Tips on the poking procedure?

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Phil & Garfunkel

Phil & Garfunkel

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Hi everyone.

So I've been home testing for the past three days, but I'm still really, really inconsistent in my success. This morning, for instance, I did it perfectly on the first poke, only for Garfunkel to start shaking his head and sending blood flying. My next two pokes were unsuccessful and my fourth was good.

Just now however, it took over half an hour of following him around. First he didn't wanna really lay down to let me do it. Then I blew three strips because they didn't fill completely with blood so I got the Er5 code. Finally I did manage to do it successfully. I'm really annoyed that I apparently suck at this, especially because it's stressful for both of us and the strips are expensive.

What kind of tips do you have for the poking? I've seen Buddy's video, but it isn't really clear how the lancet goes in. I feel like, from my experiences, if I try to come in at an angle, I get blood, but not enough and then it starts to go into the fur on his ear and I can't get a reading, or I blow a strip and get the Er5.

It seems I can be more consistent and draw more blood going straight in, like I'm piercing the actual ear. I don't know if this is bad or not. I really just wish I could do this well on a consistent basis. Thanks for letting me vent.
 
Maxwell has long hair on his ears so I put a thin coating of neosporin on his ear and that helps it bead up and not disappear in his fur. The only other thing that find works well for me is to test low on his ear, just above that little double flap of skin, and he really only has one ear that bleeds really well. THankfully he is in remission so I don't test that often.

Mel, Maxwell and The Fur Gang
 
I go straight in, have done it for years with several FDs, they do fine with it. When I'm first starting with a new diabetic cat I keep the lancet at a high setting, once the ear gets trained I turn the lancet setting down to medium. If your lancet has a clear tip that can be used, I prefer those to the dark tip. It's easier to see where you're going to strike.

If you can get a quick click done, milk the ear and if you get a droplet of blood that you think is large enough, and if you're not grossed out by this suggestion, put it on your fingernail and test it from there. In time you'll be fast enough to collect it right from the ear.

When I poke my kitties I find it easier to milk the ear if they shake their head before I do it. So I strike with the lancet, let Kiki shake her head and then milk the ear. I'm assuming you know what I mean by milking. That's pushing the blood from above and below the spot, pushing towards where you poked to push more blood out.

By letting Kiki shake her head first she's doing half the milking for me. These days I don't really need to milk much, just a quick push on each side and that's it. Her ear got trained to give blood.

Agree with Mel on poking towards the bottom, right above the triangle gives me the best droplet.
 
Hi and welcome.

My number one tip for this is to get larger gauge lancets. When we were first testing Nanner at the shelter after he arrived all I had were little bitty ones that I use on myself, I think they are 30 or 32 gauge, really tiny. Trying to get blood out of Nanner's ear, with him new to hometesting, with a tiny gauge lancet, well he might as well have been a turnip. After about a dozen tries (with a kitty that I had barely been introduced to) we FINALLY got enough blood to test and the meter just read HIGH. Which is why we are now fostering him and he gets tested before every shot.

It also prompted a quick run to the drug store for larger gauge lancets, I'd look for 26 or 28 gauge, they may be marked "alternate site lancets" too. The wally world relion brand comes in 26 and 28 gauge and they are fairly inexpensive. We use neosporin with pain relief, and because Nan HATES having the strip stuck to his ear, scoop the droplet onto a fingernail or the end of my finger and test from there. It never occurred to me to be grossed out by that - maybe because I'm diabetic and it's like testing myself without having to stick myself.

Many people swear by a rice sock, an old cotton sock with some plain old white rice in it, nuked for 15-20 seconds and held to the ear to warm it. Flash (GA), who I learned to hometest with, LOVED his rice sock so we used it even after we really didn't need it anymore. Nan doesn't like it one bit, so I just sit him under the desk lamp and rub his hear while petting him.

