scabs and bumps at injection sites?

[equine99]

So I'm a relatively new sugarcat mom, and have been giving shots for about two weeks. Several days ago I noticed that under her fur, snowflake (my diabetic cat) has little scabs and like, lumps (scar tissue?) around the areas I usually inject, so pretty much all around her mid back and around her shoulders (I try to move the site around because I wanted to avoid this problem!). I would've expected tiny scabs, but these scabs are about the diameter of a medium sized piece of kitty litter--maybe 2 or 3 times what I would've thought a needle injection scab would be. Since there are also what feels like little balls of scar tissue, I'm concerned. Have any of you experienced this before? I'm using ProZinc with U-40 29 gauge needles (what the vet gave me) and use a new needle each time. Do I need tinier needles? Is she allergic to the ProZinc?

She has been licking the scabs off when she cleans herself, so they're not healing up as quickly as I would hope, and I'm having a hard time finding new spots to shoot her in.

Is this something any of you have experienced before??

 

[Jenn & Baxter]

Hi Snowflake! Good to see your post here in health.
It's been kind of slow tonight. Hopefully, a member will have a answer for you or has expiernced the same thing.

Jenn & Baxter cat_pet_icon

 

[nwnews]

I got syringes from Costco that are 31 gauge and (according to yahoo) would be smaller/thinner then 29 gauge. If the 29's are causing small scabs then you may want to go thinner with a 31 gauge to see how that does. I haven't noticed injection scabs with Sitka but I think she isn't prone to them because she gets nightly subq fluids with an 18 gauge needle without scabbing. Jan

 

[Ann & Scatcats]

Hi

Do the scabs look anything like these do? http://felinediseases.weebly.com/staphylococcus.html


If so, it might be staphylococcus bacterias. They are normal in the skin bacteria flora, but in Simba's case they acted up when he got diabetes and a weaker immune system.

 

[Jill and Remi]

Seems like I remember someone mentioning the bumps before and the advice was to gently rub the area(if possible) after the injection.

 

[Melissa and Bailey]

I would also recommend skinnier needles (higher # gauge = skinnier needle). I wonder if it's possible Snowflake has a zinc allergy? If the problem persists you might consider switching insulins.

 

[Martica and Fred]

I use 31 gauge needles--definitely get smaller needles regardless of whether they are causing the bumps or not--much more pleasant for kitty

 

[squeem3]

I'm using ProZinc with U-40 29 gauge needles (what the vet gave me) and use a new needle each time. Do I need tinier needles?

I don't think U40 insulin syringes are available in a thinner guage. If you want to use a thinner needle, then you would need to use U100 insulin syringes **with this conversion chart**. The conversion chart is important because there is a big difference between U40 and U100 and you don't want to give your cat the wrong amount of insulin.

U100 insulin syringes are available at all Human pharmacies. Your vet can write you a prescription. You want the 3/10 cc insulin syringes, preferably with half unit markings. 31 gauge is the thinnest needle available and only comes in a 5/16 inch length. 30 gauge needles are available in 1/2 inch and 5/16 inch lenghts.