Tips on Injections?

I tried and failed quite spectacularly to give Ellie her Depocillin injection tonight. She struggled, squealed and then ran away and hid.

Not sure how much I've ended up giving her as I had to do it twice, which I didn't want to do as I know how quickly needles blunt, but I needed to get this antibiotic into her.

I pinned her in between my legs with her head facing out and leant over her to get her scruff and pinch the skin but the minute I put the needle in she went ballistic. god I'm so cruel and I've got to do this again on Wednesday and Friday and her abcess is just as bad.

How can I make this easier?

I feel your pain, I had a nightmare when I first tried to inject penicillin, but I've got the hang of it now! I went back to the vets and had a lesson with one of the VNs, having a go at injecting s/c fluids to get the hang of it. It's far easier if you can use a freshly drawn up syringe, but if you have them pre-drawn, ask for some spare needles and swap to a fresh needle before injecting, while giving the contents a few moments to warm up when you take them out of the fridge.

Through trial and error I have now stumbled upon what, for me, is the best way of doing it, and it's mostly completely counter-intuitive and the opposite to what I was doing!

I find it easier to put the bun sideways on my lap while I'm sitting on a dining-type chair. This way, bun feels secure but doesn't have anywhere much to go. I also find it easier to point the needle down towards the bun's back rather than trying to point the needle up towards the neck. There seems to be more loose skin to grab hold of the other way so there is a much larger target to hit. Finally, the best bit of advice my vet gave me was to use your index finger as a guide for the needle. So if you scoop up the loose skin in your left hand (assuming you are right handed), hold it between your thumb and 3rd finger. Then with your index finger, push a 'pocket' into the front of the bit you have pulled up. Leave your finger there, and then push the needle in directly underneath your index finger. That way you're virtually guaranteed to have the needle in the right place because there's not really anywhere else it can be!

I also found that the more confident I got, the easier it was. If you're nervous and trying to be gentle, I found that you're actually more likely to cause discomfort or get it wrong, whereas if you pretty much just go for it, you're more likely to get a clean break through the skin and get the needle at about the right depth.

Good luck xx

Make sure you have the right size needle (others will know what this is, I want to say green but that might well be wrong) and warm it in your hand prior to injection.

Do you inject at work (I know you're healthcare/nursing but unsure of your remit), if not, don't diabetics sometimes practise using an orange/banana to get used to pushing a needle into something? Might help get your confidence up.

I don't have a problem with the actual injections, I have done them at work previously but people are much more compliant! she just struggled and wiggled and I couldn't get her still and comfortable. I did it at the vets twice and she was fine, but I suppose at the vets she can't go anywhere to run away! I just need advice on how to actually get her still and comfortable I suppose.

Personally i found puting my rabbit on a kitchen counter in a box worked for me.It is tricky to start with but you will find it gets easier.Like Santa i found it easier to do the injection pointing towards the back.I used the green needles.
You will,im sure, find a way which suits you.Good luck

Nena lets me inject her if she's munching away on pellets on the utility room counter top at medicine time. It has to be on the utility room work top as if it's on the floor she just hops off :lol: It's relatively easy to just grab the scruff and inject while she's munching away. Perhaps being restrained stresses yours out? Nena certainly wouldn't like it, and would really struggle to get away!

Sometimes Nena tries to wander off mid-injection but a swift 'ah ah, no' stops her for a few seconds - enough to inject whatever is left and remove the needle. Just plop her on a counter somewhere (on a blanket if it's slippy), give her a bowl of pellets and swiftly inject. She'll be too busy being a piggy to really care, hopefully!

Just make it swift and easy, don't restrain/stress her and don't stress yourself either :wave:

EDIT: Just wanted to double check, although I'm sure you are - are you creating a tent and injecting into the tent? I was half asleep one morning and injected Nena a bit too horizontally into her skin and she visibly flinched then.

Thanks everyone. I am sure I'm doing it the way I've been shown, I find it easier to go in from her head to her butt and have been doing it the past couple of days, but I am definitely doing something wrong.

