Suddenly painful injections

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Felix and Ron

Felix and Ron

Member Since 2015
Last two injections Felix has pulled abruptly away when I insert needle. Had to stick him three times to get insulin in. I am injecting in his back just behind neck as always. He will have nothing to do with injections in his side. Tried that twice.
 
If you are using the same site over and over the skin can become thickened and fiberous and the needles don't go in as smoothly. Also, the fat pad decreases in sites used frequently, which makes it more likely to get into the muscle which is sensitive. Rotating sites can help prevent these area from becoming painful. If you are using lantus and increased the dose recently, larger doses of lantus can sting. Also, if you opened a new box of needles recently, or are using a new brand, that can make a huge difference. Max used to get very irritated from the generic brands of longer needles, so I got the expensive short, ultrafine BD needles and that helped immensely. They do cost a small fortune, however, but it was worth it for us.
 
I have been having the same problem with my girl and initially thought it was the sting from the Lantus that I had been keeping in the fridge. I stopped refrigerating the Lantus but still have the same reaction. I have always rotated injection sites and use the BD syringes. I was told not to use the scruff area for injections because of poor blood supply in that area but frankly I have not seen any improvement in her BG despite changing to flank shots. She is not happy with me messing around with her sides to start with but when I paid close attention, her discomfort usually happens when I push the plunger so I'm pretty sure it's the Lantus stinging even at room temperature. I am seriously considering discussing a change to Levemir with my vet because this is getting very stressful for both of us. Watch closely for when Felix reacts. It may make it clearer what is causing his discomfort.
 
Do they make U40 syringes in 30G? 29G bothered max quite a bit. Linda, once we got past 3U of lantus, it was bad for Max, and triggered his hyperestesia too. Lev was much better even at the high doses. Having the insulin room temp is supposed to help too.
 
If you can't get finer gauge U40 syringes, there would be the option of using a finer gauge U100 syringe with a conversion chart for working out the correct dose of Prozinc.
 
@Meya14 Thanks for the confirmation. I believe it was just around 3 or 4u that I started getting reactions too and it's really becoming quite upsetting at this point. Time to call the vet!
 
How's the food transition going? Are you trying Evo cat and kitten or Young Again 0 Carb dry?
 
@BJM I'm guessing you were addressing me since it appears Felix is already on canned food. If not you can skip the rest of my rhetoric.:D Menace is one stubborn little nut and will not eat her kibble if there is even a drop of soft food in the bowl with it. I have tried multiple varieties of canned food to no avail and since my other two both eat Fancy Feast Classic Turkey and Giblets, there is always ample opportunity for my hungry little sugar to eat something appropriate. Despite trying every trick in the book and then some, I have been a total failure at getting her to transition. To my credit though, I did manage to break my 17yr olds 17 yr. kibble habit! Small consolation!

I had Menace on EVO for months and quite frankly it didn't make even a tiny bit of difference in her readings as opposed to the Taste of the Wild. I'm in Canada and EVO is no longer available here. I have samples of Young Again waiting to be tried but I see no point in using it in case I cannot get it come September when the pet food import regulations change here. If by any chance Young Again is still an option going forward, I will see if she will eat it and if so, go that route. I am now trying to transition her to Legacy kibble (Canadian and slightly lower carbs than TOTW) so for now, those are the only foods she will eat. TOTW is also a US product so I want to make sure I have a CDN made option to fall back on should it too become unavailable here. Our food selection here is dismal when it comes to kibble addicted fussy felines like mine.
 
Oops. Didn't realize it wasn't your thread. That said, someone mentioned slowly adding a broth flavoring to the drinking water and little by little, adding more flavor. Then starting to give it a pate texture. All done very slowly.
 
I'll have to think about using that tactic with my crew. I had a dental additive recommended to me by my middle "child's" specialist and the water consumption for all of them went down considerably even though I started with just a drop and worked up. Finally gave up on that stuff. Maybe I'll experiment in one of the four H2O bowls in the house to ensure none of them gets dehydrated, most importantly Menace.
 
