Need Help with Penicillin Injections

[MooBunnay]

Amelia is on penicillin injections – and today we tried our first one on our own.  We got penicillin pretty much anywhere EXCEPT for in the bunny!  We didn’t have any problems with the penicillin getting stuck in the needle, but it all seemed to come right back out after we injected her.  Based on where the pencillin came out it seems like it came back out through the same hole we injected it into and we didn’t go all the way through.

Does anyone have a copy of good instructions anywhere? or tips? And since we messed up the one tonight, should we try again or just wait until we are supposed to administer the next one?

Thanks! 

[mrmac]

Where are you giving her the injections? How often are they suppposed to be given? I know when I used to give my pet shots they said if it doesnt work the first time just wait until the next dose since you really dont know how much actually got into her.

[MooBunnay]

We are supposed to give the injections every 48 hours. It is 0.4ML of Pen-G. One of my rescue friends said to try again since we saw quite a bit on her fur. It took us forever to make sure we got it all off…so I’m afraid she’s sore from all the poking and prodding

[mrmac]

I would try again especially if you saw most of it come back out.

[KatnipCrzy]

Where are you giving the injection? into the muscle or under the skin?  between the shoulders? into the muscle on the rear leg?

[jerseygirl]

Is it given subcutaneously?  If so, this artcle (towrd end) may help some

homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/BenBicillin.html

also, check articles under Bicillin at Rabbit References homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rabrefs.html#bicillin

Only other thing I know of is video on giving sub Q fluids…http://www.youtube.com/watch

Sorry if I’m off base with this info.

ETA: Oh good! KatnipCrzy is here. Moobunnay, I’ll leave it witht he more experienced!

[Beka27]

I don’t have anything to offer, but I hope you can figure this out!

(((Amelia!)))

[jerseygirl]

This forum thread has a few tips and little diagram on pg 2. Perhaps the needle didn’t go all the way thru the skin?
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=169691&page=2

[Sarita]

This is given under the skin not intramuscular.

Are you using one needle to draw the pen-g and then another to administer it? The best place in my experience is around the scruff where you can pull up a little skin and then poke the needle. Also you may not have the best needle for the procedure either – I’ve found that to be the case before when I’ve done pen-g injections. Pen-g is pretty thick too.

[Sarita]

Another thing I sometimes too is take a syringe and feel it with alcohol and squirt it in the area where I want to do the injection to wet the area and show me the skin if the rabbit is super furry. Just helps move the fur out of the way and a little alcohol is a good thing too.

[flippersmom]

Check on utube for a video. I know there is a series on there done by a vet tech that shows all sorts of these things!! I would look and link, but I’m in a bit of a hurry and shouldn’t have even turned on my computer !!!!!! If I have time later I will try to find it!!!!!!!!

[MooBunnay]

Thanks for all your help everyone! And thank you for the tip about the alcohol Sarita, I think I’ll definitely try that. I am administering the injection under the skin, in the scruff area near the neck and shoulders. My husband actually went into the vet, and they did the same thing that was mentioned on the other thread where they drew up the needles for us, I’m not sure why, but I guess they thought it would be helpful for us.

I finally got the injection in last night, after about several thousand false starts where I didn’t think I had tented the skin just right so I needed to try again. I think Amelia thought she was getting a shoulder massage, we just kept grabbing up the scruff, and then saying, “no, no that doesn’t seem just right”, haha. Anyways, when I finally got it in I could tell, I wasn’t expecting the amount of pressure I was going to need to use, I think I was kind of hoping it would just slide in When it was finally all over my hands were shaking like crazy. Poor Amelia, she knows that Brian and I are amateurs! But it didn’t seem to really hurt her at all, as soon as she got back in her cage she did a big flop and then later ate a huge pile of veggies.

[BinkyBunny]

Oh gack! I hate giving injections, as you found out tenting is the key, when you tent, there is sort of a nice pocket of just skin (away from the muscle) and yeah, it doesn’t really slide in – it sort of pops in at first EWWW!! (for other people who haven’t done this – when I say pops in – I don’t mean jabs, it’s just sort of like poking a thick skinned grape, and so you have to sort of go through that tough part. (I’m beginning to feel faint)

Also, we’ve had experiences before where the vets office gives us needles that are slightly too big. Not huge, but still we could go smaller. I think they have a tendency to do that because of the thickness of the pen-g, but I haven’t found any problems with the very small needles.

[Sarita]

Someone else on the forum had problems with pen-g injections as well that the vet drew up for them…makes me wonder since this has to be shaken up really well due to the formulation (seems like it has a powdery substance along with the fluid that settles) that drawing it up like that might make it settle in the syringes as well…just a thought.

[MooBunnay]

We just did penicillin shot # 2 tonight. It didn’t take nearly as long, but still a couple false starts…poor Amelia My mom is a nurse so she was giving me some advice. She just said “be confident and push it right in because otherwise it will hurt her” – so I tried to be more confident but I still got scared and backed off a couple times when I felt like I was pushing but it didn’t work.

I was afraid that if I pushed to hard it would force the needle out the other side, but fortunately the needle doesn’t just shoot right through once it goes in. I checked Amelia all over and I’m pretty sure we actually got the medication INTO her tonight, we couldn’t find any residue anywhere, so hopefully it was successful. I hope she is feeling better soon She seems a bit pissed right now, I’m definitely getting the bum, and Henri (who is kind of her boyfriend but not ready to commit to living together) is staring at me with his ears straight up and this very inquisitive look like he is concerned that he is next!

[bunnytowne]

that is how I did my allergy shots.   A little bit would come back out too.       Glad you got it figured out.   Next thing you know you will be a pro at it.

[BinkyBunny]

Oh good, and I am glad you got help from your mom. You’d notice the residue right away as the fur would be wet, so it looks like you did it!

CONGRATS!

[Author]

Messages