I can't get subQ fluids to work and desperate!!!

either the thing won't run (yesterday's attempt) or the fluid runs all over the cat and the floor (twice today). I can't place the needle right and the cat is very dehydrated. She has kidney failure and Inflammatory bowel disease and is seriously dehydrated, and I don't want her to crash.  I will syringe water into her if I have to, but maybe she will just puke that up, and it's hard to get 100 ml in that way. She has been doing very well for many  months and was early in kidney disease 5 months ago, so if she comes back from this, she should have a lot of life in her yet. she is 15. That's her pic above.  I get very upset sticking my cat with a needle, very upset, but I did do this with a cat 2 years ago a few times before he died, and it went a lot better than I'm able to do this time. idk what I'm doing wrong. I looked at instructions and pictures many times what to do but I am so upset now I can't function well. Thanks for any help!

First off, I'm sorry you are dealing with this.

I've never given subQ fluids myself, but we recently had a guest vet here on TCS that specializes in kidney issues. Anne wrote a blog post about it and it includes a video by him on how to give subQ's. Quite a few of our members said it was a really good video. The link to it is here:

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/your-cat-s-kidneys-called

I really hope that can help you a bit and if not, hopefully someone else will be along soon.

If you are not able to give fluids, best to take her into the vet and let them give it. Maybe you can have the vet or tech watch you give the fluids and they can offer help. But, I would certainly get kitty somewhere to get the fluids administered.

I wish I had brought her to the vet Friday, but I was able to do this before 2 years ago so I thought it would go ok.  The vet is a 35 minute drive each way. The emergency vet is an hour drive each way. I live in the middle of nowhere with crappy Hughesnet and the video recommended is HD and I can't get it to download because it is too big a file (satellite internet is the worst). I don't understand rural vets not being available on weekends. I get they have a life, but there is no emergency vet a few miles away.

I am sorry that you are faced with this as well.  I have given subQ fluids to dogs and cats and I did watch the video.  First of all, if you can't watch this video, is it possible that there is one on YouTube that looks professional enough. Sure, anyone can put one up, but some might be okay.  I assume that you don't have to do all the calculations yourself and your vet told you how much to give.  Are you hanging the bag from something high enough so that it can drip easily?  The trickiest part for me was the needle and I once did completely go in one side and out the other. I think that many people are probably a little squeamish about this.  My bet told me that if the fluid seems to seems to pool up under the cat's/dog's skin in a lump, it will be absorbed by the body.  Can the ER walk you through this on the phone?  You did it once successfully, you can do it again; try to relax.  I am sorry that this is such a hard thing to really get help with online.

well, I think I will go make another attempt. I do ok hanging the bag and I know how much to give. I just don't poke the needle right somehow, always wrong. I am so hyper about doing it, and my husband is helping and he just makes me more hyper. It doesn't go any better when I do it by myself :-( I think we may have to wrap this cat up in a towel so the poor kitty can put up with me. This may only be a one off thing or just a couple times until the kidney failure gets worse - she has been doing great up until a couple days ago when she accidentally got outside the house overnight and didn't have a water bowl for hours. She had a blast out there, because she wants to run out again, but she got a little dehydrated and she's sliding downhill from there.

The needle has to go under the skin, but not in like a vaccination would.  You probably remember sort of sliding it in, and you might have to apply a little pressure because those are larger needles.  To me, it always felt like a little "give" or "break" and then it was in.  Wrapping kitty in a towel is not a bad idea.  If she is thin, it might be a little harder than inserting it into a fleshier animal.  I hope that you will be able to keep your cat going for a while, but I know what you mean about this possibly being a one off sort of thing.

OMG I got 100 ml in her!! My husband held her and we did the clipnosis thing with a clothespin which helped noticeably.  The needle did leak at first and maybe I don't poke it in far enough. I think my husband pushed it in a little more is why it worked, but I can't really remember because I get so upset doing this.  

By only giving it once or twice, I meant that her kidney failure probably isn't that advanced yet since the last blood test when it was more or less normal (but she has very dilute urine) and I expect her to recover for a few months and then get bad again with some other sort of setback. I think she can still live months or years, which is why I was so upset because it's not a hopeless situation at all, I'm pretty sure. Not yet.

Thank you all so much for the moral support and I hope she takes off from here and I don't have to poke her again in a day or two.  I know when I've taken care of sick people, they turn around quick with extra fluids and I hope this is all she needed.

