Still struggling to test.

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Tiger and the squid

Tiger and the squid

Member Since 2018
It's only been a week, so I suppose I don't expect to be a pro in that time frame, but I am still seriously struggling to get a good test on Tiger. I have gotten exactly three (3) results.

I think the problem starts just because he's hungry. He gets breakfast at 7, and by 620 he's up in bed asking to be fed. He knows it's breakfast time and no he does not want any cuddles, thank you, please just feed!

Between my husband and I, we can typically get a poke. Sometimes we even get some blood. But then he starts squirming and we can't get a reading. Between the squirming and the blood dispersing through the fur (I've tried vaseline and neosporin, to help with beading to no luck), we just can't get a result.

I'm really struggling. He seems like he's acting better, so if his numbers to stablize and I keep giving him insulin I don't want him to get hypo while I'm at work.
 
That's really hard! When you do get a drop, can you get it onto your fingernail? I've had to do that a few times when mine has been squirmy. One thing that I've done is I put us both in the bathroom, with a plastic cup or deeper plastic bowl with some freeze-dried meat treats in the bottom. I sit with the bowl between my legs, and maneuver Cameron to lay over my thigh. I can then clamp him to me with my left arm, his head in the bowl, and quickly prick and get the blood drop while he's snacking. It takes him longer to eat the freeze dried snack if I break it up into littler pieces and put it in a deep cup/dish, giving me enough time while he's preoccupied ;)

I usually only have to do that for the morning stick, because he's so hungry.
 
I don't know if this helps but when I had Smoky he had a timed feeder. I had it set to allow him to eat every few hours overnight.
It had 5 compartments and I had last one set 2 hours before his breakfast time. That way last one he was eating from woukd close and next one woukd be empty so he had no food 2 hours prior to his morning test.
 
If the timed feeder idea appeals to you, a member is clearing out and had some she was offering for shipping costs. Might save some $$. it's Osha's mom that posted.
 
I've definitely thought about the timed feeding to help, the problem with that is that I have two cats, so would I need two feeders? How do I know my chubby little Discordia isn't eating all of the food? Am I just trying to make this more difficult than it needs to be?

/edit
I do have some freeze dried chicken I've been giving to him as a treat. I'll try the cup thing, though.
 
If he likes going under the covers, trap and hold really firmly. Then expose the head/ears.
Regardless, you'll have to hold firmly. Before testing, pet while holding firmly. After test pet and give treats. The chicken you mentioned would be fine.
Then feed.
He'll eventually get used to the routine. It might take you and your husband working together at first.
Mine was a problem, but he eventually started meowing at the shelf where the treats and testing supplies were kept. He knew treats and food followed getting stuck.
 
Are you poking your cat in his ear? If so, it really helped me to warm the ear by rubbing it between my fingers first and also helps me to poke on the very edge of the ear almost to where you'd be poking on the underside but not quite.
 
I sympathize. I’m going through the same thing. I tried on four days and only got one reading on the third day. It was a miracle that I poked her correctly and even more of a miracle that I somehow chased her down (after she scurried off) and got the blood onto the meter. I was still trying when I looked at the meter and saw it had a reading.

My cat never warmed up to flea treatments or being picked up. She loves affection and sitting in laps but not being picked up. In fact, she was sitting in my lap getting her ears rubbed when I poked her. Truthfully, I’m concerned she will not become compliant with the BG testing.

I feel that it is I who must get better. I must learn to grab that ear and hold it firmly until I QUICKLY poke it in the perfect spot. I’m going to be testing out the “fingernail technique” if I get another drop of blood. Once I poked her, she did not want that meter anywhere near her.

Once again, I sympathize and I am in the same boat. I will keep you posted if I find something that works.

After my one success, I posted this:

Ash likes her ears rubbed, so I decided to reduce things to the basics: ears rubbed, freehand, monitor with the sound off, and on the floor. I eliminated all the materials that I had to juggle or that would distract both her and me. I read somewhere on this board that if you are doing it freehand to “come in at an angle and prick her ear like you are popping a balloon.”

