30 vs 29 g syringe?

we are brand new to all of this-15 year old female diagnosed with diabetes a week and a half ago (amongst other worse issues...). I didn’t have any trouble doing her injections for the first 8 days, and then it started to get trickier. Before she would look up when I did her shot, as if she just felt the slightest pinprick. Then she started to full on startle, and starting yesterday she feels the slightest attempt to get that needle in and she twists and turns and fights. I have not been able to get a shot into her in 24 hours. This morning I decided I just needed to be determined and not startle myself if she felt the needle, just go in fast and quick. She fought and finally when I pulled needle away it was bent at a 90 degree angle! I hadn’t even had a chance to push the plunger (which is good as it would’ve been a fur shot anyway) but jeesh she was fighting and running away and the needle wasn’t even in all of the way!

She has lost a bit of weight and her back is bony. She doesn’t have much of a scruff so I was worried maybe I was hitting areas that didn’t have enough meat. I had some success going a bit lower kind of on a line from the scruff on down towards her front leg, as she lies on her side. But now anywhere I try gets an immediate negative run/twist reaction.

I am supposed to be giving her sub q fluids every other day and those have been a disaster as she definitely feels the needle and bolts.

I was doing a google search and found an old post here discussing needle size. Currently I have exel comfort point U-40 1/2 ml 29G1/2 syringes. I don’t quite know what all of that means, but I think the 29 is needle size, and people posted here on another post that perhaps the needle is too big? Wonder if that could be my issue with this elderly tender skinned kitty?

Can I get new syringes/needles on my own or do I have to go through a vet? As it’s the weekend I would love to avoid having to go to the emergency animal hospital and honestly I think the car trip might kill her...she went into hiding/not eating after I had to take her to the vet three times in 5 days a couple of weeks ago and we really thought this was it...

If I can get them/order them on my own, what do I need to look for—the exact box that I have now but with 30g on it? Or could I do any brand?

Kitty gets 2 units (I think I’m using that term correctly—I fill the current syringes to the second line) of prozinc.


Thanks in advance!

 

Also, since I am now way off schedule (usually do shots at 9 am and 9 pm) do I keep trying throughout day or do nothing until 9 tonight and then try again? Last night when I couldn’t get it done after 90 mins and three tries I did give up.

I don’t test at home—honestly vet said we aren’t there yet at all-long story short but a day after her diabetes diagnosis they did an X-ray and found what looks an awful lot like cancer spread throughout lungs and a not-good liver shape...
So the immediate goal was frankly to see if she was going to make it thru the week, as at that point she wasn’t eating, was hiding, looked awful, etc. I took her home and with some short term supportive meds got her eating and back to being out and loving with us, even playing a little. Managed to get the insulin into her consistently and she continued to perk up to the point that we definitely aren’t considering euthanasia. But she still shows some symptoms that indicate we won’t have her for years...although of course as nothing definitively has been diagnosed it’s hard to predict. I trust my vet when she said that what she interprets from that x Ray is probably nothing good, though.

So, controlling the diabetes perfectly wasn’t the top of my vet’s priority list for us 10 days ago—it was get her as comfortable as possible for whatve4 we need to do next. Everyone is surprised at her bounce back but again, realistically I know this isn’t going to be forever. Now that she is much more stable I will ask the vet about really going into testing her levels at home (again I think taking her to the vet absolutely stresses her out so much it directly affected how bad she was a week ago) but as of right now I’m not testing and was just focused on getting her initial dose into her.

Hopefully that all makes sense. I feel like a crap mom today because I can’t get my kitty what she needs and in the meantime I’m totally ignoring my human child bc Ive spent hours trying to do the shot and online researching and posting arghhh!

 

Some states/localities requires a prescription for syringes.
You can use use human U100 syringes with your U40 using this conversion
http://www.felinediabetes.com/insulin-conversions.htm
There is more varieties available in the human U100 syringes. You want ones with 1/2 unit markings. Each 1/2 unit on a U 100 syringe using U40 insulin equal 0.2 units of the U40 insulin.
I think 29 gauge is the smallest diameter available in U40 syringes. 30 gauge is a smaller diameter.

 

My cat acts like she can feel the needle too. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. She's a longhaired cat and it's tough to see what I'm doing sometimes. She's figured out that she gets a treat before and after her injection. That helped her attitude a lot. Especially once she noticed that my other cat does not get a treat.

 

Rufus could definetly feel the 29 gauge more then even a 30. I bought 31 but haven't needed to use them yet.

 

Thank you, all. I’m in PA and will check out whether I need a prescription for insulin syringes. I will try the 30/31 because this is insanely difficult. I have watched dozens of videos online and the cats are completely docile and finding skin to tent properly is easy...and with me I am never sure if I’m in the right place, she doesn’t seem to have a lot of loose skin even on her scruff, and so half of the time is spent with me obsessively trying to find a spot and make sure it’s an ok spot! And then I go to stick her and she startles and runs.

As you can imagine, sub q fluids are impossible right now too. This stinks.

 

It will get easier, trust me! Hopefully sooner rather then later. But I think you are on the right track with going with 30/31's.

 

The first couple of weeks are so hard! It really does get better. Cleo isn't as mellow as the cats in the videos, but she'll hold still long enough to get her injection and eat her treats.

 

I got 31 gauge needles at Target. They are BD Insulin Syringes for U-100 insulin so I used the conversion chart and see I need to fill up to the 5 line with these new syringes. Crossing fingers that these work and make life a little easier.

The needle is definitely shorter as well as thinner -- hoping this won't be an issue? And hopeful this doesn't mean I picked the wrong one?

 

Shorter needle is a prefrence thing. I wanted 7/16, but the 31gauge only came with 5/16 length.