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Subcutaneous fluids

5K views 12 replies 8 participants last post by  maggie23 
#1 ·
Lilo's kidney's are failing. :sad: It's not a matter of if he'll die but when, and how comfortable I can keep him in the meantime. To that end, for the last six weeks my husband and I have been giving him subcutaneous fluids, which is really difficult because he yowls and fights us. We hate hate hate having to hurt him with the needle and feel like monsters. :sad: At least Lilo is a fairly mellow boy, and as soon as we let him go, he's totally fine.

The thing is, sometimes it goes really easy: Lilo is relatively calm, the water flows quickly. Other times he yells up a storm and fights back hard, and often on those occasions, the syringe is very difficult to depress and it takes a lot longer. But from my end (the syringe operator), I can't feel a difference between the good and bad needle sticks. It doesn't feel like I'm catching or dragging on anything under his skin on the bad days, but something is clearly going wrong. :sad:

Making matters worse, last week we had a few bad sticks in a row, and my husband declared that it must be my technique and that we needed to switch places, with him taking over the syringe while I held Lilo. This was not an improvement; he had just as much trouble with the syringe as I did, and I had a lot of trouble holding Lilo still, so after two nights of that, we switched back. :x But upsetting our routine seems to have upset Lilo, and now he's fighting even harder, and has run away and hid a couple of times afterward. Yesterday for the first time ever, he bit my husband.

Does anyone have any technique advice for giving subQ fluids? He's doing OK healthwise so far, and I want to be able to keep it going for as long as we can, but it's getting harder by the day. :sad2
 
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#3 ·
#4 ·
Laurief has a source for a needle that is supposedly much easier to use. She gave me the info when I was giving Kobi fluids, but he declined so quickly I never got to order them and I don't think I have website anymore. Hopefully she'll check in on this thread or you can PM her.
 
#5 ·
Thank you all for the info! :) I haven't had time to watch the videos yet, but have read through the web sites. One thing that they advise that I haven't been doing is pulling back on the syringe before dispensing, which helps you check whether you've hit a blood vessel, so I'll have to start doing that. That's the only complication they describe that sounds like it might be happening in our case.

We do warm the fluids up first, and we've experimented with making it more or less warm (testing it on our skin first to make sure it's not too hot of course), but it doesn't seem to make a difference to his behavior as long as it's not stone cold.

Doodlebug, Laurief contacted me by PM, so I'll be sure to ask her about the kind of needle she used. I appreciate the tip, and I'm sorry to hear that Kobi had to go through this too. :(

Thank you again, everybody. :) I'll let you know how it goes.
 
#6 ·
I don't know anything about injecting a cat, either. But I used to work in a lab and we had to give a daily injection to rodents. I found that we had to shift around where we stuck them, or they would develop thickening scar tissue in the one spot (we had to inject into the scruff of their neck). You might want to ask your vet about that.
 
#7 ·
Try Tanys crf site for tips. Goggle it. Try a smaller needle size which will take longer for the fluids to go in. I have to force feed Geets and use a cat bag. I wouldn't be able to feed him without it. It may calm him after he gets used to it. Google cat bags too. Try to get one where it has access to the back end too. ask you vet for some help and tips. Might try rescue remedy before giving fluids to calm him.

Kathy
 
#8 · (Edited)
hope all the tips have started to help! since Laurief has already PM'ed you, she probably gave you just about all the info you needed. :D

just don't be too discouraged. you will soon be a pro. i'm sure of it! my ex and i were SO afraid of having to learn how to do subQ a few years ago, especially since our cat didn't like being picked up in the first place and even some of the less experienced vet techs at the vet were reluctant to handle her. they actually had a warning on her cage when we first brought her in for IV fluids and it said "WARNING: CAGE TIGER!!!". Geesh! you can imagine why we were so scared of having to do the subQs ourselves when we got home.

we had a mobile vet/cat sitter come and do it for us a few times in the beginning actually so we could try to learn from her. she came highly recommended and was known for being able to handle "difficult" cats after having been a vet tech herself for 23 years.

