test strips - which bit do I not touch?

[twinkiefreekitty]

I tried to test my kitty this morning and he was not in the slightest bit cooperative despite the treat box sitting right beside him. So, getting the strip into the meter once I finally got a drop of blood gave me an error reading E-6 on the ReliOn. I tried another strip while still cat wrangling and got the same E-6. So, gave up on testing since my cat is not terribly forgiving and was in a feisty mood. He also tried to cheat on the whole breakfast-shot-treat routine when breakfast wasn't his absolute favorite flavor. I think perhaps he's feeling a bit better even if his legs are worse.

Later I misread the meter instructions to mean that there was a separate calibration strip in the box of strips. E-6 means the strip has somehow got dirty, which would be from the cat wrangling and trying to hold onto everything at once. So unfortunately, I took ALL of the strips out of the bottle and looked at each one to try to find a calibration strip. Eventually I realized the instructions meant any of the strips. Duh. Anyway, it appears I may have damaged an entire set of strips by overhandling them. I ordered more but I need to know how to handle them correctly. Is there a part I should not touch?

 

[Pat and Skipper (GA)]

If your hands were clean and dry when handling the strips, they should be OK.

 

[squeem3]

Don't touch the end that goes into the meter. It has the exposed electrode stips(s) that allows the meter to read the blood drop. Getting the exposed strip(s) dirty may result in a meter error. Also don't touch the end where the blood drop goes onto. So just hold the flat part in between the two ends or the side of the test strip.

 

[Larry and Kitties]

Touching the end that goes in the meter is really not bad. What is bad is touching the are when the blood gets sucked into the strip. Body oils/moisture/foreign material can prevent enough blood from getting sucked into the strip.

 

[twinkiefreekitty]

Thanks so much. We'll try again in the morning. He doesn't mind the shots but the ear pricks tick him off.

 

[Melanie and Smokey]

Try not to touch either end, handle them in the middle. The end that goes into the meter could misread if there is any skin oil or other debris on it and the reading could be altered if you get anything on the end where the blood goes.

Your strips that you handled might be ok, but I know having my Aviva strips exposed to light for much time is not good. I forgot a canister partly open for a short period - like 2 minutes - and the whole lot of them were junk and errored out when I tried to use them.

 

[hmjohnston]

This is what I do- you might not be getting it wrong- just too late- look for the red and all the way to the bottom for the reason I had so many bad strips.

And the relion strips are pretty forgiving. Continue to try the strips until you get the new ones in.

rub ears gently for about a minute to warm them

pull the cap off the lancet (I free-hand) and for a newbie you want a lower number (26, 28 gauge) in your lancets as they have a bigger poking end and until you get the capillaries into that part of the ear you will need it for any success- they are usually cheap for a box of 100

take out one strip, close the canister, and place strip onto the lid (NOT in the meter- once set in the meter you have about 7-10 seconds to get the blood tested- and it usually takes more than 7 seconds to get the blood from the cat, newbie or not )

rub ears some more and poke the sweet spot area and then rub some more until you get a bead of blood
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m267 ... etspot.jpg

rather than trying to get the strip into the meter and test the drop on her ear (she hated the beeping and fidgeted so much and flicked her ears to get rid of the blood) I scrape my fingernail along the fur and pick up the drop of blood onto my fingernail and then lightly pinch the spot to stop it from bleeding

Once you have the blood stopped, set the strip in the meter, watch for the test icon (usually a drop of blood icon will appear) and, holding the meter like a pen (up and down) lightly touch the strip end to the blood drop and it will draw it up naturally. If you dump the blood on the strip end the reading will be incorrect/false or there will be no reading at all.

I found this last part by accident- I went to a health fair and had my bg checked and I saw the pharmacist student do that and realized I was doing it ALL WRONG!!!- that was why I had a whole box of 25 strips had come up bad .

other helpful hints are found here:
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=287

Good luck!