Stress Raising Hershey's Readings??

[Doug N Libby]

I have noticed (on more than one occasion) that Hershey will start to get agitated during testing. With me, he'll get antsy and start moving around to get up. He has never done that with Doug (maybe because Doug is a lot bigger than him and has huge hands, who knows?) but he will thump his tail and I can see his tail get bigger. Well, Monday PM +6 Hershey got pretty aggravated with me and his reading went from PMPS (311) receiving .8u to (408)! I refigured everything I had done. I know I checked to make sure all of the insulin had gone in and that it wasn't a fur shot. I showed Doug where I had injected to double-check my location...So, I went ahead and fed him but really got to thinking about his agitation. So, at PM +6.5, I had Doug retest and it was down to (389). I'm thinking he was calming down. The 'Costco vet' said she takes numbers with a grain factoring in everything else and that it takes them a while to clear the stress spike.

Hmmm...how long does it take to clear it??? I looked and looked and looked and couldn't find any articles about how long...

So, let's go back to the SS....Tues PM +6 he sat in my lap ~:20 (watching NCIS because I have a kitty with good taste!) before testing and it was (119). Wed +6 didn't seem stressed (180). Wed PM +6 took me 3 tries - and he was not amused - (274). So, now I'm wondering how accurate our numbers are. Are some cats more sensitive to stress? Wondering if I should try to find some way to compare stress level/numbers...I don't know...just babbling...

Thoughts??

Thanks!

Libby (and Hershey, too!)

 

[Sue and Oliver (GA)]

It's possible. Their readings sure can shoot up at the vet when they are under stress. Or it could have been a little too much blood or a little too little. Any time you get a wonky reading, try again.

Or maybe Hershey is just a sensitive male.......... :mrgreen:

 

[Doug N Libby]

I did a retest on that (408) and it was (405) - that's when I started thinking about stress...another thing I just don't know...