Subq fluids and needle sizes
Hello all, this is Vincent. Long story short, we found out he had CKD about a month ago. His levels were crazy high after bringing him in to our usual family vet. He was referred to an emergency vet to stay on consistent fluids, and his levels just got worse during his stay. So we brought him home on "hospice" and they provided us with subq fluids to administer daily. They provided us with 22 G needles which are pretty small, so it's easier to inject, but the flow rate is much slower. They had given us the drip IV set, and he was not having it. He wouldn't sit still long enough for the whole treatment amount he was supposed to get
We brought him back to our family vet to recheck his bloodwork, and after watching some YouTube videos and doing research, I had seen that people were using the syringe method to administer subq fluids. I asked the vet about that and they provided me with 60 ml syringes and 18 G needles
We've had good days and bad days while giving fluids. He at times gets the entire syringe, other times he gets about half and we have to try again later. I started doing fluids at night so I wasn't rushing in the morning
I'm looking for any advice that anyone would have about what they use for needles to give subq fluids and how they go about it. I ordered 20 G needles (they have yet to arrive and be used at the time of this post) since it's a sweet spot between 18 and 22 G. The 22 G needles go in nicely, it just takes much longer and he's very squirmy even when wrapping him in a towel. The 18 G needles have a much faster flow rate, but it's a much bigger needle which he isn't much of a fan of (understandably)
Please let me know what tips and tricks you guys have!