Today I'm going to give you a quick demonstration
about how to give subcutaneous fluids to your cat.
The main reason that you would be giving
subcutaneous fluids to a cat or a dog,
but mostly for cats,
would be if they're in kidney failure.
Dogs and cats have a lot of extra skin, especially on the back of the neck.
You can see that all the time.
People don't have as much.
So we don't do this in people very often.
But in dogs and cats we can fill all that
space up with fluid.
And this is the same fluid
that would go into an IV catheter.
But we're just going to put it under the skin.
The materials you'll need will be
lactated ringers, you'll get this all from your vet.
Where's the open?
It says peel right here so I know which side to peel it on.
Not the side I was trying.
The other side.
*monkey noise*
And needles.
What you're going to have to do is open this
and put this part in.
Like that.
This comes off.
Boom.
Like that.
Just gets right into there.
That's it.
Just like that.
Now when you turn it over
all this will flow out.
And fills out that little part here.
We're gonna put this down here so that it doesn't leak out.
You can see that there's just a little bit of fluid. We want this at about halfway.
Give a little squeeze
and it fills it back up.
Squeeze, it fills it up.
We happen to have stands here.
So it can go up on the stand.
Sit up high.
This all works with gravity.
So, we need this to be up higher than the cat.
If the cat was higher then the bag
it wouldn't flow.
It would flow in the other direction
and you would suck all the fluid out of your cat.
You wouldn't do that but
it wouldn't flow.
This is the end that the needle goes on.
These are the needles. They're 18 gauge.
And they're pretty good size needles.
So the needle
gonna twist this and that part comes off, then you've got the end of the needle.
That comes off.
This goes on the end.
And you twist it on.
Like that.
It's very sharp.
Even though it's big
it doesn't hurt very much.
And we want it big because
the bigger opening
makes the fluid go in faster
the less time your cat has to sit there
which is honestly the part that they really hate.
My hairy knuckles are showing the
18 gauge
and
Jessie's
also hairy knuckles
Such a jerk.
Are the 25 gauge needles.
If your cat is reacting because the fluids are a little bit chilly
The best way to warm it up
is to put a bowl of warm water out,
put the fluids right into that bowl,
until it gets about tepid
So when you put it on your wrist it just feels
warm but not hot.
Two important things here
your clamps.
Right now,
Mike clamped both off. That's a big no no for me.
I choose one or the other and you only stick to one.
So you have a roller.
and as you see
when it's not clamped
it moves up and down.
When it's clamped
stays.
This is more of a challenging one.
Need some more finger dexterity.
The way this is clamped there
press it
and it moves
and then you pinch it between the line
no move.
I like this one.
Yea, I like this one.
You never want to pull something off very quickly because
these 18 gauge needles do hurt, as any needle.
You don't wanna go.
If you pull straight
you'll be fine.
Yea, your chances of poking yourself is very low.
The way you know how much to give, your vet will tell you
how many cc's they want to give.
Whether it's 100 or 200 or 150.
And you know that by the bag
If you're giving a 100
it would go down to the one.
and then if you're giving 150
it would go down to the next one.
Cuz each of these little dashes
are 50.
Each little dash is fifty
Big dash where it says one, two, that's 100 and 200.
I always use shoulder blades as a marker
when you're making your,
I call it a pup tent.
When you're picking up the skin.
And you're going to be going right in.
So your shoulder blades slant down.
And so I use my fingers to slant down
create the tent,
and then I have a lot of people just feel that,
that "tent"
to see where you're going.
And a lot of people feel uncomfortable like they're going to poke into the shoulder blades.
Or they're going to poke down into the muscle.
Right.
And the best
the best thing I always say is you're going to go straight.
You're just gonna go straight. You're not going to angle up. You're not gonna angle down.
You're gonna go straight in and that is
that should prevent any of that from happening.
I will poke it a couple of times with my finger.
Sort of getting them just used to something's happening there
Something's happening.
You know what we're actually doing?
We're firing off all those nociceptors.
Oh, nociceptors.
Pain receptors.
Oooh.
Sort of getting those sort of dulled.
Sort of the slapping it and then you can poke it. What they do to horses.
So if we're gonna do like
and then poke.
I would never do that to you.
In the heat of the moment, there's a lot of stuff going on.
So many things.
And your anxiety transcends through your pets.
So you want to make sure that everything is prepped before you do that initial poke.
Is that why your animals are so anxious?
Totally.
If you need to have two people, it can help to have somebody just sort of
distracting
and you're going to make your little tent,
pick it up, find your little spot in there,
and just
slide it right in.
There we are.
And it's not gonna
A lot of people think that it's just going to pop out once you get the fluid going
And then you
and you
release your clamp.
All the way open.
And it'll just sit there.
It's a little cold going in.
Now
we know that it's flowing because it's dripping
into the burette here.
And that's a good drip.
What you don't want is a little slow drip.
And when you're done
make sure you close it off first
and then you just
You pinch right where the needle was
and pull it out.
That's it.
So, if you're wiping with a towel and you see a little bit of blood on the towel
that's okay. Don't worry about it.
When you're done and all finished
I tell people to leave the needle on
until the next time.
So once you're done, your needle is going to stay on
and you're just going to keep everything together.
until the next time, you're ready to use it.
Next time you're ready to use it,
you'll take the old needle off,
put a fresh needle on right before you're ready to use it.
The old needles
you'll want to dispose of properly.
Ask your vet about the best way to do that.
You can poke it back in one time.
Yes.
After that
I say give it a rest.
Come back at a later point
because if you get into being determined
it's not, it's not going to go well.
You're going to want to change the needle at that point.
Yes.
Thanks for watching everyone.
I hope that helps you with your cat who needs to get subcutaneous fluids.
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