Frustrated..Fur shots?

For my first few weeks I was going in Big Kitty's scruff. He started becoming more agitated with every shot. Then he meowed in pain once and I decided to move around with his shot more. I've been going down in the "side of the chest" area off of the diagram.
I don't know what I'm doing wrong. This is twice now I've felt wet fur. I feel his skin release the needle though. Idk if it's possibly going straight through but it's u-40 syringes. They're so short.
I always give a little rub after the shots. And tonight for the second time my hand came back wet. So now he will run high all night. Feeling so frustrated! He hates the shots and runs from me, meows. And now I've missed twice and screwed up his numbers!
I'd like to go in the flank are but cat get any fat to grab.
Ahhhhhhh!!!!

 

Yes, I hate fur shots too. I feel so silly. Now I dose Leo while feeding him, so he is distracted. I pull a tent of skin off his side and poke thru the fur. Actually I like the short needles - there is never a poke-thru to the other side of the skin. I'm also lucky since there is plenty of skin and some fat to grab.

 

When you inject...You lift your tent of skin, insert the needle, THEN do you drop your tent and shoot? Or do you shoot while your holding the skin up?
Make sense? Lol
I'm just trying figure out what the heck I'm doing wrong.

 

My vet shaved a 4x4 square area just over the shoulder!! Works wonders..it's ok breathe. You'll get it, better to be high than low.

 

The skin along the sides and flanks is loose and fairly thin. Grab a piece with your thumb and forefinger about an inch or inch and a half apart and lift that pinched skin up high and taut to make a tall tent. Feel for the depression half way down toward his body - the "tent door". Put the syringe needle in there with it angled slightly down. Shoot with the skin still held up as a tent.

 

Oh and to top it off I just used my last test strip. No strips until tomorrow. At least I know he won't be low before his am shot!!!

 

Really????!!! My vet told me to drop the tent and feel to see if my needle come out the other side (which I never do I feel it's silly because they're so short). I've been dropping the skin this whole time. Maybe that's where I'm making my mistake!!!
She also told me to pull back on the plunger and with the help of everyone here I learned that was unnecessary.

 

Big kitty looks like he has a huge personality so cute.

 

You know it's funny you say that @Phoebes I have 5 cats total and he is very unique. We've been together 13 years, the other cats I've only had for 7 years. Big Kitty has a huge personality. I worry that when he's gone I'll never get over it just because he truly is special. He's my bad boy lol when it's food time he clears my night stand. Everything goes on the floor. Yes, even the lamp. He's stolen an entire sandwich off my plate before and i chase him. LOLOL god bless him. My sweet bad boy. Thank you for noticing. Here's the face I got this AM after he spilled my coffee in my slipper!!! Lol
Your cat is beautiful!!!!!

 

Hahaha I love that look. Thank you, she knows it. I tell her at 100 times a day! those are the ones we miss the most. Keep you in line and on your toes!!

 

There's another method other than the "tent" method that a lot of people have better luck with.....I'll call it the "roll your wrist" method and try to explain it.

Instead of making a "tent", just grab some fur between your thumb and forefinger and then "roll" your wrist to pull the skin away from the muscle....there will be a "break" in the hair and you just aim for that (while continuing to pull the fur "up" with your other hand)

Here's a picture that might help

 

Coffee in mama's slipper?!?!? Bad, bad...oh forget it, you are too adorable, BK! And Steph, I do think that we all have The One...some call it their "heart kitty"...the one that is so integral to your life/heart/being that you can't imagine life without them. Mine was an orange swirly boy named Ernie.

And we all have fur shots from time to time -- and they always happen at the worst times, like on a day where BG is already really high! Pfffft!

It'll get better, I promise..
Sandi.

P.s. I can't help but think of your boy as BK, because we call Sebastien's (@Photorecon ) "Small Kitty" just SK

 

I sometimes get fur shots as well, but there's a feeling when you poke it in that I'm luckily getting used to. Just keep trying and you'll get better at it! (I also heard that practicing on an orange helps?)

 

@Sandi & Whisper we call him BK all the time I just wasn't sure anyone here would know what I meant! Lol thanks everyone for the encouragement. Next shot is half an hour from now. I got this!

 

Morning,

Yeah, understand that having reds all around could you make think juice didn't go through.
Your Kitty is very early in the journey, it will take some time to get into acceptable colors.

Tough, shooting the right way is a good way to get there.

Here's what I do (might be a repetition of what has been said already).

First, I pump the right dose of insulin in the larynges, exit the bobble and surplus.
The surplus will come out and stay by the needle so I will put it close to my shirt
so it absorbs the drop on insulin that might be there. This way I'm sure that when
the needle is in, it there is insulin, it wouldn't what went out of the larynges to get
the unit right.

Then, using thumb and index grabbing the root of the hair where I want to shoot
and pull it so I have a small ''pyramid''. Needle will then be inserted where I can see
skin parallel to the wall of the ''pyramid'' (45 degree). Next is push hard and wait
5 sec if you can. When I remove, I still keep the pressure on the plunger. Will let
it go only after I'm off. Seek for the bottom of the ''pyramid'', otherwhile you'll shoot
your finger

Don't press the shooting spot, Lantus has to be standing by so it can break itself into
crystals then move slowly around.

Shoot while your cat is eating, it will become the sign that shot = eating = good time.

That's it, hope this can help, send question if you need help.

 

I had problems with shooting through the tent until I switched to shorter needles. I use a thinner gauge too. Also, the fatter my cat got, the less likely I was to shoot through the tent.

 

Well I've had 2 more incidents since I last posted on this thread. I know I'm injecting. Is it coming back out after I remove the needle? I give a little Pat afterwards to feel for wet fur. Tonight it was really wet and he was 540 pmps. So I went against the rules...I gave him .5u more. I know I'm not supposed too give more because I don't know how much went in. But he was really wet. He just ate a full meal and being 540 it scared me that he will just keep rising.
I'm seriously so frustrated I could just ball my head off right now.
He hates the shots. He cries when I inject. And to top it off I had to do it twice tonight. I just keep screwing up. I don't know what else I can do. It's like we finally get some good numbers going then I screw it up. Now he's sky high. I HATE this. All of it. The shots, the testing, the meowing in pain, constant high numbers. I feel so discouraged. I love him so much it hurts my heart.
I need to get these shots right. But what's the problem??!!!!

 

Are you using 1/2" needles or the shorter ones that are about 1/4"? Some people prefer longer, others shorter. Don't rub that area or put pressure on it after injecting. That could possibly push some of the insulin back out. When you pull up on the skin to make a tent, make sure you're grabbing only the skin and none of the layers underneath.

You might consider booking an appointment with a vet tech at your vet's office so you can have him/her show you proper technique again. You could then practice on BK using saline while the tech coaches you.

 

I kept doing fur shots so I had the vet shave the area where I shoot and now I keep it trimmed with a home shaver. Works well if you have to give fluids too.