How to measure blood glucose in a cat – Diabetic cat

Hi, my name is Dr. Uri BurstynI’m a veterinarian in Vancouver, BC,and I’d like to welcome you to my series of practical skills for pet ownersI’d like to talk today about getting blood for measuring blood glucose on a diabetic catI’m gonna be joined by my little furry friend Mr. Lancelot shortly for a demonstrationBut I just want to talk through a little bit of theory first and show you the equipment that you’ll needto do accurate blood sugar measurements at homeSo the reason we do blood sugar measurements at home is becausecats can get quite stressed when they’re brought to the clinicSo we can do blood glucose curves in the clinic to monitor diabetic catsBut they’re not quite as accurate as ones done at home and also doing them at homeis often cheaper and easier for the ownersSo we do try to make people’s life a little bit easier when they have a diabetic kittyand most people find that with a bit of practicethey can safely and effectively do a blood glucose curve at homeAnd give us- just phone in the numbers to us, and it really helps us manage these diabetic kitties optimallygive them a nice happy and long life without any complications of their diabetesSo. . . To do a blood glucose curve. We’ll need to measure the blood glucose of a catWe need to get a little blood sample from a cat. Then we need to apply a glucometerWhich is a little device. I’ll show you in a momentThat’ll tell us what the blood sugar is and then you just note it down on a piece of paperSo. . . The equipment you need to do this procedure is pretty basic. You need a little bit of VaselineFor. . . preparing the skinYou need a. . . glucometerNow it’s quite important that you use a right glucometerThere’s quite a number of glucometers on the market for humans that are all calibrated for humansAll the studies done in cats have beendone using an AlphaTRAK glucometer, so we’re not really doing product placement here,but all of the scientific work has been done using this glucometer, and it’scalibrated appropriately to give accurate readings on cat bloodIf you use a different glucometerYou’re going to get inaccurate blood sugar readings, which is worse than not getting any reading at allOf course need some test strips for your glucometer and again these have to be AlphaTRAKAnd then you need a lancet or a needleSome sort of a device to actually break the skin and draw a little drop of bloodThat you need to measure the blood glucose so. . . Probably a good time to warn you guys there’ll be a needle in this videoMaybe a tiny spot of blood, although you probably won’t be able to see itAnd with that together you get that together, you want to get it preparedAnd you get a table, a towel and then you’re ready to get your catSo I’m joined here by LancelotHe’s a lovely big cat who lives in our clinic at the momentNow Lancelot has kindly volunteered to be our demonstration catSo in order to get a tiny drop of blood from his earWe first take a dab of VaselineAnd just smear it on the skin on the inside of his earNow there’s a tiny little vessel that runs all the way around the periphery of that ear. I know darling I knowJust all the way around here, and that’s where we’re gonna get our blood fromYou can’t really see it very well unless you have a pink, here, pink cat. Or a white haired cat with pink earsBut it’s right there just a millimeter or two from the edge of the earNow Lancelot is a pro at this procedure. He knows what’s gonna happenThen we stick a strip into the glucometerWhich activates it so we have it readyAnd you get a little drop on the glucometer. I don’t know if it’s visible on camera, we get a little drop showing that it’s ready to receive bloodAnd then we take the lancetOh, sweetie pieAnd we just. . . Poke the inside of the ear just like thatJust give it a little pokeThen we push up so we get a little drop of bloodAnd we touch the glucometer to the blood just like thatAnd that’s it and then you get a blood glucose readingSo it’s really just a question ofFinding the little vesselHolding it offGiving it a poke with the deviceAnd then touching the edge of the strip to the drop of bloodPretty simple most cats will tolerate this very very wellThen you give them a little treat afterwards and you can do this a couple times throughout the day at homebased on a schedule that your veterinarian gives youand you can get a blood glucose curveEasy right?So thank you very much, LancelotAnd thank you very much for watching. I hope you find this video usefulPlease share it. Give us a likeAnd just remember to have fun with your catEven when you’re doing medical procedures. They still need lots of love