Where/How to administer insulin shot.

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phatcatTO

phatcatTO

Member Since 2023
In the first month when I started giving my boy Flashy his insulin shots,as suggested and thought by the vet,I would give his insulin shot by grabbing the scruff above his shoulders and sticking the syringe in.Early on I noticed that the insulin shot did not have much effect on him when I administered it in his scruff,so I would give his shots in the middle of his body,and had better results and much lower BG numbers.His BG numbers are still in the 20s,and sometimes I'm not able to give him his shot because I have to work,so my girlfriend does it,but I notice that when she does it 12 hours later before his next insulin shot I check his BG and it's really high.

My question to the members is:

Where is the best place to administer the insulin shot?

When I give him the shot on his side should I pull his skin up like the scruff and stick the needle in?

Reason Why I'm asking is that I'm slowly trying to rule out every single problem that might be keeping his BG high.

I think me and my girlfriend have been giving his insulin shots wrong.We have been just sticking the needle in at a 45.degree angle,but now I'm thinking that maybe I have been shooting insulin into his organs or intestine.Am I overthinking it?

Any suggestions would be helpful,
Thanks.
 
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This is a sticky note from the Lantus forum. There's a picture of shot sites toward the bottom of the post.

I'm pretty sure you're overthinking things. You would need a very long needle to be shooting into an organ or even into muscle. Insulin needles are short. There are differences in absorption based on the site of where you're injecting and some cats are more sensitive than others.

I would suggest that you and your girlfriend observe each other give shots just to make sure there's consistency. Aside from shot-related issues, it's always possible that there's a fur shot involved, that Flashy's numbers have bounced, your insulin is losing potency, etc.

It would be helpful to have data on your spreadsheet. We may be able to help you problem solve what's going on if we could see Flashy's numbers.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
This is a sticky note from the Lantus forum. There's a picture of shot sites toward the bottom of the post.

I'm pretty sure you're overthinking things. You would need a very long needle to be shooting into an organ or even into muscle. Insulin needles are short. There are differences in absorption based on the site of where you're injecting and some cats are more sensitive than others.

I would suggest that you and your girlfriend observe each other give shots just to make sure there's consistency. Aside from shot-related issues, it's always possible that there's a fur shot involved, that Flashy's numbers have bounced, your insulin is losing potency, etc.

It would be helpful to have data on your spreadsheet. We may be able to help you problem solve what's going on if we could see Flashy's numbers.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply Sienne & Gaby,and thank you for the link,very helpful information.
One thing that it does not mention is angle of needle,so I assume the if I go in at a straight 90 degree,it would be no problem?

Spreadsheet on Flashys BG levels are coming soon,I just have to figure out how to fill in the top info.
 
There are you tube videos you can watch also, just go to you tube and type giving a cat an insulin shot
Here is one but DO NOT PUSH ANY INSULIN BACK INTO THE PEN OR THE VIAL LIKE SHE DID
Just showing you this to see how she pulls the scruff up and insert the needle.
I would always give it in the scruff, when you pull up on it you will feel with your finger that there is like an indentation ,you can feel it with your finger, that's where you inject
 
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phatcatTO said:
Spreadsheet on Flashys BG levels are coming soon,I just have to figure out how to fill in the top info.
Click to expand...
Just go to the top and fill in the info
Date diagnosed, insulin you are using, the dosing method you chose to follow
I will give you the link that explains it, then the meter you are using
If you have trouble just ask we have a member you can help you
Like Sienne mentioned it would be helpful if you can start entering the BG reading you are getting on your spreadsheet
I'll give you the link that explains it
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-use-the-spreadsheet.241653/
Go down on the page where it says
Basic Recording
@phatcatTO
Here are the dosing methods to chose one to follow
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/thr...-low-go-slow-slgs-tight-regulation-tr.210110/
 
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