From:
"Meryl Faulkner"
Date: 2009-03-04 22:54:53 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Xena (kidney failure) difficulties with giving subcu fluids
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Xena has been doing reasonably well until the last four or five days at accepting the needle for subcu fluids. In fact that, along with the hand feeding (either her licking from a dish or my dribbling chicken from a syringe onto her tongue as she laps it up until satiated)her BUN has gotten down to 108 at last check on 2/24. Original BUN on 1/21 was 162, so its still way high. Her creatinine is down by 50%.
My problem recently has been that I've seemed to have difficulty getting the 19g or the 21g butterfly needle in to the right spot.Xena has not been happy about my attempts. I generally aim horizontally parallel to the ferret, going in about midline at the shoulder/scruff area and get the needle in the "tented" or pinched piece of skin going from the rear to the front - ie towards the head end.
A couple of times I had some small amt of blood afterword (small smear -- maybe couple drops) and the bulge/bump would appear to the right of the nape over the rt front leg - I guess it would be over the scapula.In the last week occasionally I've found depressing the plunger and allowing the needle to rotate into a position where the skin is loose is successful, but the last few days it seems she now is flinching a little when I push the needle in firmly, and even when I get what seems to be a good spot, she gets very agitated. Can they get sore spots?. I noticed a slight reddening in one area yesterday after I got about 15 mls in, then she became really agitated, and I got a few more ccs in by lifting her up under the front legs, allowing her body to fold and thus getting a few more ccs in. That resulted in a bulge more to the right and slightly behind her neck. I'm wondering if I should be more central and further towards the head. I have gone in the general region of the
"scruff" but I think I usually start inserting the needle just to the rear of the scruff area and try to aim it into the scruff - hard to describe exactly. I've noticed that she seems to itch a lot - scratches frequently after eating, being handled,or after going potty. Perhaps her skin is more sensitive, or I'm just getting more tentative in my attempted needle insertion and causing her pain. Any suggestions on technique, location or ways to make it easier to sub cu her would be greatly appreciated. BTW I'm using Lactated Ringers, and I have tried warming it a little (running warm water over the barrel of the syringe before injection,and not getting any tap water on the needle) but that does not seem to make any difference.
BTW, I notice when I view my message as a preview I get a stretched horizontally view which looks as though some of text has disappeared. Is this my problem (ie my computer's display) or a yahoo groups change in the preview pane display?
Meryl
[Moderator's Notes:
Are you using new needles so they are not blunt?
Some of us have mails that extend further out than
Yahoogroups likes so there will be a long line then
a short line. I try to remember to halve my own lines
for that reason because it happens to me, too. When
we mods have time we manually do that for people
but we sometimes have very demanding schedules
ourselves.]
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