Learn confidently how to give a cat an injection with practical guidance through this article. Make your furry friend prepared for the safe injection of needed medicine to stay healthy. Ensure the cat receives the care it deserves with these simple steps.
There may be medication to be administered at home when you go with your cat to the vet. However, some people may feel nervous about giving shots. How it is given depends on where it needs to go. Learning how to do this safely can make you less worried and keep your cat healthy and happy.
Table of Contents
Method 1: Getting Your Cat Ready
Step 1: Prepare Your Cat
Make sure the cat has taken enough water before administering a shot; that will make the medicine work well. Always consult the vet in case there is minimal drinking. Good hydration will greatly help in the proper absorption of the medicine, hence improving the health of the cat.
Step 2: Choose the Right Place to Inject
Decide where to perform the injection. You may want to even lay the cat in your lap, or on the bed next to you, to comfort the animal during the injection, but this behavior puts you in harm’s way and may condition her to associate receiving injections with being in your lap.
If you must have the cat on your lap, a thick towel over your legs would be advisable. Best of all would be a flat surface, such as the top of a table.
Step 3: Select the Injection Site
As such, the site to choose for administering injections should be chosen carefully, since the definite site greatly depends on whether it is subcutaneous or intramuscular administration. However, caution needs to be applied even within these options, and the same spot needs to be avoided during injections in your cat. This may expose the cat to problems since it takes a period of about six to eight hours for the cat’s body to fully ingest the fluid injected.
If the medicine is too much in one place before absorption, it may cause a fluid accumulation referred to as an edema. This may cause the cat to be uncomfortable and not effective in the concentration of the medicine.
You will usually be able to give about 5 to 10 milliliters of medicine per pound of your cat’s body weight, or about 10 to 20 milliliters per kilogram of body weight, before needing to choose a new injection site.
Proper absorption of the fluid is ascertained by feeling along the injection site and the belly below the injection site; it is well known that fluids tend to pool along the underside of the cat.
Step 4: Prepare the Injection Site
Rub the site with an alcohol swab. Most cats will not need this step unless they are suffering from a compromised immune system. But that’s not the only benefit: an alcohol swab assures the killing of the bacteria present.
Rubbing alcohol also assists in keeping the thick coat of your cat down flat so that if you have to give her an injection at some point, you can see the skin more easily.
Step 5: Distract Your Cat with Food
Use food to distract your cat. Just before the time for the shot, give the cat a good treat of canned cat food or a piece of tuna fish. Distract herself from it, and when she is interested in the food, pinch up the skin where you will make the injection. Release the pinch after approximately five seconds and take away the food.
Then, give her the food again but pinch slightly harder this time. Do this over and over again until your cat gets used to the pinching and remains focused on the food. This will prepare her for the injection and make it less painful and stressful for her.
Method 2: Giving a Skin Injection
Step 1: Locate a Loose Patch of Skin
Find a patch of loose skin usually between the neck and back; it is this part that usually has the loosest and most flexible skin. Lightly pinch this loose skin and hold it gently between your thumb and forefinger while teasing your cat with food. This action is known as “tenting” the skin, resembling an erected pup tent.
Step 2: Place the Needle
Hold it firmly with your fingers. You will find a thin piece of skin between the thumb and index finger of your hand. You are going to insert the needle into this strip of skin. Just make sure that you keep the needle parallel to the skin along your cat’s back all the way. Do not make an inclination with the needle so as not to accidentally puncture the skin.
Push the plunger only after confirming beyond any reasonable doubt that, indeed, the needle is in its right position. This helps avoid premature injection in case the cat moves suddenly, or if a poorly inserted needle had already dispensed the medicine.
Step 3: Check Before Injecting
Slightly pull the plunger back before administration of the medication; it ensures the site of administration. If blood is present in the syringe, withdraw and re-attempt in another area. Air bubbles will give a sign of an inaccurate place; then remove them and try again. Inject if there is no blood or air bubbles.
Step 4: Administer the Medication
Be sure to put the whole medicine loaded in the syringe. Be cautious in removing the needle, with the syringe all emptied, and follow the same track or canal as that used in putting the needle. Hold the syringe between the index and middle fingers of your right hand and push the plunger down with your thumb.
Step 5: Examine for Bleeding or Leakage
Look for bleeding or leakage at the point of injection. Following the administration of the injection, check the site of the injection to see if any bleeding or medication is oozing from the hole of the needle.
When you realize secretions either of blood or medicine at the site of injection, apply pressure at that site with clean cotton wool or a piece of tissue until the secretions stop. This should only take a minute or so but may take longer if your cat is moving around too much.
Step 6: Dispose of Used Needle Properly
Be sure to dispose of the used needle properly. In no way should you dispose of it in regular garbage, since a needle is considered hazardous waste material. Check-in at your vet’s office first to find out if they do accept used needles for disposal. Do not throw an uncapped needle in the waste bin; it can cause injury to the refuse collector or another person responsible for your garbage.
Method 3: Giving a Shot in the Muscle
Step 1: Find Where to Give the Shot
First of all, you must find the place where you would give an injection. Your vet will guide you exactly to a place where you can put the medicine. In most cases, it is the leg or back muscles.
You should take a lot of care. If the injection goes wrong, it can cause a lot of pain to your cat. So, always do as your vet advises. In doubtful cases, where the shot is to be given and the right place cannot be found, do not hesitate to ask for the help of a vet. He will show you exactly where to go.
Step 2: Put in the Needle
So, once you have got to the right place, you insert the needle. Keep still the muscle of your cat so that it doesn’t move a lot. Then, gently insert the needle at the right angle. Make sure it goes in deep enough but not too deep.
And here is where the important thing comes in: one should not depress the plunger of the syringe until they are quite sure that the needle has gone to the right place. If you plunge too early, maybe the medicine doesn’t enter correctly and could cause a bit of trouble. Take your time; everything has got to be just perfect before you administer the shot.
Step 3: Withdraw the Plunger
Before giving the shot, it is important to draw back the plunger just like when you are administering the injection. With muscle shots, however, air bubbles are usually the least of your concerns. If you feel like there is blood, then it is very important to pull the needle back and try again, because it could be due to a pierce in a blood vessel.
Step 4: Administer the Medication
Now administer the medicine. Ensure all the medicine is forced out from the syringe. Once the syringe is empty, pull the needle out in the same swift action with which you put it in. Push down the plunger with your thumb. Hold the syringe with your two fingers while pushing the plunger down.
Step 5: Inspect for Bleeding or Leaks
Examine the site of injection for any blood or medication that leaked. In case you see, just apply some slight pressure using a clean tissue or cotton ball onto the site of the injection. This should stop any bleeding or leakage within a minute or so.
Conclusion
Injecting a cat might not sound easy, but following vet guidance, that can be done also. Cats will only be safe in your arms if you follow the vet’s instructions down to the last letter.
Understanding the steps of getting your cat ready, finding the spot for giving the injection, and giving the medicine correctly are all important for your cat to remain healthy in the home. Also, look out for any bleeding or leakages, whereby you should not hesitate to call your vet for help.