my ex was too chicken himself - haha! - to stick in the needle so it was all up to me and my hands definitely shook for at least a few months or more. i know that probably made Angel nervous as she could most likely sense our apprehension. just the sound of hearing us warm the fluids was enough to get her to run and hide a lot of the time, too. we had to totally tiptoe around and fake things being normal right up until i picked her up. man!

but i tell ya- i feel SO comfortable doing subQ every night now all by myself. and i've become pretty good left-handed as well. the truth is, my ex and i did not agree on how to administer them really so there was always a bit of tension when he "helped" me, but now that we have split, there is no more tension and i am very relaxed and Angel knows it. she is also very relaxed these days and is so used to it. even snoozes or grooms many times during fluids. i used to warm the fluids in the beginning but stopped doing it one summer when it was so hot anyway and never started up again and she has no problem with them at room temp actually. you may also want to start the fluids slowly, then gradually increase the flow so she is not shocked by the sudden blast of fluids hitting her insides. another thing that helped immensely was switching to terumo's ultra thin wall needles. yes, it does take @8 minutes on average with the 22Gage X1" needles i chose to do 100 ml, but it is all worth it because 99% of the time, she never even feels the needle! if you can get past that, then it's smooth sailing from there!!!

good luck. and keep the faith! you'll get the hang of it!
 
#9 ·
Thanks everybody for your replies, and especially to Laurie, who generously took a lot of time giving me some great advice. :) Between what she told me and what you all have posted, I'm seeing that there's a better way to do this than what I was taught. What the vet showed me to do, and what all my friends and family who've been in this situation have done, is to restrain the cat and administer the fluids as quickly as possible. But I'm hearing that at least some of you have actually been able to train your cat to accept the IV needle voluntarily and receive the fluids at a more gentle pace.

I worked with Lilo some over the weekend, and while I only got small amounts of fluids into him, the results were more encouraging than I expected. He was very anxious and immediately started trying to lick and paw the needle out, but I was able to calm him down, at least for short periods. It's a start. We're a long way from a full dose, but given time, I think this actually could work.

It makes me sad though, remembering that my mom's cat Hali went through this; and like me, my parents were only taught the force-fluids method and didn't know there was another option. Hali was a gentle cat, but she got very upset and combative during the process, and it really upset my mom seeing her like that, so they discontinued the fluids after only 3 weeks. I would bet that they could have taught her to accept the fluids over time if they'd known, and she might have lived longer or at least have been more comfortable. :(

Anyway, thank you all again. This has helped immeasurably. :smile: I will keep working with Lilo, and I'm definitely pursuing those Terumo ultra-thin needles too.
 
#11 ·
Oh, the needles! I forgot to give you the link. Forgive me! You're going to want to order the 20 gauge, 1", Terumo Ultra Thin Wall (UTW) needles from this link:

Terumo Needles, Box of 100 - Thriving Pets

and here's a link to the IV lines I order from the same site:

IV Admin Set Exel 78 inch - Thriving Pets

If your order totals at least $100 (maybe you have other friends or family who could use some pet supplies, too), you can get both a 10% discount using the coupon code "tanya" (without the quotes) AND free shipping.

Laurie
 
#12 ·
You diffenetly don't want to give fluids fast that causes pain. Try to do everything in a calm manner. A lot of practice helps. You might want to try a cat bag. Geet's didn't like it at first but he's better. Maybe get him used to the cat bag by practicing putting him in it a few times without giving fluids at first and give him a treat after.

Kathy
 
#13 ·
its' a sad thing that we all have to learn these things over time. I'm sorry that Hali could not have benefitted from the knowledge that has now come to light. your parents did the best they could, tho, and that's all we can ask of ourselves. that's what so wonderful about this forum because everyone is so willing to post their experiences and we all become better cat parents because of it.

on a much happier note, tho - that's SO great you're making progress already with Lilo. you'll be an expert in no time. and lilo is going to learn to really love it because it will make him feel good - all nice and hydrated. :) it'll be like a daily spa treatment for him. congratulations!

laurief has been and continues to be a HUGE help and resource for me, too. i get all my supplies from Thriving Pets and use the "Tanya" discount to get lactated ringers, IV lines and needles all the time thanks to laurie!
 
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