How do I give kittens vaccines at home?

little red said:

We have 10 kittens that we've recently rescued. On a side note real quick: we ordered 25 vaccines from Revival Health last month around the 9th because it was a paycheck that we knew we'd have the extra money to do so even though all the kittens just got old enough to start their shots. The vaccines have not been mixed & they've been in the refrigerator the entire time. Are they still ok to give to them?

I've vaccinated puppies before but never kittens. Where do we inject them? Is it between the shoulder blades or over their right shoulder? Or somewhere else?

Thanks!!

Any tips for vaccinating at home? 1/2 are calm & the other 1/2 are skiddish. But they usually submit pretty well when scruffed.

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catwoman707 said:

 
I can help.

First of all, yes, they are good. They have a pretty good life span when refridgerated.

When you remove the tip cover exposing the needle, be sure the first thing you do is to check the tighness of the needle attachment. Often times they need a bit more screwing in to ensure tightness.

Inject into the liquid bottle, just enough to see in the little space when turned upside down, the tip of the needle is in the bottle, suck it up, pull it out, and inject in the center of the dry powder bottle.

Do NOT remove the needle! Every time the needle is inserted, it actually loses it's sharp point a bit. This can only be seen under a microscope, but it's surprising how much duller it gets with each time, so leaving it in the powder bottle means it will only have been the third time the needle was used when going into your cat, rather than 4.

Gently swirl the mix around in the bottle, no need to shake it much.

Turn upside down, draw the liquid out.

It's not important to draw out the entire amt, I usually do not with young kittens. At least 2/3 anyway should be drawn out.

If you think about it, why would an adult cat and a kitten receive the same exact amt? This is just my own personal theory.

Hold the syringe up, needle upwards, draw back on the plunger to take in more air. I roll the mixture a bit to eliminate any bubbles seen at the top, using an up and down motion of the plunger works well to remove them.

Slowly push the plunger up to remove air in syringe, and as you see the liquid raise up, watch as you slowly push the liquid up until a drop pops up to the needle tip. Slightly draw the drop back in to avoid any liquid from contacting the outside fur, or the kitten will get a bad uri if he cleans his fur and ingests the drop.

Use the right shoulder, above the arm, where there is enough skin to pinch between your finger tips of your left hand.

Pinch skin and slightly pull up to create a triangle of skin under the pinched area. I test with my right finger poking the triangled area to be sure it's a substantial enough area to stick the needle into without coming out the other side, which occasionally happens with kittens and their thin skin.

When you have the spot, it should feel spongy when you poke with your finger.

Hold the syringe itself rather than by the plunger area, you will have much more control over the needle insertion.

Holding syringe near the front closest to the needle, gently insert until a slight pop through feeling happens, when it goes into the skin it's obvious.

Inject kitten, pull it out, and re-pinch the spot, rolling it in your fingers again to sort of close the hole up. 

That's it!

Be sure to recap the needle too and dispose of properly.

If you ever have the fluid come out of the fur as you are injecting but thought it was in but was not in enough and the med gets on the fur, immediately stop there, grab a paper towel or tp and clean off, then generously put hand sanitizer or alcohol all over that area to be sure it is well cleaned off. Then reuse the vaccine and inject it in better.

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