Injecting

RD10

Anyone ever given an injection whereby almost immediately the area started to swell?
Gave an injection yesterday to a bullock into the muscle (as instructed by vet) and it has swelled up to nearly the size of a tennis ball.
Given hundreds of injections to cattle over the years and never seen this.
Would i need to get onto vet about it? Hes eating away as normal

greysides

Not normal, I 'd think. Some injections are irritant and can cause a swelling like a slowly rising mound. My opinion is that using a short thick needle with these injections is part of the problem. The injection tracks back along the wide needle channel to lie under the skin and cause inflammation/swelling. A longer thinner needle would be better. I use a 1.5" 18 gauge needle for these, insert the needle to the hub and rub in well. I limit the amount per site to 20-25ml for adults and proportionally less for smaller. The 1" 16 gauge needles are better suited to the white injections which are thicker and less irritant. One note of caution, I've noticed recently that the 1.5" 18 gauge needles don't seem to be as strong as they were previously- more likely to bend/break. They are becoming genuinely 'single use only', or nearly.

Apart from irritancy the other thought I'd have is that you may have a haematoma after forming- the needle hit a large blood vessel and has caused a bleed.

It's always a good idea to insert the needle on it's own first and then attach the syringe. It gives time for blood to come to the hub if the tip is in a blood vessel. Most injections are not suited to IV use and it may cause death. Particularly true for the white injections.

One last option would be the animal is allergic to the injected material.

Basically, you should talk to your vet.