Does anyone have trouble giving their dog shots?

[fritzsmom]

I have a 5 year old min pin who was diagnosed with diabetes 8 months ago. Ever since then she fights me when it comes to getting her shots. So I won't hurt her, I have to get help. Any ideas please? I'm at a loss.

thanks

[Bichonluver3]

Re: Does anyone have trouble giving their dog shots?

Hi Fritsmom!
Welcome!
I immediately give Sparky a tiny piece of dried liver as soon as I give him his shot. Now all I have to say is "Sparky, liver!" and he comes running and jumps to get up on the counter. The liver is within his sight so he is looking at that.
Are you warming the insulin before giving it (eg under your arm)? Is the bevel of the needle facing up? Have you tried giving the injection in different areas?
Carrol

[pat3332]

Re: Does anyone have trouble giving their dog shots?

Hello, and welcome.

I was at my vet's last week and another lady came in and picked up her min pin that had been there after being diagnosed with diabetes. She also was having a problem because she had the dog in her arms, was trying to hang on to and control him and she was losing. It looked like someone trying to control a coiled spring that had suddenly been released. I was trying to imagine testing and injecting him and really feeling sorry for her.

Anyway, just trying to say that I have a pretty good idea what you're going through. Others with min pins may have other and better suggestions for keeping him calm while giving the injection, but they seem to be a fairly hyper/active breed, so I'm at a loss how without some valium or xanax for one or both of you.

My suggestion would be to possibly try one of the auto injection devices if you haven't already. Some here use the Inject-Ease and like it a lot. Just to be different, I got an AutoJect 2. It's my understanding that the Inject-Ease automatically inserts the needle, but you still need to inject the medication. The AutoJect inserts the needle and automatically injects the insulin at the same time and it's over in about 2-5 seconds. I use the AutoJect on my Rottweiler. He's actually very easy to inject, but since me, my son and wife all do the injections at different times, that's one more thing I wanted to standardize so we would all be doing it in the same way and with the needle set at the same depth each time. Once again striving for consistency in everything I can.

So far it is working great and none of us have had a failure or problem with it yet. I took pictures and wrote notes on it under the Everything Else forum if you want to look at it. Hopefully, someone else will jump in and describe their experience with the Inject-Ease.

Good Luck and please continue to let us know how he's doing.

Pat

[pgcor]

Re: Does anyone have trouble giving their dog shots?

Hi Fritz's Mom! I have a min pin too and totally sympathize with you. When my Pip was first diagnosed my husband had to hold him and he was muzzled! My Pip is very, very food oriented so what worked for me was to put him on top of my kitchen counter with a little plate of broken diabetic treats in front of him.

Prior to doing this, I had the needle full with his insulin dosage and warmed. As soon as he started to eat I would inject.

After a couple of months we did not need the muzzle and in a couple of more months we could inject him alone.

Pat's advice on the Inject-Ease may work for you and I was about to use it with Pip when he finally settled down.

I realize that "settled down" is subjective because Pip still turns around to look at me when I inject him. If I take too long, he lets me know.

Pam

[CarolW]

Re: Does anyone have trouble giving their dog shots?

Even though my Kumbi was an Australian Terrier - he was calmer than most of them are. I found it difficult to inject when he was just skin-and-bones, and at that time, I used his scruff a lot, but that's not the best place to inject insulin, as it may not absorb well from the scruff.

There are numbers of resources here on the forum to help you with giving injections. I REALLY liked the replies Pat and Pam sent to you.

Also, you can go to the link in my signature on painless injections, for long, rambling dissertation on making injections painless.

Another issue may be the syringes you're using. What gauge is the needle? The higher the number, the THINNER the needle.

What kind of insulin is Fritz receiving? I trust it's either Humulin-N or Novolin-N? Not something like Vetsulin or Caninsulin?

And what dose are you giving him? If it's under 30 units, I very strongly recommend using syringes like the BD Ultrafine II 0.3 cc syringes, with 31-gauge, SHORT (8mm, or, 5/6-inch) needles. When a needle is that fine and short, it should suit Fritz really well. Even a change of one number in the gauge makes a difference to the dog.

Here's a description of the syringes I'm talking about:

http://www.coherentdog.org/vek/syringes1.php

Alternatively, I would probably go for Pat's suggestion of the AutoJect device. And keep Fritz busy while you inject, with something he can chew on or lick.

It helps, as you make changes, to change the appearance of the environment in some way. If you've been using one place in the house, try another one instead. Get the syringe prepared, everything ready, before you do the injection. Then give him a treat just before you lift him into position to do the injection. These are suggestions, and you can vary what you do.

Do all you can to avoid using force to hold Fritz for the injections. That really scares dogs, and increases their fighting the procedure.

Please report back; I'll be following your thread, and cheering you on!

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:13:12 (PST)

[pat3332]

Re: Does anyone have trouble giving their dog shots?

Thanks Carol, you reminded me of something I meant to mention about the AutoJect in the previous post.

I do the same things to distract Bailey because although he never reacts as if the injection was painful, the noise of it when you release the spring to inject the insulin is fairly loud and can startle the dog which is one reason that I think the Inject-Ease might work better for dogs that startle easily or react to sharp noises, but I'm not sure how much noise the Inject-Ease makes. Even though I like everything else about the AutoJect, the noise is it's main drawback.

Pat

[CarolW]

Re: Does anyone have trouble giving their dog shots?

Oh, Pat; I'm so glad you mentioned the noise. I think most dogs are at least a LITTLE noise-sensitive. How much they are varies greatly. But I purposely stayed away from devices that hold lancets, to prick for blood samples, because I knew Kumbi WOULD NOT LIKE the sound of a device.

