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Injections help - it won't go in

Jenova

Wise Old Thumper
I'm not exactly sure how to explain this. Grim has been having injections pretty much every three days for almost four years.
Over the last couple of weeks I've not been able to get the penicillin into him. I have a bottle and draw my own syringes, it's norocillin so can be kept at room temperature. I draw it up with one syringe and then put a fresh one on to give the injection. I pull up his scruff and the needle goes in fine, but when I squeeze down it doesn't come out. I've had to try five times to get it to go in. Friday night I made him bleed so I stopped and I didn't want to do it again until I knew what I was doing wrong. I'll be ringing the vets tomorrow but I wondered if anyone had any ideas?

My friend wondered whether it could be scar tissue as he's been injected so many times and if there was anywhere else I could inject him. I don't know if I've just suddenly started doing something fundamentally wrong. When I pull the needle out the penicillin has gone to the end of the needle as i can see it's white and then it dries very quickly in the air. :?

Any ideas?

Grim's nose is getting a bit snuffly again so I need him back on the injections as soon as I can, but I just don't want to hurt him. :(
 
How long have you been using the same bottle ?

I have never heard of an injectable penicillin that can be stored at room temperature :?

To me it sounds as though it has 'gone off'
 
How long have you been using the same bottle ?

I have never heard of an injectable penicillin that can be stored at room temperature :?

To me it sounds as though it has 'gone off'

Only a couple of months. It says in the box do not store above 25 degrees and they said specifically it doesn't need to go in the fridge because I have people allergic to it in my house so it's better of in my room. :)
 
Personally, I don't think you're wrong about scar tissue.

I had a similar problem with Charlie (two injections a day for about 8 weeks) where I suddenly started to find it difficult to get in. I did read that skin around hind legs can be good but couldn't do it there either (Charlie does have relatively thick skin all over) and in the end continued in scruff of the neck but trying not to always use exactly the same site. That and a bigger needle and using one needle to draw up and another to inject (which you're doing anyway)

It might be a combination of that and the medicine thickening up?!

What gauge needle are you using? I've got about 15 blue (23 gauge) left over if thats any different to what you have already if you want to try? I'm not longer injecting Charlie so have no use for them.

How are they both doing?
 
Thank you everyone.

I rang the vets this morning. They said that although they have to throw their injectables away after 28 days the rule isn't so strict for me and others who use them at home. However with it being penicillin it does get a bit thick and chalky after a while so that could be the issue (as you said Jane). However he also said that I cold inject him anywhere on the body as long as it went under the skin. So I decided to try injecting him somewhere else first. I was going to try the leg but he seemed really uncomfortable with me grabbing there, so I just tried further down his back and it went in first time. So I think it must have been a combination of the two. I know the penicillin is still working because Grim's snuffles have cleared up so well and just from missing two injections his eyes and nose have started to run again. So I can pick up a new bottle and inject him in other places and we should be okay.

I just can't believe he's been on these injections for four years. It's just mad to think. :shock:

I don't think anyone thought he still be alive right now when we put him on long term antibiotic injections. It was just to make him comfortable for however long he had left. Well that turned out to be four years and counting. :D He's still grumpy with me and has been throwing around the toy that minilop1 bought for them and is currently digging and stamping in his nebuliser. :love:
 
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