SubQ Fluid hasn't absorbed yet. help!

i accidentalkly gave my cat 175ml of subq last night. she was only suppoed to get 100. i think i gave it to her around 6pm. this morning it hasn't all absorbed yet. should i be concerned? of course it is the weekend and so i would need to call the emergency vet which i would ralther not do. i was reading on the internet and it said that sometimes it takes up to 24 hours to absorb. should i wait that long and see waht happens. she's hiding under the bed. i think she thinks i am going to do something to her again. she's a 7 pound cat. i can't believe what an idiot i am. thanks fo rthe help.

 

Someone should be here soon Sara.

 

Sara,

How is kitty doing? Have the fluids absorbed? I tried to find something on the internet about giving too much fluids, but couldn't find anything. I know some people give their kitties 150ml, so maybe 175ml is ok, but I"m not sure. Have you cross-posted on Community? There might be someone there that can help. I wish I could be of more help.

 

Well, I wouldn't give any more until this dose has been absorbed.

To avoid mistakes like this in the future, use a fine-tip magic marker
on the bag to indicate the "target mark" when you give fluids.

Make the mark as part of your set-up routine to give fluids.

That way you don't have to remember where the fluids were when you started
and you don't have to do math in your head while giving fluids.

 

If I remember correctly, the oncologist I brought my Amy to gave her that much fluids ther day I brought her in. That was so that she wouldn't need them for a few days. I don't know what other health issues your cat has so I can't say if that amount was OK for your cat. I do know that it took a day or so to absorb with Amy. I'd call the vet tomorrow and ask if you need to give fluids tomorrow. Actually, the vet always gave more fluids then I was instructed to give at home. I just don't know how much is too much. It may vary from one cat to another.

Chris

 

The way I see it is since you gave 175 mls accidentally, and she's only supposed to get 100 mls, perhaps your kitty just needs twice the amount of time to absorb almost twice her normal dose. If she's otherwise acting normally, I would just wait until ALL of the fluid is absorbed before resuming her normal schedule. Also, using a marker to make a target dose line on the bag is an excellent idea! I used to do the very same thing when I had two crf kitties. Cinnamon was pretty severe crf, she got 125 - 150 mls twice daily (and yes, she actually absorbed it all!) and Jasmine got 100 mls once daily. I had to mark the bag when I'd set up for Cinnamon, and then again when I was getting Jasmine ready.

 

thanks everybody!

 

Sorry I'm late to this thread, but wanted to add my .02 worth. One of the only issues with too many fluids, is if the cat has heart issues. The fluids can tax the heart.. so if the cat has heart disease, you want to be VERY careful giving fluids. Otherwise, it should eventually absorb.

Also, with marking the bag. Not sure if it matters or not, but one of the clinic supervisors at the shelter clinic told me once to use a piece of masking tape or some kind of tape to mark if you need to. Said she'd heard something about markers leaking through the bag material & stuff like that. Not sure if there were any studies, but it made sense to me. Better safe than sorry at least. Cuddles only took 100 mls SID though, so I never had to mark the bag.. just went from # to #, since each # is 100 mls.

 

i was gonna say the same thing, steph. i'd use some paper tape to mark the level instead.