Today, I will once again return to a confined area on the floor. Maybe she will jump on my lap again and I can poke her there. Maybe that will be our thing…
 
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I give my cats a Can right before bed. There’s a timed feeder of low carb kibble on the table where cc rarely goes.... but there’s no access to it after 4am/pm.
 
I am sorry you are having such trouble, it can be so aggravating.

For me it is three main things.

1) Make sure the ear is warm enough. This can't be stressed enough. Plus, my kitty loved me rubbing a warm rice sock on his ear and face, so that on its own became an incentive for him to be tested.

2) Use a big enough lancet. If you have a human meter, it probably came with 30 gauge lancets or so. Instead buy a 26-28 gauge (smaller number is a bigger needle) and try that. As time goes on and more capillaries grow due to repeated testing, you may then be able to start to use smaller lancets like 30-33 gauge.

3) The fingernail trick is a good one. Make sure your nail is clean, and as soon as you see blood, scoop your nail along their ear and pick the blood up onto your nail. Let the cat go. Test the blood from your nail. (The cat might run and shake their head and flick blood around if you didn't have time to have applied any pressure to it, but don't worry about that for now)

Ok, 4 things. #4 is to try to relax. I know, it sounds like the dumbest advice ever. "Yeah, right, just *relax*...". But Tiger will pick up on your anxiety. Do what you can to relax while trying to test. Talk to Tiger, sing him a song, kiss his head while skritching his chin...just hang in there and keep trying. It'll come with practice.

Best,
Sandi&whisper.
 
Sandi & Whisper said:
Ok, 4 things. #4 is to try to relax. I know, it sounds like the dumbest advice ever. "Yeah, right, just *relax*...". But Tiger will pick up on your anxiety. Do what you can to relax while trying to test. Talk to Tiger, sing him a song, kiss his head while skritching his chin...just hang in there and keep trying. It'll come with practice.

Best,
Sandi&whisper.
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Oh, we do sing to him lol My husband and I trying to keep our upbeart voices "Just one poke, then it's breakfast time~~~"

It's so extra frustrating because he is .. such a cuddler. He LOVES to be picked up and held and pet and babied and smooched. But I think he just get so HANGRY lol It's just forty minutes of crawling over me, jumping on the headboard, staring down at me, meowing, pawing at the stuff on the shelf. I'd change his feeding times, but since I work until 7, I don't want to put him on a thirteen hour spread if I can avoid it (Plus, I'd like to give my poor husband the chance to sleep in as much as possible)

His little earsies are typically pretty warm, I rub them for a little bit first. I'll try the rice sock thing, I just picked up a new back of rice, so I guess I can spare some for him.

For the fingernail trick, I'll definitely give that a try. Maybe that's the thing we need to get him started.

Ross & Ash said:
I feel that it is I who must get better. I must learn to grab that ear and hold it firmly until I QUICKLY poke it in the perfect spot. I’m going to be testing out the “fingernail technique” if I get another drop of blood. Once I poked her, she did not want that meter anywhere near her.
Click to expand...
Yes, this! I need to get better. I'm not really mad at him, he's just a little dude, doing his best to get some food. I'm mad at myself because I feel like I'm letting him down, like I'm not taking care of him. I wish you luck in your endeavors!! We can do this, and be better cat parents!

HereKittyKittyKitty said:
If he likes going under the covers, trap and hold really firmly. Then expose the head/ears.
Regardless, you'll have to hold firmly. Before testing, pet while holding firmly. After test pet and give treats. The chicken you mentioned would be fine.
Then feed.
He'll eventually get used to the routine. It might take you and your husband working together at first.
Mine was a problem, but he eventually started meowing at the shelf where the treats and testing supplies were kept. He knew treats and food followed getting stuck.
Click to expand...
Tiger doesn't get under the blankets much. I've tried wrapping him a blanket, but I've never been a very good purrito maker. We'll give this another shot, too. I think he'll get used to it, eventually. He learned right quick when breakfast time was.
 
