From:
Shelley Knudsen
Date: 2001-12-01 13:15:00 UTC
Subject: At home blood glucose testing
Hello,
This has probably been mentioned before, but I am doing my
best to procrastinate studying for finals :-), so I thought I
would just post this for anyone else who might be interested.
Having had three of my ferrets come down with insulinoma in
the last year, I wanted to be able to check their blood
glucose myself not only for my peace of mind, but also to
avoid a $15-$20 vet visit fee for a glucose check on a regular
basis. I have tried a variety of techniques to be able to get
enough blood from them for a glucometer, with very limited
success, as I don't usually have a helper to restrain them.
However, there is a new glucometer available, Freestyle by
Therasense, which only requires 0.3ul of blood. After about
10 tries, I finally got down a technique that seems to be
working great on all of my ferrets, with minimal effort. The
glucometer costs $60 initially, with a $40 rebate, and the
test stips average out to about 80 cents each, but it is still
much cheaper in the long run.
I put the ferret on my lap, and dribble linatone on their
stomach as if I were going to clip nails. I then grab a paw,
flip it upside down so the pads are facing up, massage it to
get the blood flowing to it, and using the lancet device that
comes with the glucometer, I lance one of the pads on their
paw (the ones that the nails come out of). They are usually
so engrossed in licking the linatone, that they don't even
notice it. I squeeze the paw pad slightly so that I have a
drop of blood sitting on it, and quickly grab the glucometer
with the test strip in it, and absorb the blood into the test
strip. It beeps when it has enough blood, so I know when it
is enough. I wipe off the blood, and the ferret is still
licking linatone, unaware of what is going on. A few notes
from trial and error, for this particular glucometer, it draws
the blood up by capillary action, so it will not work once the
blood smears either on the hair around the paw, or on the paw,
so you have to keep the paw relatively still while getting the
drop of blood to form. It only requires a drop the size of a
pinhead, so it isn't too tough to get.
A few other things to be aware of if you try this.
Glucometers are calibrated for people, not for animals, and
the margin of error becomes larger as you deviate from human
normals, so I am figuring in about a + or - 10-15 points when
looking at the result. However, it still gives me a ballpark
area. Also, as I was reminded by one of the exotic vets here
yesterday :-), if your ferret is on prednisone or proglycem,
don't change the dose you are giving your ferret based on the
results you get at home, consult with your veterinarian first
before you start increasing or decreasing the dose. If you
have multiple ferrets, you can also try doing this on normal
healthy ferrets, to get an idea of how the glucometer tests
for normal ferret values.
This may not work for some people, but I know it is helping my
peace of mind, to be able to monitor my ferrets about once a
week to just see where they are at, if their insulinoma is
progessing, or if they are on too much prednisone, or if I
have a healthy ferret that is starting to show symptoms.
Dooks to your fuzzies,
Shelley Knudsen
Class of 2004 KSU Veterinary College
ferrets@kansas.net sknudsen@vet.ksu.edu
http://www.tcgcs.com/~ferrets
785-565-9041 cel402-984-4217
"There ain't no limit in this life to how far you can get,
but if you're going all the way, you gotta break a sweat."
- Chad Brock