Weak legs after blood draws

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Allycat

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Hi everyone,

Looking for any input regarding my Diabetic Tesla and his recent blood glucose curve at the vets office. He went in 6 days ago for his curve after switching to Lantus.
He had blood drawn from his hind legs, 5 draws. The next day and for the last 4 days he has had trouble climbing or jumping up. I called the vet and asked if this was due to sore muscles and they said yes, he had fought them and wriggled alot during the draws.
He usually can run and chase his toys and jump up onto a 5 ft counter no problem at all, but since the vet visit he can only manage jumping on our bed and is not playing and running like before. I will call the office again first thing Monday morning when they open, but am concerned that he is still sore, or is this normal? he is 14 years old and this is the first time he has had a curve done, in previous years the vet only tested him with fructosamine testing. His results came back great for the curve and his BG levels were good in the 150's.

If anyone can tell me if this tenderness in his legs is to be expected or not after all the blood draws, perhaps I am expecting too much and he is still healing?

Thanks so much in advance.
 
That is quite a lot of blood to draw from the legs. Usually for that amount, they draw blood from the neck because it will fill the vials quicker causing less bruising and discomfort. He definitely could be bruised and sore. Think about how long it will take you to heal from a similar injury! Next time I would ask that the blood be drawn from the neck if they need that much.
 
Is there no one in the office today? It sounds like your guy could use some pain medication. At his age it is likely that he has arthritis which may also have been aggravated by the restraint. I hope you have plans to do his next curve at home?

Kelly-- I think they drew blood 5x for the curve, not to get a large quantity of blood.
 
I'm a little confused, I apologize, - is the vet testing BG levels via the legs?

Or is it routine blood work being done via the legs?

You know you can home test BG levels at home just as easily and with less stress on your kitty, plus it's less expensive too, and safer to know before you give insulin shots.
 
Thanks for your responses....

To answer the questions, yes he was having blood drawn for his blood curve, not regular blood work and it was the first time so we didnt know they were going to draw from his legs. We are going to do home testing, but as he has only been on lantus for 10 days they wanted to take him in for the day and make sure they got a good idea on how to adjust his dose, which they did by a half unit. We were really trying to trust the vets advice due to transitioning to the new insulin and we only knew they drew the blood from his legs after i called to ask if they had done so, due to the soreness and trouble jumping.

I now realize thanks to your your advice, it will take a little while for his legs to heal and did wonder about arthritus, but he is usually very very active and jumps around like a 10 year old not a 14 year old!! :-) hence the concern with his drastic change in activity. Its hard to know what to think when you are not with them to witness the testing etc... he was at the vets all day and blood taken every 2 hours.

no one is in the office today, but we have left a message so that we can get something first thing Monday morning for pain. He is eating great and content otherwise it seems.

Thank you all again for your help and peace of mind.
 
He'll feel better soon, don't you stress too much ~ if you like, the board does offer Newbie Kits to help get you started.
Lori & Tom take care of that. Also, if you would like to give your location, like city, there may be someone in your area to set you up with home testing.

Honest thou ~ we've been in your shoes. Tesla will be ok.

When you are ready, you can also include your BG numbers here. Know that the board is always here to give you a hand.
Lately, it's been having trouble loading, if you get stuck, keep trying.

Hoping for a nice evening for Tesla! cat_pet_icon
 
Thanks so much Ronnie and Luna for your kind words.....
We will keep you posted, you have a nice evening too. :-D
 
It sounds like the leg problem is due to the struggling and not directly from the blood draw. Some vets do not trust ear pricks and instead take blood from a leg for BG curves. They typically use a 25 GA needle on a 1 ml syringe. However, they only take them minimal amount of blood
 
That would make more sense why they used the leg. I was so worried that they took 5 vials of blood from that poor kitty's leg!
 
Hi Everyone, just wanted to send a little update that Tesla is doing well and his legs are back to normal! he is jumping on the counters as usual and seems to be back to his old self, he is not going to have his glucose curve done at the vets office anymore, we talked about home testing and we have arranged to only do the fructosamine at the office. We were also told that PZI is coming back!

Anyway, thanks to everyone for the advice and support,

Tesla and Ally :-)
 
Just a heads up. Fructosamine tests will give you a picture of the blood glucose levels for 2 weeks or so. If you are hometesting and keeping regular records of his bg levels, there really is no need to pay for an expensive fructosamine test. You already will have that info.
 
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