My poor baby practically stroked out about her shot

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FurBabiesMama

FurBabiesMama

Member Since 2017
I wish I could understand what just happened. Mia completely freaked out when I tried to give her PM shot. She has occasionally had a fit at shot time, but not like this. It really seems like the shot is hurting her. My current syringes are UltiCare. Has anyone had issues with those? I feel so bad. She ended up running off to hide in her kitty cube. I went to check on her, and she came out, and I realized she was wet. She had peed in her cube. That has never happened. She was just completely freaked out. Poor baby. By the way, it did not have the normal strong cat pee smell. There was barely any smell at all. What is up with that?

I am giving her a little time to calm down then I am going to have to get her and give the shot. I dread it. I feel so very bad.
 
FurBabiesMama said:
I wish I could understand what just happened. Mia completely freaked out when I tried to give her PM shot. She has occasionally had a fit at shot time, but not like this. It really seems like the shot is hurting her. My current syringes are UltiCare. Has anyone had issues with those? I feel so bad. She ended up running off to hide in her kitty cube. I went to check on her, and she came out, and I realized she was wet. She had peed in her cube. That has never happened. She was just completely freaked out. Poor baby. By the way, it did not have the normal strong cat pee smell. There was barely any smell at all. What is up with that?

I am giving her a little time to calm down then I am going to have to get her and give the shot. I dread it. I feel so very bad.
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It sounds as though you might have accidentally hit muscle or other sensitive tissue. Are you lifting her skin high and taut to make a "tent"? Are you shooting in her scruff or on her side?
 
Kris & Teasel said:
Are you lifting her skin high and taut to make a "tent"? Are you shooting in her scruff or on her side?
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I no longer lift her skin into a tent based on the recommendations of people here and the vet. I shoot in different places, but this time, it was on her side about midway down her back.
 
FurBabiesMama said:
I no longer lift her skin into a tent based on the recommendations of people here and the vet. I shoot in different places, but this time, it was on her side about midway down her back.
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I've seen the suggestion on here to just roll the skin back over your finger but I use the tent method and it works well for me. Teasel has loose skin and short fur, though, so it's easy.
 
Though I am very comfortable with shooting now, I still and always will use the tent method. I know that I am getting it where it needs to go and because of how I pull up, I rarely do furshots.
 
Oh noes :( poor kitty.

I use the roll method which is good as Tempest doesn't have a lot of loose skin. Are you keeping the bevel up? That helps. Tempest was never keen on her shots but never that bad. I warmed the syringe barrel too between my hands so it was more room temperature and not cold.
I always shot around the shoulder blades rather than the scruff.
Lots of snuggles for Mia. :bighug:
 
Mia does not have a lot of loose skin on the top of her body, and her hair is very long and dense (meaning it is difficult to get to skin through all the hair). She started acting up about her shots when I was doing the tent method, so I am not sure not doing it is the problem, but I am certainly willing to try going back to that. (Fur shots are not an issue. We have only had one of those.)
 
I do not think it matters where I do it or whether or not I tent the skin. She has apparently decided she hates getting shots. She knows what is up the moment the process begins and hunkers down, hisses, then tries to run away. :( This makes things so much harder.
 
FurBabiesMama said:
I do not think it matters where I do it or whether or not I tent the skin. She has apparently decided she hates getting shots. She knows what is up the moment the process begins and hunkers down, hisses, then tries to run away. :( This makes things so much harder.
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Would it help to shave a small patch of fur in a couple of places to make it easier to see the needle going in? Maybe she had a painful shot once and is now in aversive mode? Maybe try a little behavioural mod with treats and "pretend" shots? If she reacts to those that's a clue that it's an unpleasant association in her mind.
 
Something that hit me when giving Zeke his shot this morning, when you are giving his shot @FurBabiesMama , is he sitting (like while eating) or standing? If Zeke is standing he doesn't have any loose skin between the shoulders either, so if he decides he wants to stand, I have to make him sit back down into the eating position so I can get enough fur to tent. As little skin is there when standing, I would find it really hard to do the shot where it is needed. The trick Kris mentioned should help too. For us, just so I know Zeke is eating well for his shot, he gets extra of his test treat on his meal so we are basically already treating him at his shot time. Zeke's treat is tuna, he goes absolutely bonkers over it! But if you do get any, make sure to check the ingredients! At first I wasn't and the one we was getting contained vegetable broth. It contains onions which isn't good at all for kitty. Luckily we didn't have any issues from that, but that is another of those ECID things.
 
FurBabiesMama said:
It is one of her super powers.
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Oh, I know what you mean there lol. Zekes super power is to vanish! When he thinks I am over testing, the moment he hears that zipper he is gone in a flash! lol. Luckily he has been good for the most part with his shots, though he did growl at me one day with a mouth full of food hehe. Funniest sounding growl I had heard in awhile.
 
I'm 2 years into this and I use the tent method too. Very reliable way to ensure you get skin only. I always dose during feeding. Leo barely knows it is happening.

Also I use 5/16" long needles. The shorter needles only go into the skin. You don't need long needles. In fact I have gone thru the skin tent with longer needles - so I never use them anymore.

Poor kitteh Mia. I hope she is better now.
 
Herbert didn't like his shots either but I found two tricks made a huge difference. 1) do it while he's eating and 2) rough pet/scratch his back right before and right after. He hardly noticed when I did that.
 
Kiki Thor said:
Herbert didn't like his shots either but I found two tricks made a huge difference. 1) do it while he's eating and 2) rough pet/scratch his back right before and right after. He hardly noticed when I did that.
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I have read by many on here that you don't want to rub on the area after injection. It can affect the absorption of the insulin. I only do a small stroke over the area just so I can feel if I did a furshot.
 
FurBabiesMama said:
I do not think it matters where I do it or whether or not I tent the skin. She has apparently decided she hates getting shots. She knows what is up the moment the process begins and hunkers down, hisses, then tries to run away. :( This makes things so much harder.
Click to expand...
 
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