Whether you have a cat with diabetes or a dog that needs allergy injections, there are plenty of ways to ease stress around injections to pets. At Union Lake Veterinary Hospital, we believe in respecting pets and reducing their stress about injections.
Use the following tips to give your pet injections, and learn how to get your pets more comfortable with injections. If that doesn’t help reduce your dog’s anxiety about vet visits and blood draws, learn about how we respect animals and can help desensitize your dog to help calm his anxiety about going to the vet.
Tips for Insulin Injections to Pets
If you have a diabetic pet, insulin injections will become a regular part of your life. These tips will help you simplify the process of giving your pet this life-saving medicine:
- Before you begin, make sure you grab the appropriate syringe that matches the dosage of the insulin.
- Roll the insulin between your hands to mix it. Vetsulin needs to be mixed more vigorously than other insulins.
- Put the syringe into the bottle and pull it back farther than the amount that you want. If you want 5, for example, pull it back past the 5 then push it back slowly up to the 5 to make sure there are no bubbles in the syringe.
- Avoid creating scar tissue by injecting the syringe in a different spot near the shoulder blades each time. A good way to do this is to picture the area as a clock and do a different “time” for each injection.
- Be sure your pet has a full meal before giving the injection. If they are not eating, call the veterinarian to see how to move forward.
- Watch our video of how to give insulin injections. We also offer a video about giving fluids under the skin.
Find a Veterinarian that Respects Your Pet’s Boundaries
In order for your pet to feel safe when getting injections, it is important that they feel like they can have boundaries. Finding a veterinarian that respects your pet and his or her boundaries is essential for getting them calm enough to get injections when they need them. Our visits take a little longer because we respect your pet.
Be sure to schedule regular wellness visits so that your pet has the chance to get used to the clinic and the people who work there. Veterinary hospitals that use low-stress veterinary practices have already committed to doing whatever they can to make your pets feel calm and cared for at every visit. If your pet does not visit the clinic enough to get used to the staff, even the best practices can still make them feel nervous.
Home Practice and Victory Visits
We know that some dogs feel extreme anxiety when visiting the vet, which is why we offer our Victory Visits training program to teach them how to give consent for what will happen during veterinary visits. Working with your pet at home can help them feel even more comfortable with what they’ll experience at the vet–especially when it comes to blood draws. Spend some time with them secured on an elevated surface (like a countertop) and calmly walk around them a few times. Once they get comfortable with you standing on all sides, gently touch the areas where they might receive an injection (usually near the windpipe). Use treats and words of encouragement to help them feel more comfortable with the process. If that isn’t sufficient, consider our behavioral Victory Visits that help teach them how to give consent for various experiences they might encounter in the veterinary office. Watch our Victory Visit videos at the link above.
At Union Lake Veterinary Hospital, we believe in making your pets feel as calm and respected as possible including injections to pets. To learn more, please call (248) 363–1508.