Help with injections!

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Starry_night1015

Starry_night1015

Member Since 2022
Hello!
My little guy was just diagnosed less then two weeks ago…. And I’ve been struggling with the insulin injections. I keep getting fur shots , I feel like a failure, I can get his AM shot done pretty well, but the PM dose I constantly have trouble with. Not sure why I can’t seem to get it right.

I’ve been beating myself up about it and it’s been giving me a lot of anxiety.

my cat does really well with the injections ( he doesn’t even look up from his food dish) I just can’t seem to get it right constantly.

does anyone have any advice? Or at least reassurance that I will stop messing this up one of these days?

thanks.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum.
Where abouts in the body are you giving the injections?
Are you doing it on the floor or do you put him on a table?
Can you tell us a bit about your kitty…name, what type of insulin, and dose, are you thinking of hometesting the blood glucose? What are you feeding him? How often do you feed him?
Do you have a hypo kit set up
You are not a failure…it is a big learning curve in the first few weeks and then it gets much easier:)
 
Starry_night1015 said:
my cat does really well with the injections ( he doesn’t even look up from his food dish) I just can’t seem to get it right constantly.

does anyone have any advice? Or at least reassurance that I will stop messing this up one of these days?
Click to expand...
Hello starry night, and little cutie black cat:cat:, I too am new here, and can offer no advice.....But... I can tell you with all certainty you truly have come to the BEST place! I am only about 1 1/2 months in and the dedicated people here are full of knowledge. You will be in good hands here, and you will get this! Calm deep breathe, you will do right by your kitty. And he will love you more for it! I did that, and it has made all the difference.
 
Thanks everyone! The link helped a lot!

to answer everyone’s questions:

I normally inject when I feed him on the floor, I try and get the scruff of the neck or back by his shoulders. I will rotate the injection sites so he doesn’t get a sore spot.

I do have honey and maple syrup in the house just in case he goes hypo.

not sure about testing yet, I’m still talking to my vet about all of this. ( he’s very spicy at the vet and we have to sedate him to do anything) right now we are very carefully monitoring his symptoms.
Still trying to get on a feeding and snack schedule to make sure he’s as healthy as can be.

thank you for all of the support!
 
A failure? You're doing a small medical procedure at home on an animal that's not anesthetized. A failure is someone who just gets a new cat.
I was taught to shoot the scuff but both my boys did much better having them lay on their side and shooting in what is called the flank in the pic below.
Are you tenting before you inject? The bottom two illustrations show the wrong and right way or at least how fur shots happen.
Stating the obvious here but never inject again after a fur shot. I've only seen it happen once here and it was almost a disaster.
You're doing everything right so far but you will have to start testing and when you do you'll feel a lot more in control.

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and for good luck...

Starry_Night01.jpg
 

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Are you using additional light? I always had a small flashlight in my mouth aimed at the spot so I could clearly see the skin and the needle going in. Otherwise, you’re shooting blind and hoping for the best. You can also get one of those hiking lights that comes attached to a headband :cat:
 
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Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the help and encouragement, it’s been a bit of a bumpy ride the last few weeks.

the info really helped and I’m using the fold method to get a peek at his skin to give me a better shot ( no pun intended)

I still have one or two I mess up but I think I’m getting better.

My shot tonight was a disaster, the plunger got stuck and I squirted insulin over him… had to reload and try again…lol
 
Hiya Starry Night, this might be helpful, or you may be doing it already. ;)
When I first started injections I held the syringe between 2 forefingers with my thumb on the plunger. Then I would poke and inject (this was how my vet showed me).
I did some fur shots, partial fur shots, a few bent needles even, and Kitkat would really not cooperate in the whole process. (I too was upset and feeling a bit defeated by this)
A nurse friend of mine pointed out that it is may be much easier to do one thing at a time, meaning hold the syringe between thumb and finger, insert with a bit better control, (its was the initial poke Kitkat would react to) reaction or not.... just hold the needle STEADY as you adjust your grasp, to two forefingers on the syringe and use thumb to depress the plunger. She did point out as well that the poke was usually the thing, a lingering inserted needle is irrelevant.
It truly made a huge difference.... and I see in the above video, she does the same.
(Silly vet- she had 1000's of injections under her belt- lol :smuggrin:)
I think I can confidently say that if kitty isn't reacting badly, then you got just the right spots to do it down pat. That's a big step!!!
We all get there.... chin up! :p
 
Melinda and Kitkat said:
Hiya Starry Night, this might be helpful, or you may be doing it already. ;)
When I first started injections I held the syringe between 2 forefingers with my thumb on the plunger. Then I would poke and inject (this was how my vet showed me).
I did some fur shots, partial fur shots, a few bent needles even, and Kitkat would really not cooperate in the whole process. (I too was upset and feeling a bit defeated by this)
A nurse friend of mine pointed out that it is may be much easier to do one thing at a time, meaning hold the syringe between thumb and finger, insert with a bit better control, (its was the initial poke Kitkat would react to) reaction or not.... just hold the needle STEADY as you adjust your grasp, to two forefingers on the syringe and use thumb to depress the plunger. She did point out as well that the poke was usually the thing, a lingering inserted needle is irrelevant.
It truly made a huge difference.... and I see in the above video, she does the same.
(Silly vet- she had 1000's of injections under her belt- lol :smuggrin:)
I think I can confidently say that if kitty isn't reacting badly, then you got just the right spots to do it down pat. That's a big step!!!
We all get there.... chin up! :p
Click to expand...

Thank you!!!! Omg this really helped a lot, I used this technique and I had 4 days in a row of perfect injections, I did get a fur shot tonight but that’s because I didn’t see enough skin and missed.

slowly but surely I’m getting there
 
That is the most wonderful news! Sometimes a slightest little tweek is just the thing to do the trick. :p:cool:. I'm so happy it helped, and chin up!!!! We all go through it and come out better for it :bighug::bighug:.
 
Hi! I'm new to all this too. I've had a few fur shots as well- and many, many times where I doubted myself.

One thing I found extremely helpful- our kitty Ethan has some shaved spots where they put his previous Libre sensors. I try to use those as much as possible to able to see the needle going into the skin. Not sure if it would help in your situation to shave a few spots, or at least trim the hair shorter (need to rotate sites).
 
You are NOT a failure. You are essentially performing a medical procedure on a cat with no prior training twice per day. This is not easy. It requires practice, like anything. After you've done it a few dozen times the two of you will get into a routine and it'll be perfectly normal.
 
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