[Tracy Lou]

I have taken Candy to the vets several times over the last 3 months and have seen 2 different vets at her normal practice. I have been told, she had been, overfed, underfed, the vet recommended diet was worry, not been wormed , she’s old and she doesn’t wash herself, not got dandruff , no skin problem, it’s fleas (yes from my second cat, that I don’t have) and colitis. They ignored my saying that among everything else, she is also drink more and more. Well almost 2 weeks ago we went back again. This time we saw a third vet she agreed that something was wrong and the results show Candy is diabetic and that has been for some time. As you can guess, :yikes: :incazzato: :angry: and the details have been passed on to the head vet to deal with.

My question is does anyone have any advice on the injection side of things. I can’t get the hang of knocking the bubbles out of the syringe without bending the needle . I am getting so frustrate with myself not being able to get it right, I’m using loads of needles and I’m getting stressed. I don’t like needles, so it doesn’t help. Poor Candy then has a shaking and stressed slave trying to calmly inject her. Which I must say she is being a little sweet heart about:001_wub:.

So any advice would be gratefully received

 

[ella]

Hi

I have to inject myself daily (not insulin) so this isn't about insulin, but are you injecting from a bottle using a syringe with changeable needles? My friend has an insulin dependant cat, and injects twice daily, so I have seen her system and am guessing its similar.

When you are trying to get bubbles out, what are you touching/tapping? The syringe or the needle head? How did the vet describe it to you?

When injecting myself, I pinch the skin, put needle in on an inward breath, draw from the skin to check for blood in the syringe, then if ok I inject slowly and smoothly on an outward breath- this keeps the flow smooth.

Half the battle is feeling confident and calm. I bet your cat will be calm if you are feeling more confident, can you explain a bit more detail to us?

 

[Tracy Lou]

Thanks for the reply. I am ok at drawing the insulin from the bottle to the syringe. The problem I get, is I seem to get air bubbles trapped in the syringe and when I tap it they just sit there. I flick the syringe as the vet has shown me and half the time the come straight to the top and so I can push them out and get the correct dose. The other half of the time, I flick and flick and they don't move for me to push them out. I end up flicking so hard I bend the fine needle as it is still in the insulin bottle (as the vet showed me). The only way I can seem to get it to work is remove the needle from the bottle but the vet said doing this can blunt the needle when you re-enter the bottle to push the insulin out to the correct dose. I'm sure it's technique, but I just can't seem to get it right more . May be it will come in time. We are back for a check up tomorrow at the vets, I'll also have another chat with her.

Candy is very good, my OH says it's more the scruffing she doesn't like. Also if she can see the needle before we settle to do it, she is more calm.