Wendy,
I'm barely keeping up with posts but see you're looking at giving
fluids---believe me, if I can do it anyone can! I'm as clumsy and
squeamish as they come! A housecall vet showed me last year without me asking
otherwise I know I would never have asked/learned. I get the impression that any
vet or tech worth their salt should be happy to demonstrate. (They know it's a
tremendous waste of $$$ to have a vet/tech do it when you can do it yourself.
Better to save the $$$ for everything else.)
Like
anything new, have someone experienced like eg a vet or tech or shelter
volunteer show you how it's done. It really is very simple. It's not like a vein
has to be found--the needles just goes under the skin--you just grasp the skin
on either the left or right side of the cat, and pull it up into a "tent"
shape---the demonstrator will show you where--insert the needle, then
unlock the water flow, and watch the numbers on the bag until the prescribed
amount has been administered. I do it with my foster, Pookie, every 2 days, and
it takes about 2 mins. It's actually quite a bonding experience, I feel. The
experts say a dehydrated cat always feels immediately better. (I give Pookie a
Feline Greenie treat immediately after, so that makes him feel good too. It also
makes me feel good that I can do this for Pookie as I think maybe not all the
shelter's foster parents have yet learned to give subQs.)
Someone else on this list said recently they felt mortified by the
early-day mistakes they made--not sure if this was in reference to subQs or
something else. But that sure rang a bell with me. I either was not told at all,
or it wasn't stressed, by the housecall vet that a NEW needle had to be used
every time (for sharpness--just one use blunts the needle; and sterility
reasons---when you withdraw a needle it has tissue on it. Someone else will
put me right if I haven't quite explained this properly.) This is second
nature to medical people but not necessarily to laypeople!! So I recall now with
some anguish my sessions with poor Caramel, who being feral, was already
stressed out by my having to catch him and pin him down (with help of friend) to
give him fluids. I probably hydrated him 5 times and I don't believe I changed
the needle once. This only dawned on me recently when I was being briefed by the
shelter re Pookie. I felt and still feel terrible about poor Caramel.
It
took me a little while to get to a point with Pookie where I was only using one
needle per session--sometimes I'd prick my own finger before even getting to
him, which meant a change of needle was required. Or, he would move suddenly and
the needle would slip out, again requiring a new needle.
Something else I'll mention---the first time I had to change a bag, I was
totally baffled after doing it because I couldn't see the fluid line in the
bag, so there was no way to tell how much was being administered. The simple
solution was to detach and reattach the "tubing" from the fluid bag--doing
that introduced air, and that allowed the fluid line to become visible. But I'm
no scientist----someone had to tell me that. And by the time I found out what to
do, I'd wasted half the bag in an effort to "find the fluid
line"!
Also,
if ever the fluid seems not to be flowing I give the little oblong fluid
reservoir a squeeze and that seems to solve that prob.
What else? Well, it's a bit of a fiddle at the
beginning endowed as we are with only 2 hands, but 3 areas to control---cat,
needle and bag. But practice makes, if not entirely perfect, less
imperfect!
Good luck! It's def easier than learning to ride a
bike! And a great skill for a cat mom/dad to have! Kerry PS One more thing---I
hear from my shelter counsellor contact that fluids are much cheaper online.
Needles too. I think I was ripped off by the housecall vet. I paid $41 for
delivery of one bag.
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of catatonya
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 9:21 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Need your help with Stretch
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of catatonya
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 9:21 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Need your help with Stretch
Hey Wendy,
Your vet will show you how to do it and tell you how much to give and how
often. One bag holds 1000 mL and typically you give 100-200 mL throughout
the day so a a bag will last a while.
It IS hard when you first start, but you build up your confidence as you
go. Be prepared to stick yourself a few times too!
t
wendy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
wendy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Thanks Tonya. I think I will go that route if I don't
see an improvement in eating/drinking very soon. It's
a little scary though. I've never stuck a needle into
another living being, unless you count getting
splinters out, so I am a bit nervous about trying
this. Do you give the cat the whole bag? And where
and how do you stick the needle?
Thanks,
Wendy
--- catatonya <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote:
> Wendy,
>
> The fluid is already in the bags you buy. You
> don't fill them yourselves. I don't know what all
> is in them. I suppose electrolytes, fluids, maybe
> potassium? If you've got a decent vet a bag of
> fluid and the set up for sub q should be less than
> $10.
>
> t
>
> t
>
> wendy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote:
> Hey Michelle,
>
> I can't imagine how you felt with them telling you
> to
> pay up front while you're holding your sick cat!
> That
> just sounds bad! I just started working a second
> job,
> so as soon as we get any money at all, then I will
> probably take Stretch in for the tests and if
> affordable, to get X-rays, and the fluid drained. Do
> X-rays show cancer tumors and/or fluid? Also, how
> often do you give the dex/depo shot (if it is
> lymphoma)? I could not really tell if the dex shot
> helped much. Stretch isn't breathing as heavily as
> she was, but her breathing is still somewhat
> labored.
> Also, where do you get the bags and needles to do
> sub-Q fluids? Is there anything else I need to do
> sub-Q? Do you just use water?
>
> Thanks,
> Wendy
>
>
>
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