LOL next week I will bug you all with me freaking out vaccinating my half tamed adult feral cat.  She needs her distemper shot and I don't want to take her back to the vet again until she is a HOUSE cat. ugh. I dunno how people can stick animals and people with needles. 

Iluvcats3 said:

 
either the thing won't run (yesterday's attempt) or the fluid runs all over the cat and the floor (twice today). I can't place the needle right and the cat is very dehydrated. She has kidney failure and Inflammatory bowel disease and is seriously dehydrated, and I don't want her to crash.  I will syringe water into her if I have to, but maybe she will just puke that up, and it's hard to get 100 ml in that way. She has been doing very well for many  months and was early in kidney disease 5 months ago, so if she comes back from this, she should have a lot of life in her yet. she is 15. That's her pic above.  I get very upset sticking my cat with a needle, very upset, but I did do this with a cat 2 years ago a few times before he died, and it went a lot better than I'm able to do this time. idk what I'm doing wrong. I looked at instructions and pictures many times what to do but I am so upset now I can't function well. Thanks for any help!

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i give my snick fluids every other day.

the thing won't run -- i've noticed with my "lines" that the two little clip things (one is to stop the flow, the other seems to be a clamp that makes sure there's no flow through the line) sometimes flatten the line/tubing so that when i set the flow clamp to open/to flowing the fluids don't flow either at all or very slowly drip. what i do to fix this is each time i'm getting ready to give snick fluids i have both clamp set to closed/no flow, then open the lower one and move it down the line/tubing a few inches and close it/close to no flow again, then i use two fingers to squish the line/tubing between my fingers which reverses the flattening of it, then i open the upper clamp thing and use my fingers to squish and remove the flattening from the line/tubing. i do all this before i set snick in place to be given her fluids.

the fluid runs all over the cat and the floor -- i think i know what may be going on here, it happens to me sometimes too. when you lift kitty's skin to "tent" it up, you really need to be firm about it and make a good tent. if the tent isn't high enough, then you can poke through both sides of the skin and the fluids will just drip out and run down kitty's side. make sure you're sticking the needle in horizontally.  if you're already making a good high tent, then something you can try is to use your thumb and pointer finger to "choke up" on the needle more -- like a baseball player would choke up on a bat, gripping the bat higher up (towards the top). when you choke up a bit on the needle, your thumb and pointer finger will stop you from sticking the needle too far through the tent. something else that could be causing the fluids to run all over the cat and the floor is that the needle has slipped out of the kitty's skin. when i give my snick fluids, i always gently hold the needle/line right where the line goes into the part that the needle attaches to. this prevents the needle from slipping out.

Iluvcats3 said:

 
OMG I got 100 ml in her!! My husband held her and we did the clipnosis thing with a clothespin which helped noticeably.  The needle did leak at first and maybe I don't poke it in far enough. I think my husband pushed it in a little more is why it worked, but I can't really remember because I get so upset doing this.  

By only giving it once or twice, I meant that her kidney failure probably isn't that advanced yet since the last blood test when it was more or less normal (but she has very dilute urine) and I expect her to recover for a few months and then get bad again with some other sort of setback. I think she can still live months or years, which is why I was so upset because it's not a hopeless situation at all, I'm pretty sure. Not yet.

Thank you all so much for the moral support and I hope she takes off from here and I don't have to poke her again in a day or two.  I know when I've taken care of sick people, they turn around quick with extra fluids and I hope this is all she needed.

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I am so glad you were able to get the fluids in.  I haven't had to do this, at least not yet, I have only watched the vet do it a couple of times.  Seems like most people have issues with it at first, or in your case after a long time of not doing it, but they seem to get the hang of it and it becomes an easy routine.

Iluvcats3 said:

 
OMG I got 100 ml in her!! My husband held her and we did the clipnosis thing with a clothespin which helped noticeably.  The needle did leak at first and maybe I don't poke it in far enough. I think my husband pushed it in a little more is why it worked, but I can't really remember because I get so upset doing this.  

By only giving it once or twice, I meant that her kidney failure probably isn't that advanced yet since the last blood test when it was more or less normal (but she has very dilute urine) and I expect her to recover for a few months and then get bad again with some other sort of setback. I think she can still live months or years, which is why I was so upset because it's not a hopeless situation at all, I'm pretty sure. Not yet.