So I merely held the lancet in my hand, instead.

Then it took me a LONG time to realize that the device would likely prick with some force, and that pricking by hand used considerably LESS force, which is why, when pricking by hand, I'd sink the lancet needle all the way (as far as it would go). That never bothered Kumbi. I believe I hurt him twice, out of thousands of pricks. He would really let me know when I hurt him. But he trusted me, so would accept more pricks when need be.

As for injections, my vet gave me good instructions, but missed the bevel-up part of it. I could feel, injecting by hand, that there was only one instant when a prick might hurt slightly - even that seemed to reduce to just about nothing when I turned the bevel up. I learned that little trick on this forum.

But I REALLY liked the way my vet said to pull up the skin and hold it; that's the method shown on my painless-injections pages. She demonstrated for me a couple of times.

I sympathize with people who have difficulties with injections. Oh, the other thing, about warming, that really is crucial, and I found it important to warm the insulin to something near DogsBody temperature - not just room temperature, which is considerably cooler.

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 19:29:41 (PST)

[k9diabetes]

Re: Does anyone have trouble giving their dog shots?

If you haven't already, please take a look at the following.

http://www.k9diabetes.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2489

http://www.k9diabetes.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1002

These are in the Answers Section, where we save valuable prior posts to the forum.

Natalie

[lyonellen]

Re: Does anyone have trouble giving their dog shots?

Hi been awhile since I have posted. I also have a Min Pin, she is 7 diagnosed late Nov, 2010 so it has only been a few months. She is the worlds most mellow Min Pin taking her blood sugar by myself has proven impossible she can twist her body in more positions that I thought possible.

As for shots, I went to a 31 gauge and try to do it bevel up. She knows now that after she eats she gets a shot so once she is done she puts as much distance as possible from me, I end up circling the couch with her until I can finally catch her. I have to pick her up and hold her to give her the shot, I gave up on the neck and pinching skin cause once she felt that going on she started twisting. Now I just hold her with her head facing the other way than the needle and use her hip to give the shot. Much more successful with this approach and she also gets a treat right away. I have tried a number of ways mentioned you will too until you find what works for you.

If your stressed about it they sure pick up on it. The easiest time I have had giving Violet shots is when I was off for five days, no stress for either of us. Good luck!

[k9diabetes]

Re: Does anyone have trouble giving their dog shots?

As Pam will tell you, I've mentioned many times here that any time I see a new thread about having trouble giving shots, I just assume there's a Min Pin involved!

Hands down, Min Pins as a breed give the most trouble about being injected and many of them simply cannot tolerate home blood glucose testing.

The good news is that I don't know anyone who hasn't eventually found something that worked for them.

It's very indivdualistic so you will have to try some different approaches and see what works best. Some dogs, for example, prefer to be in an enclosed area like a sink or the bathroom while other dogs (mine) apparently are claustrophobic and the LAST thing they want is to be in an enclosed space. Some dogs are okay with tenting the skin; some hate it. Some like to be injected on the side better while others prefer the scruff...

So think about what's likely to work for your dog and then work very very hard, no matter how much heck she might give you, to be cheerful and unstressed when giving or trying to give the shots so that you don't add any stress - no matter how stressed you might be.

Let us know how it's going, okay?

Natalie

[Andy]

Re: Does anyone have trouble giving their dog shots?

Hi, I wanted to add a note by someone who is VERY new to this also. I was having a terrible time with injections and had to have a 2nd person distract our Chihuahua to get the shots done. Sometimes even that didn't work. I purchased 2 of the Inject Ease devices, and I am now having a much easier time. The device is spring loaded and the syringe needle is inserted with a click of a button. This has been so helpful to me because I can scratch/pet Diego with my fingers and the device at the same time to get it in place. Once the device is in place, pressing the button injects the needle very quickly. Then, all that is left is injecting the insulin. To answer Pat's question, the Inject Ease makes almost no noise at all when injecting the needle. Believe me when I say I was having a horrible time with injections, as I get used to the device it becoming very easy now.

[MaryLea]

Re: Does anyone have trouble giving their dog shots?

Popping to top of list for new member.

Mary

[Cebe]

Re: Does anyone have trouble giving their dog shots?

Zoe is a big dog and doesn't mind much being given her shot. As a matter of fact when she's done eating and sees me coming with the shot, she wags her tail which always reminds me of the far side cartoon with the dog in the car happy as can be being driven away and he calls out to his friend, "I'm going to get tutored!".

BUT it's a slightly different story testing her. She really feels the lancet, whether its in the lip or carpel pad. and then she wants to pull away and lick the wound I just made. We struggle a bit, but I'm the master and it's her job to comply. That attitude works 98% of the time getting blood and 50% if the time getting her to come on command. .

I do think they sense our tension. I'm lucky that giving animals shots doesn't bother me. We used to vaccinate our own pets and my mom had a diabetic cat (but we never went thru any of thus regulating stuff with the cat).

A note. My vet told me not to use the scruff of the neck for insulin shots, because it wasn't as effective. So, Zoe gets gets her shots around the flank.

[harlee]

Re: Does anyone have trouble giving their dog shots?

We have two 5 year old min pins, and one was just diagnosed with diabetes two weeks ago. We've been having a hard time giving her a shot in her scruff, and she seemed like it was painful. Everyones advice just made the last shot sooo much easier. First we warmed up the insulin...we had no idea that it being cold would hurt. Then we gave her the shot near her butt/hip and it was so easy; she never even flinched! Thank you everyone!!

[eyelostit]

Re: Does anyone have trouble giving their dog shots?

After using Niki's scruff for a long time, she didn't like that anymore, I had her sit and used beside the hip area.

Hi to all of you