Tough Start to Day 2

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Katie & Mego (GA)

Katie & Mego (GA)

Member Since 2013
It's early, I haven't had enough sleep and Mego won't let me get an AMPS on Day 2. I've poked and prodded and he wants nothing to do with it! He didn't eat much either. I figure I'd give him some time to cool off. I might try to go for a paw prick in a bit. I would rather try his front paws than back. He's really sensitive on the back paws and generally doesn't let me get anywhere near his feet. Not sure what to do here especially since he hasn't eaten much. I might just opt to not get the AMPS, wait for him to eat more and then give him the shot and perhaps test later this morning. Ugh, headache already setting in. :-|
 
Hi Katie,

I'm new here too (about 3 weeks). It's really tricky at first but I promise it gets better. I'd get hysterical when I first started trying to home test. It took a couple of days to be able to get regular tests from Angie. I started off with feet because she never liked her ears being touched but was used to me playing with her feet. She'd hold still patiently but I just couldn't get a good drop out. I would try 8 times or give up when she got too wiggly. I'd be close to crying by the end but she was ok. I have her a treat afterwards regardless if the test worked or not. I eventually gave up on feet and switched to ears and had a much easier time getting a sample big enough. I can't remember who said it, but when I desperately asked for help somebody said that they found trying to test feet was like trying to get blood out of a turnip! Angie got so easy to test that I stopped giving her treats. Then she got hard to test again and I the lovely people on this board reminded me about treats!

Stick with it. Ask for dosing advice if you can't get enough tests but don't beat yourself up about it. You'll both find a way through. :)

Grace
 
Katie & Mego said:
It's early, I haven't had enough sleep and Mego won't let me get an AMPS on Day 2. I've poked and prodded and he wants nothing to do with it! He didn't eat much either. I figure I'd give him some time to cool off. I might try to go for a paw prick in a bit. I would rather try his front paws than back. He's really sensitive on the back paws and generally doesn't let me get anywhere near his feet. Not sure what to do here especially since he hasn't eaten much. I might just opt to not get the AMPS, wait for him to eat more and then give him the shot and perhaps test later this morning. Ugh, headache already setting in. :-|
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Good Morning Katie ~O) Maybe try vigorously rubbing her paw pad before you poke. What size lancet are you using? I use a 28 or 29 gauge. It takes the blood longer to come up on the paw pad; maybe give it 30 seconds or so...and after you poke, try to "milk" the blood to come up to enough for the strip. Just my opinion here: If she were my cat, I would never give a shot without testing...I did that in Gobbles' early days of his dx, not knowing any better. I learned here at this site that shooting without testing can be extremely dangerous to cat and I thank God that I didn't harm him by not testing, however, it grieves me to know that I could of jeopardized him when I would go ahead and shoot without testing... What time is her shot due?
 
Welcome, Katie.

Just out of curiosity, what gauge lancet are you using? You might want to try using a thicker gauge lancet -- a 28 or 29. Until the capillary bed in Mego's ear is built up, it's harder to get blood especially if you're using a thin lancet. Another trick is to poke twice in very close together spots. The 2 pokes may each produce a small amount of blood but the two drops together may give you enough to test.
 
I've only been a member for 1 month, but apparently we all struggle at first with the testing. Be confident that you WILL find a way to make it work for both of you; we all seem to have our variations that work for us.

I tried the paw a few times but found I couldn't get enough blood and switched back to ears. Here are some of the tricks that worked for me:

#1 I found a treat that he loves and eating it while I'm poking distracts him so that he doesn't react to it.
-- I buy the Fancy Feast Chicken Appetizers, and lift the lid just a tiny bit each time so he has to work to get the juice and bits out. It is a bit expensive but I can make 1 appetizer last a good 6 or so tests.

#2 For a while I put a dab of neosporin + pain relief gel on the target spot of his hear first
-- This helped the drop bead up instead of getting lost in the ear fur. Eventually he reacted more negatively to the dab (which I put on before giving the treat) than the poke (when he is happily licking out the treat) and I stopped needing this.

#3 I got the biggest lances: 26 gauge
-- With these I almost never had to poke more than once. I just finished the package of 100 so I went back to finish up the 28 gauge package and those are working better for us now as his ears bleed better and we have a routine.

I went back on forth on using the lancing device or using the lancet by hand . . . currently using the device. If he was calmer at testing time I think I would prefer by hand, but since he is trying to get his treat out of the container and moving around a bit I find the device is best now.