I am having the same problem with Mama Cat. I have attempted three tests, and so far I have gotten one reading. I will keep trying.
 
Got some successful tests today. I'm heading to bed now so I wont be able to keep testing. Friday I'll be home from work so I'll try to do some more so both Tiger and I can get used to it. I think it's most frustrating when we get a good poke and the meter gives us an error.
 
How much of a difference does it make for results when testing before eating and literally immediately after eating? In the mornings, Tiger is SO anxious to get his breakfast it is really next to impossible to test him. When we do get a good poke, he won't stay still long enough to get a read. I've tried the nail thing to some success twice, so we can poke, scrape and let him run, but it seems like I've just been spreading the blood instead of getting it on my nail.

As soon as he eats, though? Complete change. He plops down, content as all get out, and I can poke him and get a read then.
 
Squid said:
How much of a difference does it make for results when testing before eating and literally immediately after eating?
Click to expand...

None at all. As I was reading through this thread, that's what I was going to suggest. Just go ahead and feed him first. In the interest of time, just give him a little food, maybe a tablespoon. It should be enough to calm him down. As soon as he's finished with it, do the test, and then feed him the rest of the food.
 
Squid said:
How much of a difference does it make for results when testing before eating and literally immediately after eating?
Click to expand...
Can you test while he's eating? I did that a few times, when Cleo and I were first getting into our routine. I don't do that anymore, but it was taking me so long to get a good blood drop and I needed to keep her distracted for a good, long while. These days, I do what Djamila suggested. Cleo has a kitty-brother who is very interested in food and that keeps him from driving us nuts while I'm trying to test Cleo.
 
Tiger's head does not stay still when eating. I tried putting some treaties in a deep bowl per one suggestion, and at first it looked like it would work - he went in for the treaties, his ears were outside the bowl - but then he just picked out the one he wanted and went back for another. It's similiar with food, he eats like a dang chicken, peck peck peck

I've gone ahead with testing him immediately after eating (He doesn't eat the full 2.8oz can in one go anyway, maybe a third of it) when he's content. I've had much more success since starting that the other night. I even tried some in between testing yesterday. I suppose my question now is, when you get an error or high testing, how often do you immediately retest for accuracy? I don't want to keep chasing down my kitty and repoking him. I also don't want to keep throwing away all my test strips (Which is the number one reason I don't want to get the alphatrack like my vet is suggesting. She seems pro-testing, which is good, but a dollar a strip??? Giiiiiiirl. I'll pay through the nose for the fancy wet food - I just dropped a little over 50 on chewy.com because I forgot to use my coupon bleh - but to pay that much extra for those special strips when from what I understand the testing is more about getting the idea ... I'll get the idea with my current meter, I think.)

I'm sorry this got rambly. But it's getting better.
 
Which meter are you using? I started out with a Relion Prime and I found it to be really glitchy. Half the time I'd get an error message for absolutely no reason that I could see. I couldn't even get a good reading on my own blood and I'm a lot easier to test than a cat.

I finally gave up and went back to Walmart for a Relion Confirm. I'm a lot happier with it. It can test the tiniest drop of blood and it seems faster.
 
alexthecat said:
Which meter are you using? I started out with a Relion Prime and I found it to be really glitchy. Half the time I'd get an error message for absolutely no reason that I could see. I couldn't even get a good reading on my own blood and I'm a lot easier to test than a cat.

I finally gave up and went back to Walmart for a Relion Confirm. I'm a lot happier with it. It can test the tiniest drop of blood and it seems faster.
Click to expand...
I'm using a Kroger store brand meter. It says powered by onsync and manufactured by agamatrix

Its read high all day, no errors, but no numbers. I wonder if I missed his insulin this morning. I go back to the doctor Monday and I expect an increase.
 
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