Injecting penicillin

Furby has to have penicillin injections for the foreseeable future following his episode of pasteurella and I am really struggling. It's not injecting that is the problem as I am fine with the vetergesic, it's the way the medication seems too thick and ends up coming out of the end of the syringe rather than out of the needle into Furby.

I mentioned this to my vet and he said it can be problematic because it is thick. He said to draw back the syringe a bit and then tap it and then push it back slowly. I tried that and it worked once but not the last couple of times.

Furby is incredibly good and just sits there while I cover his fur in white gunk (got it over my face yesterday too) but I have to give him a second injection as he doesn't get the first one and apart from the trauma for him, it is expensive enough using one a day.

I now have a 10 ml syringe of penicillin to use to try and make it a bit cheaper for me. I thought that may help, but it hasn't.

Has anyone else found it difficult or have you found a wonderful technique that works!!! If so please share

Has the vet given you an appropriate guage of needle? This is always a tricky one as a wider bore needle makes for a more painful injection but equally you need to get the stuff out. Have you also tried warming it a little (the dose in the syringe, not the full pot) as most things are less viscous if they're less cold. I brief warming in your hands isn't too likely to affect the medicine.

I always leave mine out overnight (about 12 at night until about 8/9am when I inject it) and I've never had any problems. I did this from the beginning though so I'm not sure if it actually helps! What gauge needle to you have? Mine is green/teal and it works great, I wonder if yours might be too little?

Are you definitely getting the scruff rather than the back skin? It's much harder to inject into the back skin from my experience. Try going even higher up than you currently are - the skin is thinner there and is easier to actually dispense the penicillin into.

I always use 21 gauge needle for penicillin, and have it at room temperature. Is the needle going far enough into the skin as it shouldn't be going all over the place then and at a 45 degree angle, slow but firm into the skin. Just had another look at your post, and as a paramedic would definitely say needle is not the correct size if it is coming out of the syringe.

RogerRabbit999 said:

I always use 21 gauge needle for penicillin, and have it at room temperature. Is the needle going far enough into the skin as it shouldn't be going all over the place then and at a 45 degree angle, slow but firm into the skin.

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I think the OP meant it was coming out where the needle meets the barrel, rather than back out of the rabbit.

RedFraggle said:

I think the OP meant it was coming out where the needle meets the barrel, rather than back out of the rabbit.

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Yes I realised that hence why I added I'm sure the needle isn't big enough to accommodate a thicker med like penicillin.

RogerRabbit999 said:

Yes I realised that hence why I added I'm sure the needle isn't big enough to accommodate a thicker med like penicillin.

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:wave: We crossed in the post!

i ended up having to buy another size gauge needle. i can't remember if it was green or orange :? but that helped. also warming it slightly in your hands before, and then doing what the vet said. :wave:

Thank you everyone. Today's injection went in OK with no problem. I inject in a variety of places as poor Furby has been a bit like a pin cushion lately and I don't want to keep using the same area.

I thought the medication had to be cold so didn't think of leaving it out for a while prior to giving the injection.

The needle has a green barrel and the vetergesic has a blue barrel - not sure if that tells anyone what size they are. I never have a problem with the vetergesic.

The needle does go in far enough but the drug was coming out of the end of the syringe rather than going into the needle into Furby!!

He is such a good bunny - never complains, just lets me get on with it. He is an amazing bunster and I love him loads.

Are you using pre filled syringes ?

If so are you putting a new needle on before injecting ?

I use a 23 gauge needle and it goes in fine. If you have a bottle with a bung in it you MUST use a different need to inject with, so one needle for the bung and one to then inject into the skin. The bungs blunt the needles massively and make it hard to penetrate the skin which also makes it more painful to the bunny. Im using Duphapen-Strep and its really really thick but dont seem to have any trouble with it now that im doing it subcut. Doing IM injections with penicillin is just horrid!

Jack's-Jane said:

Are you using pre filled syringes ?

If so are you putting a new needle on before injecting ?

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In order to make it less expensive for me the vet has given me a syringe with 10ml of penicillin in. I am drawing Furby's dose from this into a new 1ml syringe and then adding a new needle (from a sealed plastic packet) each time.

I was using pre filled syringes before but as Furby will need ongoing meds I asked if I could buy a bottle of penicillin. The bottle they have is huge so they just dispensed me part of it.

I fed the other buns and put them to bed before giving Furby his injections today so the medication wasn't straight from the fridge. Maybe that is why it went in easier?

Rhianna said:

In order to make it less expensive for me the vet has given me a syringe with 10ml of penicillin in. I am drawing Furby's dose from this into a new 1ml syringe and then adding a new needle (from a sealed plastic packet) each time.

I was using pre filled syringes before but as Furby will need ongoing meds I asked if I could buy a bottle of penicillin. The bottle they have is huge so they just dispensed me part of it.

I fed the other buns and put them to bed before giving Furby his injections today so the medication wasn't straight from the fridge. Maybe that is why it went in easier?

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Leaving it out for a bit (I know some people 'only' leave it out 15-30 mins) definitely helps as it becomes thicker when it's cold. Warming it up a little means it's easier to actually get through.

Of course it could have been something else that caused it to be easier to inject, but definitely worth trying next time too!

Needles are colour coded to tell you instantly what size the needle is. Green is 21 gauge, 0.8mm, Blue is 23 gauge, 0,6mm, Orange is 25 gauge, 0,5mm. For injecting thicker substances such as Penicillin, you should ideally use a 21 gauge as it is a slighter bigger diameter, and will therefore be easier to administer.

RogerRabbit999 said:

Needles are colour coded to tell you instantly what size the needle is. Green is 21 gauge, 0.8mm, Blue is 23 gauge, 0,6mm, Orange is 25 gauge, 0,5mm. For injecting thicker substances such as Penicillin, you should ideally use a 21 gauge as it is a slighter bigger diameter, and will therefore be easier to administer.

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Thank you. I thought they were just a variety of pretty colours I have the green one for the penicillin and the vetergesic (which is already drawn up for me) has blue ones - so that sounds correct.

I will keep the penicillin out for 15 mins or so before injecting and see if that does help. I am lucky Furby is such a laid back (unless he is at the vet!) bunny as I would have really struggled with a wriggle bun.

Rhianna said:

Thank you. I thought they were just a variety of pretty colours I have the green one for the penicillin and the vetergesic (which is already drawn up for me) has blue ones - so that sounds correct.

I will keep the penicillin out for 15 mins or so before injecting and see if that does help. I am lucky Furby is such a laid back (unless he is at the vet!) bunny as I would have really struggled with a wriggle bun.

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:lol::lol: being a paramedic, and for people in hospitals, you don't have time to look at the packaging to read the size, and for me especially often it is too dark anyway, and if someone is assisting me, it is far easier to just ask for a green needle :thumb: