Received my Newbie Kit - Now what do we do??

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judy

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Hi
We just received our newbie kit, lots of goodies in the box. Seeing as we are new to this what do we do?? My kitty Annie was just diagnosed on 1-8-11, she is receiving 1 unit of Lantus in the morning. We have watched some of the video on how to test your kitty and noticed that there are two ways. One by the ear and the other by the paws. We have questions as usual.

1. What is a normal range for the blood glucose for a kitty?

2. Do you test morning, afternoon and evening??

3. I am afraid that we will hurt Annie.

4. I have been reading some of the info on testing and I am still confused what the +1, +2, +3, etc means. is that the hours like 1:00 o'clock, 2:00 o'clock, etc?? What does the plus sign mean???

5. So what number do we try to shoot for to be good???
6. What are the test strips for?? Urine testing??
I received a Contour meter. Any help or suggestions will be very very very helpful.

Thank you
Judy and Annie
 
judy said:
1. What is a normal range for the blood glucose for a kitty?

2. Do you test morning, afternoon and evening??

3. I am afraid that we will hurt Annie.

4. I have been reading some of the info on testing and I am still confused what the +1, +2, +3, etc means. is that the hours like 1:00 o'clock, 2:00 o'clock, etc?? What does the plus sign mean???

5. So what number do we try to shoot for to be good???
6. What are the test strips for?? Urine testing??
I received a Contour meter. Any help or suggestions will be very very very helpful.

Thank you
Judy and Annie
Click to expand...


i'll try to help with some of the questions :-)

1. normal BG (blood glucose) levels in a kitty are usually stated around 80-120 but i've seen some references of 70-120 all the way to 70-150. personally, i've got a ton of cats and routinely test some of them just to catch anything that develops as early as i can and i can say that my non-diabetic cats actually run mostly between high 40's to mid 60's sooooo

2. you want to test at least before each shot. and then ideally you do some more testing here and there. the more data you have, the easier it is to see what is going on and if dose adjustments need to be made. so if you're home during the day, test a time or two. before you go to bed, get a test in. and if you can always do more testing on your days off or weekends

3. cats are exceptionally forgiving if you ask me. besides, if you do the testing on the ears for instance, there is minimal if any nerve endings in the very edge of their ears so they don't tend to feel much anyway. the clicking of the lancing device and beeping of the meters is more startling to them than the actual poking.

4. the + numbers are how many hours since the last shot. every time you give a shot the clock starts over so if you let's say give your shot one morning and 3 hours later you test kitty and the BG level is 38, you could post a thread here like "HELP! +3 is only 38" and everyone will understand you have a bit of a situation on your hands. the board is worldwide and it's easier to do that than for someone to say "it's 9pm and my cat's at 57". that doesn't tell anyone if they should call for more help or congratulate for getting a good number.

5. #5 i'll leave blank. the answer to that changes depending on where you are at in this journey and i'm about to be pulled away from my desk. ugh!

6. there should be test strips for the meter. and depending on if there are supplies of them available (newbie kits are run on donations), sometimes ketone test strips are included. strips for the meter are an inch to inch & a half long. ketone strips are more like 3-4 inches if i remember correctly. the ones for the meter take the blood you'll get from the ear or paw and ketone test strips take urine
 
Wonderful! Now onto your exciting journey into the world of diabetes.

Try the meter out first so you know how it works. Be sure to use the rice sack. Use the flashlight to find where you want to poke, then a tiny smear of vaseline in that spot. AND don't be discouraged if it doesn't work the first time. Probably 90% of us didn't get blood at first. We spent a miserable weekend trying.

Here is info on ranges:
Treated but not regulated [often above 300 (16.7) and rarely near 100 (5.6), poor clinical signs]
Regulated [generally below 300 (16.7) with glucose nadir near 100 (5.6), good clinical signs, no hypoglycemia]
Well regulated [generally below 200-250 (11.1-13.9) and often near 100 (5.6), no hypoglycemia]
Tightly regulated [generally below 150 (8.3) and usually in the 60-120 (3.3-6.7) range, no hypoglycemia, still receiving insulin]
Normalized [60-120 (3.3-6.7) except perhaps directly after meals -- usually not receiving insulin]

You test before each shot to make sure it is safe to give the amount you have planned. You test around +6 to see how low she goes in the cycle. And someday soon, you go a curve - testing every 2 hours to see exactly how the insulin is working.

We use +1, +2 because we have members around the world and 5:45pm won't mean anything to them. +1 is one hour after the shot, etc.

You'll do fine. You don't need to know everything the first day. Just work on the testing. Ask for help when you need it.
 
Everything that Cindy and Sue said!

Willie and I just started this adventure on December 7th, and while he was a total crankpot at first, things run like clockwork now He doesn't love getting his ear poked, but it's not a big deal... the thing that bugs him the most is when he gets a big blood droplet on his ear and it feels itchy. I was so overwhelmed by everything at first, so I'm here to tell you that in one month, this will be no big deal... just something you do every day, some days more than others.

You couldn't be in a better place here... Look forward to reading about Annie's progress over in Lantus Land!
 
I just got my kit a few days ago as well. I was thoroughly confused even after watching the videos because I couldn't figure out the meter & other parts that came w/ it. Thank goodness there was an 800 number that I could call. This has not been easy though. I have poked Azrielle in the ear so many times & they are now red where I poked her & I still can't get enough blood for a reading. I feel bad doing this but I know it has to be done but I feel like I keep wasting resources. Do I just keep trying?
 
1. are you warming the ear?
2. are you using a thin sheen of vaseline?
3. Where are you poking?
4. what are you poking with? Lancet device? what kind of device, what thickness of lancet and at what setting?
5. Do you try to 'milk' the ear?
 
Jen & Squeak said:
1. are you warming the ear? YES
2. are you using a thin sheen of vaseline? NO
3. Where are you poking? EAR
4. what are you poking with? Lancet device? what kind of device, what thickness of lancet and at what setting? BAYER CONTROL; thick, I believe
5. Do you try to 'milk' the ear?
Click to expand...
NOT SURE WHAT THIS IS.
 
To milk the ear, poke and then push lightly with your finger from below where you poked up toward the area you poked. You are pushing the blood toward the hole.

The little smear of vaseline, put where you are planning to poke, will help the blood bead up.

25-26 gauge lancets usually work best for newbies as they are thicker.

You can poke either ear. Sometimes one bleeds better than the other.
 
Yes that was what I was doing, but it also makes it hard since she has tufted ears.
So the vaseline you put on the ear before poking? How does that help? Since I got the newbie kit I don't know what size they are.
Yes I have poked both ears & to no avail. :sad:
 
It helps if you look at the ear with a flashlight and figure out just where you want to poke. You are aiming for the little capillaries that run off the main vein (which runs down the ear) toward the edge of the ear. When you see where you want to poke, put a tiny smear of vaseline on that spot. It will help you poke in the right place and the blood will bead up on the vaseline instead of running off.
 
Conversely, I poke a different part of the ear. The picture Sue posted is of the outer thinner edge of the ear, whereas I've always poked the inner thicker edge, about 2/3 of the way down the ear, and just a little bit in from the edge. I've never used a flashlight or anything, just use my softclix pen.
 
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