I know that my sugarcat would not put up with testing without the food. And he likes the treat well enough that he jumps on my lap willingly and usually purrs as I warm his ear and pet him.

You can do it!
 
Katie :YMHUG:

Every new member I've helped has had the same challenge at first. Are you warming his ear either with a warmed rice sock or a warm washcloth wrapped in a Baggie? That will help alot. Be patient, breathe, only try three times and then give him a break. Better to shoot a little late but get that PS number than to shoot blind.

Here's a post I did on Testing and Shooting Tips that might have some other info in it to help you. Be sure the bevel on the lancet is up...that makes the sharpest point go in first.

Good luck....you'll get this and so will Mego.
 
Hi guys and welcome to lantus land! I'm sorry you're having such a rough go with testing .. There are some videos on here as well as many helpful suggestions listed above .. I am sure in time you will find the best way to go about it .. remember, lots of treats! Have a great day guys!
 
Hi everyone, thanks for all of the tips. After things didn't work out this morning, I decided NOT to give the shot and shoot blind. I just don't feel comfortable doing that without a test. And since I haven't slept much and was up late last night waiting for +6 reading, I was very tired. Needless to say, I went back to bed to get some much needed rest. I'm going to put together a list of items I still need to help this process. I still need to get the numbing ointment, larger gauge lancets, some different treats and put together a rice sock. I think this will help things along for this evening when we try again. I'm giving him the daytime off. Thanks again for all of your help. Hopefully I'll have some numbers to post this evening. :smile:
 
Katie, I am also very new at this. I just learned how to do the testing on Sunday (had 2 wonderful ladies from this site come to my house to teach me). I noticed that the only time I can not get blood up is when the cats ears arent warm enough. I wanted to practice a few times (I have 4 cats) so I tested each of them once so I wasnt pricking the same cat 4 times. I only had a problem getting blood from one of them - and now I realize it was because his ears were too cold. You would be amazed the difference this makes. I was only unsuccessful in getting blood from Jupiter during the first try - and then I warmed up his ears more and on the second try it worked great. (I tried warming up the cats ears by just rubbing them with my fingers - but this doesnt work for me - I have a reusable thermal-on warm pack that is microwaveable - my cat already loved this prior to testing (he would always try to steal it from me and lay on it when it was warm) so it was really easy for me to hold it onto his ears for a few seconds. Sometimes I dont get a lot of blood up at first but I just rub his ears in the direction that I want the blood to flow to where I pricked him (I think some people call this "milking it")

Do you use a lancing device? I dont know if I could do it without the lancing device - seems to help me a lot. On mine I can twist the top to choose how far the lancet comes out to poke. You may want to try adjusting that?
 
Katie,
When you get the Neosporin +Pain, be sure to get the OINTMENT, not the cream! The cream makes it soak into the hair...

Just keep trying one step at a time, you WILL be able to do this! I PROMISE!

I like that you didn't shoot blind - there's been many days that if I had shot blind, I would not HAVE my sweet boy....

BIG HUG! DANCE WITH US!
 
Katie & Mego said:
...I decided NOT to give the shot and shoot blind. I just don't feel comfortable doing that without a test. And since I haven't slept much and was up late last night waiting for +6 reading, I was very tired. Needless to say, I went back to bed to get some much needed rest.
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Perfect Katie! You made the best choice. And you need your rest. Believe me, a lot of us here (myself included) do know about needing rest. I've had near "all nighters" when Gobbles' decides to throw a low number during the night. One time, I was so tired that my face basically hit the keyboard and I slept for an hour, just meaning to "put my head down for 5 minutes" at 3 a.m.! I was up feeding/testing for hours on what seemed like an endless night back on 2/24; I felt horrible about testing him so much but I had to as he was in a precarious & dangerous position. Of course, I had help in the middle of the night and early morning from others here (thanks again Carl & Bob, Debbie, Sienne, Marje!!!); someone will always be here to help you if you need it :-D
 
Ok, I think I'm set for another round. I've got the Neosporin + Pain ointment, rice sock is ready and I found a local natural pet food store that carried freeze dried turkey. I am going to eat dinner first and then we'll make a go at it. Wish me luck and I am more and more confident that I made the right decision this morning not to shoot. Thanks for that advice. Since he had a surprising first shot +6 142 last night, I had no idea where he'd be this morning. We'll see what happens in the next few hours.
 
Great. Post & let us know how it goes. You can do this :) It does get easier, believe me, but the little buggers make sure they keep us on our toes!
 
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