short needles vs not as short needles?

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Sarah Smith

Sarah Smith

Member Since 2016
I started using u100 needles last week to tweek Cooters dose of prozinc. I started by getting a bag of 10 from the vet, yesterday I picked up some of the ones from walmart. The new ones are 30g short needles, vs the 29g ones I've had till now. Any tips or tricks for using the short needles? They are about 3/4 the length of the ones I'm currently using
 
30 gauge only refers to how big the needle is, not how long...All the Relion needles are 8mm in length

In needles, the gauge refers to how "thick" the needle is....the lower the number, the bigger the "hole" in the needle (so 30 gauge are actually smaller and usually even more comfortable for the cat)
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As for tips on using them, you'll develop a "feel" for it when the needle pierces the skin, but what we did (at first) was shave a small patch so we made sure we were getting the shot all the way into China.

Another thing you can do instead of the usual "tent" is to use the "Roll" method.....Instead of making a "tent" and shooting into it, grab some fur between your thumb and forefinger and then "roll" your wrist to pull the skin away from the muscle. It will also allow you to see a small area of skin to "shoot into". This isn't a great picture, but hopefully it will help show you what I mean
china skin.jpg
 
Thanks Chris :) I will have to try the roll method, hes starting to get ansy when I tent him a little.... I took a pic of the 2 syringes, the one from the vet is on the right and has a longer needle. No worries anyway, used the relion one tonight and it wasnt any different :) was just worried about it being harder since it was shorter then the vet ones. Apologize for the pic, not so easy to snap a pic of needles with a cellphone :)
 

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scoobydoox said:
This is a good topic to discuss. I am using the 29 ones from walmart. I may get the 30 next time though if they are easier on the cat.
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The 30 seemed to go in easier, could have been my imagination though since theres not that big a difference in the gauges :)
 
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Chris & China said:
They also have 31 gauge which are even tinier but you have to be a little careful....when they get that tiny they can bend easily so it's important to make sure you put the needle into the insulin vial/pen straight
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Agreed. I used 31 gauge for insulin and managed with them fine, but when I started using insulin syringes to give B12 shots, I was having problems with the needle bending - it seems the rubber seal on the B12 bottle is a little tougher than the one on a Lantus vial! Depending on the insulin you have, it's possible you might have a similar problem.
 
manxcat419 said:
Agreed. I used 31 gauge for insulin and managed with them fine, but when I started using insulin syringes to give B12 shots, I was having problems with the needle bending - it seems the rubber seal on the B12 bottle is a little tougher than the one on a Lantus vial! Depending on the insulin you have, it's possible you might have a similar problem.
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You might want to try getting a separate syringe just for B12 shots. I give different shots, insulin, B12, Adequan, and Subq fluids, but since insulin is twice a day, I use 31 gauge, with an 8mm length. The shorter length also prevents hitting muscle if you haven't perfected your technique. I bought a larger needle with a longer length to draw the B12 for injection, also, since you need to inject at least 25 units, or .25 ml, it is easier to give that larger shot with a larger barrel that holds more in less plunger space. I currently am using 31 gauge 8mm with 100 unit barrel for B12 and it draws up through that harder stopper just fine.
 
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MsBliss said:
You might want to try getting a separate syringe just for B12 shots. I give different shots, insulin, B12, Adequan, and Subq fluids, but since insulin is twice a day, I use 31 gauge, with an 8mm length. The shorter length also prevents hitting muscle if you haven't perfected your technique. I bought a larger needle with a longer length to draw the B12 for injection, also, since you need to inject at least 25 units, or .25 ml, it is easier to give that larger shot with a larger barrel that holds more in less plunger space. I currently am using 21 gauge 8mm with 100 unit barrel for B12 and it draws up through that harder stopper just fine.
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These days, I put the B12 into Rosa's sub-q fluids, so I can use any needle at all. She won't tolerate the 21 gauge at all though for shots - she much preferred the insulin syringes. I actually find it easier to draw a number of units than part of a ml anyway - when we had Shadow on Adequan, she had to get 0.07 ml...way easier to measure as 7 units!
 
manxcat419 said:
These days, I put the B12 into Rosa's sub-q fluids, so I can use any needle at all. She won't tolerate the 21 gauge at all though for shots - she much preferred the insulin syringes. I actually find it easier to draw a number of units than part of a ml anyway - when we had Shadow on Adequan, she had to get 0.07 ml...way easier to measure as 7 units!
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Good points. I made a typing mistake about the "21" gauge--it is 31 gauge, which I just noticed and corrected. One of my many vets said that putting the B12 into the subq fluid port during infusion would dilute it too much....it doesn't make sense, but he believed it would be less effective. Has anyone mentioned that to you? I used to stop the flow, inject the B12, then restart the flow to make sure it all got in, but he told me not to do that. I'm not sure about ANYTHING I learn anymore.....
 
MsBliss said:
One of my many vets said that putting the B12 into the subq fluid port during infusion would dilute it too much....it doesn't make sense, but he believed it would be less effective.
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I haven't heard that idea - both my vet and our IM specialist said it's the best way of giving it to avoid having to do an extra needle poke! B12 is water soluble anyway - I'm not sure how diluting it is meant to make it less effective, though if anyone has an explanation of that, I'd love to hear how it works.
 
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