Message Number: YG9227 | New FHL Archives Search
From: pjdutche
Date: 2001-12-07 16:32:00 UTC
Subject: Re: At home blood glucose testing

Shelley or anyone else who also uses this technique,

--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "Shelley Knudsen" <ferrets@t...>:
<snip excellent post>
"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."
<snip>

Can I pick your brain? The above quoted part is where I run into
some trouble. The blood never wants to just bead up nicely and sit
there for me. The fuzzy is perfectly well-behaved, so it's not
movement causing it. It seems to break surface tension just as it
gets to the right size, and then the blood runs all into the little
tiny "fingerprints" or whatever ferrets have on their paw pads. Then
the strip won't draw it up properly. And Heaven forbid the blood
bead touches a bit of fur, it runs all over the place when that
happens. Know what I mean? Do you have a trick?

I have a successful work-around... I use a warm cloth to wash the
little foot and help get blood into it, then dry it, and then what
has been working on my "beading" problem is applying a VERY THIN
coating of vaseline onto the chosen paw pad. I wipe of excess with a
dry paper towel and then lance. I've tested it with and without
vaseline on myself, and this does not seem to change the test
result. The remaining vaseline makes the blood bead up nicely, but
no one else ever mentions this problem. So I wonder what I'm
missing. Any ideas?

-Pam S.