injecting an animal, what am i doing wrong

NewBeefFarmer

going dosing the cattle, hopefully the weekend,

but i remember last year, i had some trouble.

i use a 16G 3/4 needle, and i inject under the skin, usually around the front left shoulder,

i would pinch up a bit of skin and insert the needle, the problem is when i go to push the syringe, it wont budge. . . like as if the needle is blocked or that im injecting in to pure thick fat or something. . .

i was injecting i know, just to the front of the shoulder.

now, i remember a few times i think id nearly be done for stabbing the poor animal to death. . . i even went through all me 5-6 needles thinking it was them. . . until i realised it wasn't anything to do with the needle

any ideas?

49801

What product ?
Closomectin for example is very thick and comes with heat packs to help thin it.

Personally I think drenching with a hook doser is the way forward

NewBeefFarmer

animex/trodax

1chippy

I was the same for a while and even felt a tinge of guilt. Practice is all i can say and go fast at it, fluting around only annoys you and beast.

Justjens

Pinch the skin, insert the needle, let go of the skin and push the syringe down. If it feels like it's stuck just pull the needle out a small bit, you've gone in too far.

munkus

Make sure that you're actually gone through the skin. You can inject between the layers of skin if you don't go in far enough. I find our AAX have very thick skin. When you pinch the skin you still need to in at an angle to make sure you're not going from one lump of skin to another.

Damo810

Make sure your fully through the skin, some of it's tough stuff. Pich a bit, and don't go straight in either, go at an angle. Once you breach the skin it should feel free'r and then push down on the syringe, move it around a small bit if it's still stuck.

Keep at it and you'll get it..

Bizzum

I find it much easier to inject on the off side of an animal in the crush. I get up over them and inject into the pinched skin on the far side of the beast, injecting down and away.
Like other posters said, make sure you're in through the skin, and under it. Be careful not to go in one side and out the other too!
Practice makes perfect.

redzerologhlen

Bizzum wrote: »

I find it much easier to inject on the off side of an animal in the crush. I get up over them and inject into the pinched skin on the far side of the beast, injecting down and away.
Like other posters said, make sure you're in through the skin, and under it. Be careful not to go in one side and out the other too!
Practice makes perfect.

+1 always do the far side of the animal myself.

Bizzum

redzerologhlen wrote: »

+1 always do the far side of the animal myself.

Well Redser, if we both do it that way it HAS to be right :-)

redzerologhlen

Bizzum wrote: »

Well Redser, if we both do it that way it HAS to be right :-)

True true

greysides

Best site for subcutaneous injection is over the ribs behind the shoulder where the skin is loose.
Stay away from the shoulder, especially in lambs, as it can easily penetrate the cartilage ending to the shoulder blade and deposit the injection under the shoulder blade. An abscess here will result in the entire leg being removed at slaughter, maybe even the entire forequarter.

If you can't press out the plunger you may have the needle tip in the middle of the skin layer on the way OUT.

Pinch the skin, pull up into a tent and deposit into the space you've made. Keep the needle parallel to the rib surface, not pointing inwards.

It's a good idea, although a pain, to leave a needle in the bottle and use a different one on the animal.
It's a particularly good idea if some of that bottle/container will be left over.........

I prefer a 1.5" 18 gauge needle. It is more prone to being bent but it's also easier to use.
It would be best for less viscous solutions.