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
I have been having the same problem with my girl and initially thought it was the sting from the Lantus that I had been keeping in the fridge. I stopped refrigerating the Lantus but still have the same reaction. I have always rotated injection sites and use the BD syringes. I was told not to use the scruff area for injections because of poor blood supply in that area but frankly I have not seen any improvement in her BG despite changing to flank shots. She is not happy with me messing around with her sides to start with but when I paid close attention, her discomfort usually happens when I push the plunger so I'm pretty sure it's the Lantus stinging even at room temperature. I am seriously considering discussing a change to Levemir with my vet because this is getting very stressful for both of us. Watch closely for when Felix reacts. It may make it clearer what is causing his discomfort.
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Mini-hijack.....
A question. I looked at Menace's SS. Is his dose high enough that leaving the Lantus out of the fridge isn't going to degrade it before he uses it all?
 
I have given over four thousand shots and in my opinion BD are the absolute worst and most expensive. The registration is terrible on them also. Use a 31 ga short needle (5/16 long). I get my syringes from ADW:
http://www.adwdiabetes.com/product/monoject-ultra-comfort-insulin-syringes_2552.htm
As someone suggested you can convert as an example:
For every 0.2 units of u40 it is 0.5 units on u100 so 2.6 units equals 6.5 units someone please check me on this.
I pull up the skin by their fur as high as I can get it leaving a nice taught area of skin. I do this on the right side of the neck in the morning and the left side at night. I never do the scruff. The area is just BEHIND the shoulder where there is no muscle. My guys never flinch doing this.
Keep the needle about a quarter inch from skin and then a quick smooth in and out. Fast and gentle does it. You can also do sideways at the scruff..left and right.
Best of luck to you and kitty
 
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@Shiloh & Rhonda Yep. The little pen vials only last me about 27 days now so I'm just under the prescribed unrefrigerated time frame! And goodness knows with her numbers, her dose is likely going to be going up yet again! :eek:.
 
Felix and Ron said:
Last two injections Felix has pulled abruptly away when I insert needle. Had to stick him three times to get insulin in. I am injecting in his back just behind neck as always. He will have nothing to do with injections in his side. Tried that twice.
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Take a look at this thread. It might help: TESTING AND SHOOTING TIPS

MrWorfMen's Mom said:
I was told not to use the scruff area for injections because of poor blood supply in that area but frankly I have not seen any improvement in her BG despite changing to flank shots.
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Many of us have successfully given scruff shots for years on end despite the bad press. :D
 
It was actually a specialist in Texas who insisted on not using the scruff.....not my regular vet.:banghead: I was only doing it so I can take my "zebra" back to my vet and say "Ok I did everything the specialist recommended. WHAT NOW?" :rolleyes: I started rotating shot sites a few days ago including the scruff and may just stick to the scruff if the jumping, flinching and occasional vocalizing doesn't stop!
 
FWIW, I tried to shoot Lucy somewhere other than the scruff exactly once. Never again, with her or my other two diabetics. I value my limbs too much! Plus I would rather put ALL of the dose into her scruff instead of having half of it go into her flank and half of it sprayed all over the living room. She did fine with scruff shots and even went OTJ.

I could have gotten away with shooting elsewhere for KK because he was a mush, but by that time I didn't see any reason to fix what wasn't broken.
 
Thanks to all who have confirmed my observations that scruff shots work just as well as any other injection site. I have used the scruff three times in the last two days. One shot went without a hitch, one illicited a little jump but no "chatter" and today, it took three pokes. :eek:

Thankfully I have now developed a technique whereby I don't end up with a fur shot or icky smelling furniture but I'm sure I lose a drop or two in the process! So much for consistent dosing! I really think it's got to be the sting accompanied to some degree by a growing aversion to the process knowing the sting is coming! She used to practically sleep through her shots!:banghead::(
 
Felix and Ron said:
Last two injections Felix has pulled abruptly away when I insert needle. Had to stick him three times to get insulin in. I am injecting in his back just behind neck as always. He will have nothing to do with injections in his side. Tried that twice.
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What a handsome feline ! Make sure the bevel of the needle is facing up. Good luck.
 
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