Paula & Nan
 
Don't feel ad. I have been hometesting Cedric for 2 months and still suck at it. I use a heating pad that came out of one of his toys and it helps. The other day I swear I pricked him a dozen times before getting anything! I have better success in his left ear. I think you are supposed to put the lancet in on an angle, and the needle is also angled. Cedric sits still for the most part, since I put the treat can right in front of him, but he has shaken the ear with blood on it a couple of times. This is why we perform this procedure with Mommy on the rug and near the tile. :-D

I use 28 gauge. tested him last night and got it on the 3rd try. Don't give up!
oh, I think you learn how much blood you need before going for it with the strip. One day I wasted 3 strips with those errors.
 
If your kitty can be counted on to shake his ear every time, try to scrape the blood
drop onto the back of your fingernail tip, then apply the strip to that.

Or develop the 'Vulcan Ear Grip'.

Are you warming the ear pre-poke ?
 
I'm hardly an expert, but after a month or so I finally got to the point where I could get it right on the first poke. I started using 33g lancets, and I might as well have been using a butter knife. I couldn't get enough blood, and Bob was pretty much hating me.
The vet tech told me to get bigger lancets, so I switched to the relion 30g ones, and things have gone well since then. Most times, the first poke works, and I've only gotten one error message since then. I don't use the gadget that came with my meter, just use the lancet manually. Bob bleeds pretty easily, so I haven't had to warm the ear either, luckily.

Occasionally, Bob will shake his head, but I've learned how to grip his ear with a thumb and two fingers, with a cotton ball under his ear. If the blood doesn't form a drop quickly, I bend the ear over the poke hole, and a drop forms quickly.

With experience, I've found the best and easiest way to restrain Bob so he can't get away and can't shake his head is this:
I sit sort of "indian style" on the floor with Bob's butt against me, him facing away from me. Sounds sort of perverse. Bob also has no tail, so that actually helps because his tail isn't crammed uncomforably while I'm holding him. Then I grip one ear or the other, and I put my calves by his neck and head so that he can't move forward, back or side to side. I don't forcefully restrain him, but he knows he can't really get away. One poke to the ear and the whole process is over in 15 seconds or so.

I usually test him just before feeding him, so he has learned that if he cooperates, he's only seconds away from a meal. Once the meter "beeps", he relaxes and that gives me a few seconds to pinch the ear with the cotton ball and stop the bleeding, then he gets his food.

Hope that helps!
Carl in SC
 
Phil & Garfunkel said:
Just now however, it took over half an hour of following him around. First he didn't wanna really lay down to let me do it. Then I blew three strips because they didn't fill completely with blood so I got the Er5 code. Finally I did manage to do it successfully. I'm really annoyed that I apparently suck at this, especially because it's stressful for both of us and the strips are expensive.
Click to expand...

This may help with getting him to lay still for you--get a basket or a plastic container (like a dishpan) that's about his size or a little bigger. Put a small blanket in the bottom. Have a second blanket handy. Put him in the basket every time you test, and don't let him out until you're finished (if I couldn't get the blood within 4 or 5pokes, I let him up and we were done for the time being). The second blanket is in case he struggles. You can use it to tuck him into the basket (kind of wrapped like burrito from on top).

In my experience, for some reason cats don't want to bolt so easily if they are in an enclosed space. Bandit ended up liking his basket so much (I lined it with very soft fleece blankets), he started napping in it.
 
does he like to be brushed?

I would sit on the floor with Squeak between my legs, warming his ear with one hand and brushing him with my right...this was a familiar position, relaxed both of us and provided some 'wrangling' without him really thinking of it. Worked great!
 
Hi. I had a really hard time with the testing in the beginning, too. I was very frustrated, but kept trying trying. I know it's tough.

I do find that the best lancets for J.D. are the 28 gauge ones. I have tried higher gauges (thinner lancets) and it's harder to get blood and I end up having to poke more than once in the same spot to get a big enough blood droplet.

You'll learn eventually, what size blood droplet you need, so you don't have to waste as many strips.
My cat shakes his head too, sometimes, but I try to hold his ear pretty firmly to stop it, and mainly he only shakes the blood all over the place now, when I let the ear go after getting the test before I can put some cotton on it to stop the flow.

I test on the inside of the ear, where there is a lot less hair.
 
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