If injection goes thru to fur on other side ... wet hand

[Dale & Red Kitty]

Once in a while, especially on weekends, I seem to shoot Red Kitty and it goes thru to fur on other side of skin. I always feel his fur to make sure the shot was successful. ( Fur not wet on opposite side of injection. ) Tonight my hand came away SOAKED. So, If anyone knows how to proceed when you know the shot was not a success. All I can do is wait, because I'm not going to give another shot. So ... if he doesn't get confused , etc., we can wait another 12 hours for his next dose. He's had several times that he's gone into the super confused and disoriented state, which has scared the dickens out of me and the wife. When this happens, well give him some Friskies and that seems to help stabilize him quicker.
Anyone else have this issue? If so, please comment as to your procedure .. short of taking pet to emergency vet, which costs a literal FORTUNE. We are doing all we can to just get by on Social Security, so emergency vet is not an option.
Whenever this happens, I'm a literal nervous wreck until I know he's going to make it through the night, without the adverse consequences. Any appropriate responses will be a help to me and Red Kitty.
Thanks!

 

[Mady & Egon]

I hope someone with more experience can help you soon. For me, shaving the fur where I inject is a must. It helps me to see the needle going into the skin. I was getting furshots all the time before I started shaving the injection areas.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

If you do a fur shot (null shot), do not shoot again. You never know how much you actually got in.

I never shaved Neko, and she had long fur. There are a couple tips you can use for shooting. This post How to "Shoot" Your Cat has a couple links. The Testing and Shooting Tips link has a picture of the roll method that some find easier to use. That same post has a video injecting a cat that shows you can blow on the fur to separate it and see the skin in order to shoot.

Can you tell me a bit more about Red Kitty's diagnosis? Was he diagnosed with ketones or DKA? What food is he eating? What insulin and size of dose? We have a post that tells you how to put answers to some of these common asked questions in your signature, that makes it easier for us to help you. New? How You Can Help Us Help You!

I'm concerned about the confused state you describe and how food helps him feel better. I suspect he might be getting low blood sugars and his dose is too high. Normally a fur shot doesn't soak your hand. Sorry, but more reading:

• How to treat HYPOS - THEY CAN KILL! Print this Out!!
• jojo and bunny's HYPO TOOL BOX

 

[squeem3]

. He's had several times that he's gone into the super confused and disoriented state, which has scared the dickens out of me and the wife. When this happens, well give him some Friskies and that seems to help stabilize him quicker.
Anyone else have this issue? If so, please comment as to your procedure .. short of taking pet to emergency vet, which costs a literal FORTUNE.

That is a clear sign of hypoglycemia, very low blood glucose level. Print out the into in the two links Wendy posted above. Most episodes can be treated at home, at least initially. If a cat's blood glucose levels won't go up despite trying honey, syrup, food, etc after a few hours then you need to take the cat to the vet for treatment.

Do you test blood glucose levels at home? What is the name of the insulin? What is the cat's current dose of insulin? Do you know how to correctly measure insulin? Many newbies don't and often give way too much insulin (example, 10 units of insulin instead of 1 unit because they don't know how to read the syringe markings).

Fur shots happen. If that happens, you don't ever want to give another full dose and hope it gets in this time. You risk hypoglycemia. What is the length of the syringe needles you are using? Half inch needles tend to give fur shots but people also do fur shots with shorter needles.