Thank you all so much for the moral support and I hope she takes off from here and I don't have to poke her again in a day or two.  I know when I've taken care of sick people, they turn around quick with extra fluids and I hope this is all she needed.

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excellent! well done!!!

I think what I may be doing wrong is not sticking the needle in far enough and then it falls out because I am so hyper getting the thing turned on and trying to see the fluid level in the bag and my vision isn't that great. Not sure yet. It's my husband's lap cat, so I think it may always have to be a 2 person deal.

Good for you!
I have to start doing these at home and the first to times were complete failures. She's the perfect patient at the vet's - not so much at home.
i was considering trying the clothed pin technique until we both get this routine down.
how did it make things easier? Was the cat more docile, like when you grab the scruff of their neck?

I have to get 200 ccs into her today.

Congratulations!  You did great!  Just so everyone feels a little less incompetent in taking care of their cats.....I have been visiting a very ill friend in a major LA hospital, and the nurses have to continually come back to adjust the drip lines on the IVs.  These are professionals, and I am not saying this to criticize them....just that there is  more of a technique to it than we think and it does take a while to get there.

Iluvcats3 said:

 
I think what I may be doing wrong is not sticking the needle in far enough and then it falls out because I am so hyper getting the thing turned on and trying to see the fluid level in the bag and my vision isn't that great. Not sure yet. It's my husband's lap cat, so I think it may always have to be a 2 person deal.

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you're doing well. sometimes it just takes several times of giving fluids to get the hang of it. then your confidence starts to grow, and this allowed me to relax more while giving my snick fluids.

i can identify with vision not being as good as it used to be! i recently bought a hand held magnifying glass as well as a pair of (magnifying) eye glasses at the dollar store, so i'm able to read the microscopic print on the bottle of my snick's urine test strips. a tip i got from a friend is to look for magnifying eye glasses at dollar stores, because pharmacies charge much more for them and stores like walmart and such display them in their pharmacy area so they can charge more for them. the pair i bought only cost me $1 plus tax -- it was a dollar store where everything was actually sold for $1.

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I know that feeling. When I was trying to psych myself into positive "you can do this" mode, I couldn't find my "cheaters". I rarely use them, but would have felt more comfy with them.
I'll have to pick up a couple cheapy pairs to have around, instead of just the one.
BTW, I had to rely on feel more than sight.

OK so update on Spitty - she is MUCH better now!  I am sure what was happening was because she got out overnight by mistake, she couldn't drink because I don't have a water bowl out there since my kitties are indoor kitties and feral kitty goes down to the pond to drink.  So she was crashing.  She is still not QUITE normal, but by tomorrow, she should be hurling her body against the bathroom door to complain that she doesn't like closed doors. Whew!  

The clipnonis only works so so on Spitty, but a clear help. I used a wooden clothespin, the springy kind.  On my other old cat (her brother, Huff) the clipnosis is AMAZING just like in videos. I haven't tried it on Mamacat, the feral cat I've been taming for 2 years. 

Thank you all so much for advice and support.  It really helped. I think I will give her one more dose just to be on the safe side.

Iluvcats3 said:

 
OK so update on Spitty - she is MUCH better now!  I am sure what was happening was because she got out overnight by mistake, she couldn't drink because I don't have a water bowl out there since my kitties are indoor kitties and feral kitty goes down to the pond to drink.  So she was crashing.  She is still not QUITE normal, but by tomorrow, she should be hurling her body against the bathroom door to complain that she doesn't like closed doors. Whew!

The clipnonis only works so so on Spitty, but a clear help. I used a wooden clothespin, the springy kind.  On my other old cat (her brother, Huff) the clipnosis is AMAZING just like in videos. I haven't tried it on Mamacat, the feral cat I've been taming for 2 years.

Thank you all so much for advice and support.  It really helped. I think I will give her one more dose just to be on the safe side.

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I have to read uo more on this clip technique. My kitty was being difficut last night and I put 3 clips on her (clothespins). I wasn't sure if I was supposed to keep them on the whole time I was trying to sub-q her, but everything was getting difficult and I was about to give up so I took the pins off her and she visibly relaxed. I got all excited and thought "oh, now's the time to stick her!" but the relaxed kitty didn't last long.

I'm glad you are gettting the hand of it and she is feeling much better! Kudos!