Both days I have found some of the penicillin on her neck after I've injected it. I felt the resistance when I put the needle in, but I'm concerned that I'm going in and out the other side, but I'm feeling no second resistance, and I can't feel the needle come out the other side but then I don't understand how I'm finding penicillin on her fur. And I'm concerned she's not getting the full dose at all because I'm not injecting it correctly.

Do you pull the scruff up, put the needle in, then let the scruff go down or 'flat' again to check the needle is in then inject? I'm pretty sure that's what I was taught when I did them for Poppy and I never had any issues.

I would definitely also recommend, as somebody else has, putting her on the kitchen counter, I always put Pop on a towel to stop her sliding and she would sit much stiller up there and never showed any sign of distress when I was injecting, it was mostly like she didn't even feel it in fact and she would always get a little treat as a reward afterwards (it got to the point when I had finished and put her on the floor she wouldn't run off but would hang around for her raisins :lol.

Cari said:

Thanks everyone. I am sure I'm doing it the way I've been shown, I find it easier to go in from her head to her butt and have been doing it the past couple of days, but I am definitely doing something wrong.

Both days I have found some of the penicillin on her neck after I've injected it. I felt the resistance when I put the needle in, but I'm concerned that I'm going in and out the other side, but I'm feeling no second resistance, and I can't feel the needle come out the other side but then I don't understand how I'm finding penicillin on her fur. And I'm concerned she's not getting the full dose at all because I'm not injecting it correctly.

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I found penicillin on Mischa's neck after an injection a few times, couldn't work it out as the needle had definitely gone in and hadn't blown. I did wonder if it was possible for it to ooze back out of the injection site?

No Janey, as I wasn't told to do that by either vet, they told me to make the tent, put the needle in and inject near the bottom as there was a wider gap for the needle, which is what I've done.

I would put her on the kitchen counter but that would involve trying to carry her down the stairs. :shock: I'll have to find somewhere though.

Thanks Elena, glad to know I'm not alone, I'm just concerned that it's happened two days in a row.

I'm sure if you phone Simon Cari and explain the problems that you are having that he will be able to give you some good tips, and then when you see him for post op appointment, he may be able to review her meds to ones that only need administering orally, not injecting. Has the abscess returned so quickly just as bad then? That's really disappointing, and I wouldn't have thought Simon would have been anticipating that.

With regards to the actual injecting, I've noticed that people on the whole, and please don't anyone take this the wrong way, make far to big a deal about it, and I think that in itself stresses bun out because they can pick up on and just know that something horrible is going to happen. I always inject when I have just put their fresh stuff down each day, I don't pick them up, hold them or anything, just have everything all ready, put the greens down, chat to bun and stroke him or her, and then just inject when they are actually so much more interested in their greens, and not what is going to happen to them.

I always inject with bunny on a towel on the work top. If they are not staying still something naughty like a bit of cereal or ryvita definitely helps.
I do agree that not hesitating and just "doing it" does make it a lot easier.

One thing I would add is if any is coming out on her fur please make sure every drop is washed off because if she licks it off herself she will get really poorly

I've been flannel washing her neck where I've found it so she doesn't get poorly I've tried just doing it when she's eating but she wiggles away the minute she feels the needle on her skin.

Cari said:

I've been flannel washing her neck where I've found it so she doesn't get poorly I've tried just doing it when she's eating but she wiggles away the minute she feels the needle on her skin.

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Nena sometimes tries to too, but I just move her back to where she was and say 'ah, ah' and she gets the message. Yours will know she can get away now, so it'll take some time to teach her not to. Have you had any luck finding a place you can put her? Cabinet in your bedroom, on top of the toilet with something non slip on it? Maybe even in the bath?

I could pop her in the bath... Or maybe even in the sink. Something to try tonight, I just didn't want to stress her even more by picking her up.

We did it a little wiggle right at the end of the injection but no sign of it on her fur. I decided to try one last time just holding her between my knees as I knelt and she didn't even put up a fight or squeak like before, think if she can get used to this it'll be easier than picking her up as she really does hate it.

Pleased.