VERY discouraged

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did a fur shot 3rd night in a row. This time it was a total miss. Gave a little less than 1 unit on a reshot. I have no issues in the morning when Im half asleep and in a hurry, but at night I cant seem to get it right. Has anyone looked at his spreadsheet? i know I dont have a lot of data on it yet, but how do you think he is doing so far?
 
Let's see if I can help you.
Where are you trying to inject?
Are you hold the fur up & making what some vets call a tent?
Baxter is long haired so I kind of separate the fur so the skin is visial.

Now the needle....when you are holding the needle place your index finger at the base where the needle meets the syringe. This will give you better control. The top of the syringe should be in your palm. Apply the pressure to insert the insulin with the palm of your hand. Still controlling the needle with the index finger.

Practice holding the syringe like this & insert into a orange, piece of fruit or even a stuffed animal. Make sure when you are practicing you are drawing back the syringe as if there is insulin in it. Practicing on a stuffed animal might be easier because you can separate the fur as if it was your own cat. It takes awhile to get it down.
In the beginning I was a nervous wreck. I was terrified of needles & couldn't stand the thought of sticking my best friend. Over time I have gotten better....with injections not so much the needles. I just can't put to much thought into it or I start to get a little freaked out. @-)

I hope this will help you.
Jenn & Baxter
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Jenn & Baxter said:
Let's see if I can help you.
Where are you trying to inject?
Are you hold the fur up & making what some vets call a tent?
Baxter is long haired so I kind of separate the fur so the skin is visial.

Now the needle....when you are holding the needle place your index finger at the base where the needle meets the syringe. This will give you better control. The top of the syringe should be in your palm. Apply the pressure to insert the insulin with the palm of your hand. Still controlling the needle with the index finger.

Practice holding the syringe like this & insert into a orange, piece of fruit or even a stuffed animal. Make sure when you are practicing you are drawing back the syringe as if there is insulin in it. Practicing on a stuffed animal might be easier because you can separate the fur as if it was your own cat. It takes awhile to get it down.
In the beginning I was a nervous wreck. I was terrified of needles & couldn't stand the thought of sticking my best friend. Over time I have gotten better....with injections not so much the needles. I just can't put to much thought into it or I start to get a little freaked out. @-)

I hope this will help you.
Jenn & Baxter
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The vet actually shaved 2 patches on his body bald when he was diagnosed a few weeks ago. One on each side of his trunk. The problem is that Curt was always very lean, and when he lost all his weight his skin now sits very tight against his bones..therefore its hard to even get a good tent without hurting him. I just use my thumb and index finger over the bald area to pull it up and then with my right hand I stab him and shoot the plunger with my thumb. My hesitation comes from him jumping sometimes, and i never know if i should stab fast, or go slow and hope he doesnt jump and run away. I also read something on here about the bevel tip being a certain way. Im not old enough to need glasses yet lol but I can barely tell by looking at that thing which end is the pointed end since its so small. But I found what i thought was the right end and everytime i do that it doesnt go in his skin, he yelps and runs away with a fur shot :( So in short I think Im hurting him by doing the tent, I enter incorrectly and probably at the wrong angle. Ive always been terrified of needles, to the point of passing out, and also at the sight of blood. So this whole thing isnt easy.
 
If I tried shooting Poopy in his side I'd be getting all kinds of fur shots too. :o ECID though.

Have you tried the scruff? The loose skin around the shoulders/neck area? I've even dosed Poopy in the loose skin just past his shoulders. He doesn't seem to feel it at all. Might be worth a try. :smile:
 
I read on here that it isn't good to shoot in the scruff of the neck because dispersion isn't as good- not enough... what ever it is to spread out the insulin, and if you feel small nodes there after shooting it is insulin that balled up?? and didn't get dispersed. Sneakers had those one or two times- back when I wasn't home testing.

I started shooting back by the haunch and she didn't like that, either. Now I am shooting lower down behind her tummy- but her skin has a lot of give to it, anyway. I know some of the people do tummy shots- will he stand for that?

I hope you find that sweet spot soon! for both your sakes and stress! :!:
 
While it isn't ideal to shoot the scruff, you can shoot that area if you need to.

I took care of a cat where that was the only place I could shoot him and it was fine.

I am concerned that you said you think you did a fur shot and then shot him again. The problem with that logic is you don't know how much if any insulin got into the cat with the supposed fur shot and when you dose again, you could be overdosing the cat.

Please be careful with this practice.
 
I think it is an every cat is different thing, Curt. We shot in the scruff for 6 months and got Oliver into remission. If that is where it is easiest to shoot, then that's where I would shoot.

Actually, even with all your missed shots, the numbers you have gotten look encouraging. A blue number later in the cycle is great. Maybe if you can get the shots down consistently, you can do a curve this weekend and we can see what is happening over the whole cycle.
 
My Calli (GA) would fight the vet terribly and instead of a burrito, she used a type of small rug that was heavy enough to hold her in place and keep her from fighting but did not wrap her tightly. She just laid it over her and gently tucked on the sides and Calli calmed right down. Perhaps you have something like that you could try if the burrito is causing problems?

Melanie & Racci
 
Plenty of us did/do the scruff for years. I think if there is a lot of fat in the scruff it may slow down dispersion. I would say it doesn't sound like Curt is exceptionlly fat.
 
The vet didnt act concerned about the neuropathy, said it probably wouldnt ever go away. :( The neuropathy thing happened literally overnight... The kitty burrito thing really seems to aggravate the condition too. he struggles and struggles to get away and when we're done he can barely walk.
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Don't take the vet's opinion on neuropathy as correct. Saying "it'll never go away" is sort of like admitting "I don't know how to fix it" which isn't a good thing.

Sometimes just an overall lowering of BG over time will make it go away. Some people use Methyl B-12 to help with it. If he struggled for a while trying to get out of that burrito, then sure, he'd have trouble walking. His muscles are weakened or damaged. But that condition isn't a "forever" condition.
Do you know if the vet checked him for potassium levels? My cat had low potassium rather than neuropathy, and low K causes overall muscle weakness. That might be a part of the problem. If you have the blood work report from the vet when the diagnosis was done, the potassium value should be on it somewhere.

Carl
 
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