No, she's not tiny but she's lost weight and barely weighs 4 lbs. She's just so fragile. But that big 18 gauge needle would hurt me so I know it hurts her.
I don't know how much to give her. When my vet tech friend did it Saturday she stopped after the lump started getting big and bothering the kitty. It wasn't 100 ml. I think we talked about doing half that but when my girl got to really fidgeting we just stopped. I might try the 20 gauge. They're so cheap maybe I should get one size smaller too just to try it. “I am not interested to know whether vivisection produces results that are profitable to the human race or doesn’t….the pain which it inflicts upon unconsenting animals is the basis of my enmity toward it, and it is to me sufficient justification of the enmity without looking further.” – Mark Twain Date: Tue, 8 May 2012 08:37:21 -0400 From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Giving sub-q fluids Yes, even the smallest needles work, they just take a lot longer. Sometimes, when you notice that the drip isn’t fast enough, even though you’ve opened it up, lift up the skin, or move the needle around. Often, there’s a kink/squeezed together on the tube where it was clamped over to shut down. Move that whole thing up or down, and squeeze open the kink in the tube with your fingers by kneading it.BTW – 6 months old isn’t exactly tiny – I would go with a 20….when I had kittens that were only a few weeks old, I used a syringe, as someone mentioned. But at this age, you definitely need to give more fluids than you can get into a syringe. I assume that you need to give at least 100 mL?.If the cat is hard to handle, wrap in a towel, keep on your lap with the head facing toward your left under arm – that way you can control the cat with left arm wrapped around with hand at the cats behind, while you use right hand to keep on top of needle gently so it doesn’t come out if the cat moves.For really hard to handle cats, I use a “cat bag”; it has zippers and Velcro everywhere, and you open whatever part of the body you need to expose.From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Maureen Olvey Sent: Monday, May 07, 2012 9:52 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Giving sub-q fluids Importance: High What about the 23 gauge? That's even smaller, correct? Does it work okay or does it take forever to get the fluids in because the needle is so small? “I am not interested to know whether vivisection produces results that are profitable to the human race or doesn’t….the pain which it inflicts upon unconsenting animals is the basis of my enmity toward it, and it is to me sufficient justification of the enmity without looking further.” – Mark Twain Date: Mon, 7 May 2012 21:45:03 -0400 From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Giving sub-q fluidsMaureen,I never use those “ horse” needles for cats; I prefer the 20x1”, and often use 18x1” as well – it may take a little bit longer, but goes in a lot easier, especially for kittens. Some cats have tough skin, and others have super soft skin and the needle just glides right in. Getting the needles from the vet gets a bit expensive and they’re not as sharp as the ones that I get here (no prescription needed) – a box of 100 is $6.45 http://www.thrivingpets.com/index.php/terumo-needles-box-of-100.html The company is www.thrivingpets.com Natalie From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Maureen Olvey Sent: Monday, May 07, 2012 8:45 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Felvtalk] Giving sub-q fluids For you guys that give sub-q fluids - What size needle do you use? A friend showed me how to do it yesterday but she has these huge 18 gauge needles. I'm wondering if I can use a smaller size. It's for my 6 month old kitten so I hate stabbing her with that huge thing. Maureen “I am not interested to know whether vivisection produces results that are profitable to the human race or doesn’t….the pain which it inflicts upon unconsenting animals is the basis of my enmity toward it, and it is to me sufficient justification of the enmity without looking further.” – Mark Twain _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list [email protected] http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list [email protected] http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
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