Home monitoring of blood glucose by owners of diabetic cats and dogs : technical problems and evaluation of differences between home and hospital blood glucose curves

: An der Klinik für Kleintiermedizin der Vetsuisse-Fakultät Zürich wurde kürzlich eine neue Methode zur Kapillarblutgewinnung am Ohr von Hunden und Katzen mittels einer speziellen Stechhilfe (Microlet Vaculence ? , Bayer Diagnostics) entwickelt. Im ersten Teil dieser Studie wurden die Brauchbarkeit der Methode zur Anwendung durch Besitzer und mögliche technische Probleme untersucht. Die Besitzer von 7 gesunden Hunden und 7 gesunden Katzen wurden gebeten, zwei Blutglukosekurven (Messen von Blutglukosewerten alle 2 Stunden für 12 Stunden) zu erstellen. Allen Hundebesitzern und 3 Katzenbesitzern war es möglich zuverlässige Glukosekurven herzustellen. Zu den häufigsten Proble-men zählten, ein ungenügend grosser Blutstropfen durch zu starken Fingerdruck auf die Ohrmuschel, wiederholtes Runterdrücken des Auslösers der Stechhilfe anstatt einem langsamen Vakuumaufbau und Nichtfüllen des Teststreifens bis zur Markierung. Schlussfolgerung war, dass diese Schritte während der technischen Demonstration gezielt hervorgehoben werden müssen. Der zweite Teil der Studie hatte zum Ziel die Durchführbarkeit der Glukosemessung zu Hause bei diabetischen Hunden und Katzen durch die Besitzer über eine längere Periode zu testen, die aufkommenden Probleme zu eruieren, und die Blutglukosekurven Recently a new method for capillary blood sampling from the ears of dogs and cats was described, which allows the measurement of glucose concentration by means of portable glucose meters. The authors of this report evaluated the suitability of this method for use by pet owners and the potential technical problems. The owners of seven healthy dogs and seven healthy cats were asked to perform two glucose curves (measuring blood glucose concentration every 2 hours for a total of 12 hours). All dog owners and three cat owners were able to perform a reliable blood glucose curve. The most frequently encountered problems were inadequate formation of a blood drop due to excessive digital pressure on the pinna, repeatedly depressing the plunger of the lancet device instead of allowing the negative pressure to slowly build up, and failure to fill the test strip up to the mark. The authors conclude that these steps of the procedure need to be stressed during technique demonstration and that home monitoring of blood glucose concentrations may serve as a new tool in the management of diabetic dogs and cats. The objective of this study was to investigate whether home monitoring of blood glucose of diabetic dogs by owners would be possible on a long-term basis. The owners of 12 diabetic dogs were each asked to generate four glucose curves by taking capillary blood samples from their dog’s ear, at three- to four-week intervals. Within one week of each curve being produced by the owner, an additional curve was produced by a veterinarian in the hospital. Ten owners were able to generate blood glucose curves; three of them needed a second demonstration, and two telephoned for further guidance. The blood glucose concentrations obtained from the first two ‘hospital’ curves were significantly lower than those measured at home. Overall, in 42 per cent of cases, the treatment based on the hospital curves would have been different from that based on ‘home’ curves. The results of this study indicate that the majority of owners were able and willing to perform long-term monitoring of the blood glucose concentrations of their dogs. of the a