? How do you know if you are shooting correctly?

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Veronica & Babu-chiri

Veronica & Babu-chiri

Member Since 2016
How do I know if I'm doing it righ.? And on the right area?

I'm really new to all this and even though the vet shaved an area I'm wondering, Babu's numbers are not improving. We started with a dosis of 0.25 of Lantus every 12 hours and are now at 0.75 and even though his attitude and mood have been improving so he must be feeling better his numbers are not

I'm rasing his dose to 1 unit as of tonight but if I'm doing it wrong it may not work
 
I'm shooting in his back at one side of his shoulder bone, the vet shaved an area and told me any where in the area would be ok
I've taken a picture of the area and the red arrows are more o less where I'm shooting.
I tried right in the center (in the scruff) but he hated it there so I switched to the side
 

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Hi Veronica. I had trouble shooting at first too. It's good you have a shaved spot, that helped me. If you're using Lantus, it has a distinct smell, so you can sniff the area after a shot. There may be a slight smell even with a good shot due to insulin on the needle, but it shouldn't be a real strong one. If you can set up the spreadsheet, maybe we can see what's going on and if your kitty needs more or less insulin.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
If you need help setting it up, just ask and someone will do it for you.
 
I was curious about this too as my vet showed me how to shoot the scruff. But my specialist (internal medicine) said in her instructions to shoot on either side of shoulder. Which is correct??

Also when I was showed by my vet to inject the insulin they showed me how to fill up the syringe and shoot. But the specialist in her instructions says to insert the syringe in skin then pull back to see if there is blood and if so to move to another spot. I have never ever done it this way.

Does anyone pull back to see if there is blood??
 
It does help a lot thanks it's been hard all this shooting thing I get so nervous thinking I may either give him a fur shoot or the opposite or hurt him by shooting wrong
 
Veronica Hernandez said:
It does help a lot thanks it's been hard all this shooting thing I get so nervous thinking I may either give him a fur shoot or the opposite or hurt him by shooting wrong
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It will get better with time. I, also, don't pull back on the syringe plunger to look for blood. My goal is to get the insulin in the cat as quickly and efficiently as possible. My cat is fussy about injection sites and generally prefers the area near the scruff and shoulders. He lets me know when I stray from there! I'm less uncomfortable now when he squeaks because I've shot in a more sensitive spot but I don't go too far from his preferred areas. Some cats are oblivious to where you inject though. You'll find what works best for you and Babu.
 
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I shoot in the scruff while my kitties are eating (I have two diabetic cats) and they don't notice I'm giving a shot because they love their food.

I was very scared and nervous at first, but now it goes very well with both of them. I don't pull back on the plunger either.

One of my kitties has long fur, so it's harder to tell with her. My vet advised me to just lightly run my fingers over the area after the shot, not to rub or massage as that can break down the insulin, but just to check that it is not wet. With the shaved area I would think you could tell that you have the needle under the skin because you can see it. The trick for me when shooting is to make sure I pull up the fur far enough to make the tent.

Hang in there, you will get very good at giving insulin shots. As to dosing advice, I will leave that to the experts, but they will need to see your spreadsheet so be sure to add that to your signature.
 
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