Tore cats ear glucose testing

[Tina Pavloff]

While pricking my cats ear, he jerked his head and the ear sweet spot tore. The blood was gushing but I was able to get it to stop. What can I do to help it heal? Need to do glucose curve next weekend and am worried about only having one ear available to get blood. Worried it will be very sore. Any advice will be much appreciated. Thank you!

 

[Larry and Kitties]

Only time will heal the ear. No way to speed it up. Just be more careful in the future. Were y using the lancet without the pen? When I started I tried only the lancet but like you, Grey Ghost moved and the ear tip tore. I now only use a lancet pen

 

[Anitafrnhamer]

You can also use the large pads in the middle of the foot for testing. Just wrap him in a towel and leave one foot exposed.

 

[Mogmom and Goofus]

I use the paw pads but have never had to use the towel trick. I pick Goof up, love on him for about 5-10 seconds then gently lay him on the kitchen counter. I alternate pads, he doesn't fight me even one little bit. The pads bleed very nicely too!

 

[manxcat419]

I use the paw pads but have never had to use the towel trick.

I don't use a towel either. I put Rosa on her back on my lap, give her belly rubs (doesn't work for all cats I know) and then move my hand down to her paw and test. Just occasionally she has a little bit of a complain about it, but she doesn't fight beyond once in a while moving her foot at just the wrong moment and smearing the blood drop so I have to re-test. But it's no more difficult for me than testing an ear.

 

[Bama]

I had the same thing happen. First I cleaned up the tear with a damp cloth to clean the wound. Then I put a tiny bit of vaseline on the ear at the tear to help keep it clean and keep it together. Lastly I used a dry cloth to wipe the excess vaseline away and help smooth out the tear.

I checked the tear twice a day during test time and repeated the steps above as needed. IIRC the tear healed enough that I could use the ear again in about a week. A month or so later and I couldn't even see the tear anymore.

I tend to use the lancet pen now but if I am using the lancet free hand I try to have a looser grip on the lancet. If Bama starts moving her head I try to move my hand in the same direction and loosen my grip even more on the lancet. If the lancet can rotate between my fingers it is more likely to pop out of the ear when she pulls away instead of tearing the ear.