5 Important Tips to Test Blood Glucose in Dogs

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Do you want to have some helpful tips on how to test blood sugar in dogs?
Managing a diabetic dog is a difficult process. It needs you to be very patient with everything like diet plan, its exercise, mental health and a number of other day to day activities. A diabetic dog finds it difficult to tackle other diseases, therefore, proper monitoring and care is crucial to a dog’s health.

What Should You Be Monitoring All the Time?

Other than that, there are many fluctuations that are must to be kept in control. The most important of those is the fluctuating level of blood glucose in dogs. It is on a continuous fluctuation as it is impacted by many a factors like diet, exertion, stress and many other things.

Take Readings at Home

 
Hence, the better practice is to have a blood glucose monitoring system at home as it is highly recommended to keep a complete track of the dog’s blood glucose level. It doesn’t only help your veterinarian suggest better treatments for your dog, but also discloses what’s working and what’s not, to what measures is your dog responding well.

A Blood Glucose Monitoring System

 
For the purpose, having a blood glucose monitoring system at home is a plus. I would recommend you to have AlphaTrak’s blood glucose monitoringsystem. It’s easy to use and accurate with its results. Additionally, it’s offered by many ecommerce websites and comes with free shipping offers.
A very important thing that you should never ignore is that blood glucose level may be temporary, fluctuating upon some regular activities, or your dog may be a victim of some other disease altering certain level of blood glucose, and hence, this system must be used in complete consultation with your veterinarian. 
Let us see how to test blood sugar in dogs in easy steps.
1. Find The Right Spot
Unlike cats, dogs have lesser space on their ear. That is the reason pet dog owners do not prefer pricking the dog on its ear. You may come to see people who do on different locations on a dog’s body, and it gives them successful sticks too; but the veterinarians recommend taking a blood sample from the inside of the dog’s lip.
Gently lay the dog on one side and calm it down with some affectionate hand touches, so that the dog gets still and calmed. Now try to roll the upper lip outward to get some space inside. As you get some space, usually near the lip’s edge, prick it up with soft hands, causing least possible pain to the animal. Remove any saliva from there to make sure you get an accurate reading. When you will have learnt the procedure and practiced it quite a number of times, you will not cause the dog any pain and will be able to do it much easily.
2.  Make Sure the Area Is Clean
All the things have to be kept very clean in order to avoid any doubts in the results. Wash your hands and organize the things well. You can use something like a towel, to put beneath the stuff.   
When taking the blood sample, it is recommended to have the prick site washed but dry. Moisture will dilute the sample and the result will not be accurate. Having clean working area is essential to ensure that the sample is not spoilt and eradicates the possibility of involving germs into the process.
3. Avert any agitation
Agitation and mental stress impact the blood glucose level. Home test for blood sugar needs you to be able to restraint the dog, so that the blood sample you get is perfect, and produces the accurate result.
In case you face retaliation from the dog, it is better that you take a 20 to 25 minutes break to get the dog calmed. Whatever the situation you face, don’t push the dog too much or over try it. Otherwise, you may end up bitten by the dog as well.
4.  Pay Attention to Bleeding
Your dog has gone through a little painful phase and might bleed after being pricked for the reading. Once you are done with collecting a blood sample, let the machine take care of it and you pay attention straightaway to control the bleeding. Hold a gauze pressed against the pricked point with a slight force to stop bleeding.    
Never ignore if the bleeding doesn’t stop, immediately call your veterinarian and get the dog relieved.

Diabetes Feed Bacteria

 
Pricking gives a dog a small mark which is healed soon, but there should not be any growing bruises. Diabetes feed bacteria and fungi and hence, sometimes such bruises become very troubling. They may lead to a persistent infection with swelling and fluids, and trouble the dog for a very long time.
Author Bio:
My name Mike Huston and I am a blogger. I believe you can tell a lot about a person by how they treat their pet. Being an animal lover and a pet owner myself, I try to use my blog to create more awareness for how one can take better care of their pets, by talking about blood glucose monitoring system for pets and other general precautions. 

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