It makes sense. I will let you know what happens. Thank you so much.
 
Until you get the rubber finger thingy, you could try using strips of folded paper kitchen towels.

I fold a sheet of kitchen paper in four and then cut it into 3/4" strips. I wrap the four-folded strip of kitchen towel around my index finger and wrap Saoirse's ear over the finger. I hold both paper strip and ear in place with the middle finger then prick with the lancet. The folded kitchen towel acts like a slightly springy cushion. It's firm enough to support the ear when it's being pricked but deep enough to ensure that the finger isn't pricked along with the ear. Once I've sampled the blood bead, I just wrap the strip over Saoirse's ear and apply pressure to stem the bleeding (leaving my other mitt free to dish out a protein treat or two!).
 
It's always so interesting to hear other people's techniques! My lancing angle sounds like it's very different than most people's, so I thought I'd toss it out there as an option. I would have to do something really out of the ordinary to prick through her ear and into my finger the way I do it.

I wrap my cat's ear over my index finger and hold the top of it between my index and middle fingers. Then I use the lancet freehand and hold the sharp tip as close to parallel to the edge if her ear as I can (not perpendicular like the spring-loaded thing does). Then I make a quick motion almost like making a little tiny stitch that goes into the edge of her ear at that very sideways angle (it goes along just under her skin rather than straight through it). Because have her ear completely held in place, it's easy to either get the drop with the strip or I can use my thumbnail to get the drop if she's squirmy.

I started doing it this way after practicing in myself and going shallower, but for a slightly longer length on my own finger got the same amount of blood with less pain for me, so I decided to try it on Mona. She seemed to prefer it, too, so I perfected that angle for our routine.
 
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