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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2013 23:15:01 GMT -5
I just cannot get enough blood for my glucose meter to work! Alto was diagnosed with insulinoma so I want to check his blood glucose periodically.
The first time I used my glucose meter, I used it on Alto's tail and got a drop of blood and it worked perfect. I've tried a few more times last week and tried again today and it's not working. I tried his pad on his back foot also. Only a spec of blood, not even, comes out. I tried massaging his tail to get the blood moving toward it and nothing....I don't get it.
I have it set on the longest needle part too. It's a One Touch meter. Really tiny.
Anyone have any tips??
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Post by Sherry on Oct 8, 2013 9:21:53 GMT -5
Massage the tail well, rub with a bit of vaseline, and poke it. As he's licking up some oil, rub the tail toward where you pricked it. The vaseline should make the blood bead up on the surface.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2013 15:13:57 GMT -5
I put a tiny but of Vaseline on it but most of the time there is no blood at all there. I'll try it again tonight. Maybe I need more Vaseline on it?
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Post by Sherry on Oct 8, 2013 18:18:26 GMT -5
Honestly, I don't know. You should be able to get some there with little trouble. Did you massage enough? If so, do the same with a paw pad next time.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2013 23:27:23 GMT -5
Same thing happens with humans, massage blood flow towards the location you are going to poke, even after you poke you can continue to massage to produce enough blood on the surface. You could also try warming the surface that helps dilate the veins allowing blood to flow easier. Depending on the type of glucometer you have be sure not to absorb the blood until you have enough for the strip or else you might get an error message due to insufficient test sample, basically taking too long to fill the strip. Thought about doing this to test mine, since I am a paramedic and was a vet tech prior to finishing medic school, so definitely have experience drawing blood on humans and animals and experience with a glucometer.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2013 0:16:29 GMT -5
I do massage the blood toward the poke. his tail turns red even so I know there's blood going down there. When I massage the blood there. I put my hand around the base of his tail then slide down toward the poke. And still nothing. Most the time u can't even see where I poked! I tried with the other ferrets and it worked just fine...It's so strange with him. I tried with his paw too, and same thing.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2013 3:11:08 GMT -5
I've tested my kids by poking the outer edge of their ears (same as how you test BG's in cats), the area is fairly vascular and I can usually get enough of a drop. Sometimes it's tricky because the blood drop gets trapped in the hair, and you have to be careful "milking" the ear as it can bruise really easily. Poking our babies sucks regardless and I hate doing it, but it's another option.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2013 14:51:50 GMT -5
When the vet did it, he clipped one of their toenails a little too close so it bled, and got the blood that way.
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Post by unclejoe on Nov 9, 2013 20:17:12 GMT -5
we've had better luck with toes than tails. massage first, as was said. set the lancet for 4-4 1/2. You have to go deep on a fettet's thick skin. Sometimes we have to stick twice. If so, we use a different toe. If you have a patient ferret and a personal groomer you can shave the fur around the toe too. Ferretone helps a lot, like when clipping nails. We only clip a nail short as a last resort, as it will bleed more and it's hard to judge how short you can go. You can stop the bleeding with corn starch.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2013 21:16:00 GMT -5
on the toe? I always did on the actual pad. I thought the toes would be too small, but I'll give it a try. You prick it on the bottom of the toe right? (personally, I don't want to clip his nail short to get blood that way. too painful) Thanks for all the suggestions  |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2013 21:31:17 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Nov 12, 2013 2:09:03 GMT -5
I've only ever seen the nail-clip method used in emergencies when you need a reading ASAP.
We use the Alphatraks at work and honestly we've forgotten to switch between the cat and dog codes on occasion and the difference in the readings is usually only 0.1mmol/l if there's any difference at all.
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Post by Sherry on Nov 12, 2013 9:35:37 GMT -5
That's good to know weezily, thanks!
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Post by miamiferret2 on Nov 12, 2013 13:53:04 GMT -5
i take from hind toe pads.
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