Regular penicillin use – problems injecting

[Sirius&Luna]

Hello BB friends, long time no see! I hope you and your bunnies are happy and thriving.

Luna has been on regular, subq penicillin injections for almost a year now. At one point we managed to get them down to every 3 days, but most of the time it has been daily/every other day. I reckon we are on over 200 injections now. She is super good about it and eats her banana treat while we do it.

In the last month or so (so 10 months into this), I am increasingly noticing that I can insert the needle correctly, but be unable to push down and release the medicine. This means occasionally I need to insert the needle 2 or 3 times before I can empty it. I asked my vet about this on the last visit, and he said that it’s probably just because penicillin is very viscous. I think this may explain the occasional problem (because sometimes I remove the syringe and try to squirt the medicine out over the sink and it doesn’t empty either), but other times I think there is also a problem under her skin. Is it possible that it is a build up of thickened penicillin under the skin? Or perhaps scar tissue from so many injections? Has anyone else experienced this with long-term penicillin use?

*I am not asking for advice on the long-term penicillin use. We have seen numerous expert vets and I am confident this is the only available course of treatment.*

[Wick & Fable]

Hi 🙂 I’ve never heard of problems from under the skin like build up– scar tissue seems more likely, though when I think of not being able to actually push down, I lean more towards mechanical equipment problems. Perhaps there are different gauge needles this time around? How do you typically get the supply?

For something under her skin to cause it to not push down, you’d need to hit something pretty solid that is trapping air, which seems unlikely unless the needle gauge is too small, therefore the penicillin is gunking up.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Author]

Messages