Testing paw pads instead of ears???

[Noah & me (GA)]

I've read about this and even noticed some You-Tube videos which I cannot bear to watch. Really? After walking through a litter box, poo on your pads! Obviously you clean the pads but our patient cannot stand having his feet touched.
My point... Cat has very few veins in his ears and they're beginning to collapse, sort of a red patch about 10mm square spreading from the vein. Anyone know if this is a "Collapsed vein" or an area to stay away from re getting a blood sample?

 

[Shorty]

I don't think it's a collapsed vein. It's just bled out and bruised. We used to have this problem with Shorty, because we could only test on one ear, due to injuries and damage to the other ear when he was a kitten. When we hit the vein, we'd notice the excess, both during testing (huge drop), and after wards with the bruising. We could never get anything from his paw pads, even trying with the lancet set for maximum depth...

 

[Shorty]

How are you sticking his ear? I know it's a little different from what everyone else does, but Kelly and I would use the rice sock as the backing to his ear, rather than just using it to heat his ear and then using a pad or cotton as the backing. It gave us something solid to hold against, something he was used to so he didn't fidget or jump, and it was something we could easily swap out after a use or two, to prevent contamination...

 

[Noah & me (GA)]

Hi Shorty. I use a small flashlight to backlight his ear and a 33 gauge lancet, with a clean paper towel to support the ear. I've had no success with his right ear so his left ear gets all the abuse. It's so easy to go right through the ear but this is our second diabetic cat so I've been doing this for five years. First cat was much different.

 

[Shorty]

We used the actual rice filled sock to support the ear with Shorty... it was the only way we could manage to get a good stick. We had to change the sock out frequently, because of the times we'd go through, but it was much easier to form the ear to a good shape and steady it for us. Granted, we only did this for about 4 months, but it was the one consistent method we found. In addition, he came to love having that hot sock up against that ear and never fought the lancing either. We were using a lancing pen... are you doing that, or pricking by hand?

 

[Larry and Kitties]

I use a small flashlight to backlight his ear and a 33 gauge lancet,

I would use a 28 gauge lancet. Those are larger than diameter than a 33 gauge lancet. The larger diameter ones are frequently marked as for human alternate site testing (other than the finger tips).
As other had said you are seeing bruising n the ear. After puncturing the er and getting the sample, press the area between a finger and thumb for 30 seconds to minimise brusing

 

[Noah & me (GA)]

Thanks all. I wonder if the 33 gauge lancet is too small. I sometimes have to make multiple punctures before I draw blood. Maybe almost hitting the mark with a 33 would draw blood with a 28. Does that make any sense?

 

[Larry and Kitties]

There really is not "mark" to hit since yo do not what the pierce the marginal ear vein. If yo do it will bleed a lot even with a 33 gauge lancet.
Many caretakers here use a 31 gage lancet since that seems to be standard for human fingers.