One of our dogs has had diabetes for a year. Every month or two we take him in for “all day” testing. However, we’ve been wanting to also be able to test him at home. At night, he seems to be “running high” and we’d like to know.
I bought all the stuff, and when I lanced the area (shaved it first), I couldn’t really get enough blood to come out after squeezing. What is the trick. I am doing the area above the tail. I know that some use lip, paw, or ear, but Sammy is very touchy about his paws, and I can’t bear to use his lips.
Sorry I missed this when you originally posted, mom2! I do this fairly often with our diabetic Lab. I use her ear and for some reason the right ear is better at producing blood than the left. I get the lancet device right over a vein - once you’ve done it a few times you can line it up fairly well. It helps if her ear is warm (not after a trip outdoors in cool weather, for example). She doesn’t like the experience but is very tolerant except when I try to get a reading first thing in the morning before she’s been fed. I have spent days getting reads every two hours to see how the results curve - with good results. Much cheaper than going to the vet and I think less stressful for our girl.
Thank you. I am about to try the ear. how are you finding a vein? I read that there is one that runs along the edge, but I’m not seeing where it is.
I don’t like taking him to the vet for this, although I have to when I need his meds renewed. He’s blind so I’m sure that being in a strange place all day is scary for him…plus I worry that a vet tech will forget that he’s blind and drop him to the floor thinking that he can handle that like a seeing dog can.
I think he’s running high sometimes because sometimes at night he seems to be panting. I typically keep water bedside for him and will walk him in the middle of the night if I think his sugar is high. (I have him sleep with us because of his diabetes and blindness. )
My vet did tell us that they will keep dogs still a little on the high side. With humans, you will go for a more precise, normal blood sugar target, because people can sense and verbalize when they go too low and address it immediately. With dogs, they can’t tell you when they are too low, and you may not know until they start having seizures or worse.
Sorry for the delayed reply - it’s a busy time at work. My girl’s veins are easy to see in her ear but if you are having trouble extend the ear and look at it with a flashlight behind - you should see the veins. The one I use is near the middle, not on the edge.
@Nrdsb4 Yes…it is common to keep dogs on the high side for exactly that reason.
My dog is having the rebounding effect. Once he eats and he has his shot, his numbers go down, but never to an unsafe number. Always a little on the high side, which is the goal. So for a couple of hours, his numbers are good.
But then, he’ll have a rebound effect where he is pulling sugar from his body, and his numbers start rising again…even thought he hasn’t had any more food. So, when it’s time to feed him again and give him another shot, he’s been high for a several hours.
Night time can be the worst because by about 11pm, his numbers are likely high again (panting) and drinking water, so I’ll walk him down the street and that seems to help burn some of the sugar because he won’t pant after that. (I need a doggie treadmill, so I can avoid these midnight trips. )
tomorrow I’ll use the flashlight to help find a vein. I tried above the tail again this morning and it was a fail. I couldn’t get a droplet to form, not enough got drawn into the testing strip. I even tried a bigger lancet.
God bless Sammy…he’s been a trooper thru all of this.
)