Megat on the day he came home from the vet, all bandaged up...Megat got the bandage as the vet could not get enough blood for his blood test last Monday. The vet kept tapping on his vein and Megat was only able to give him a smidgeon of blood. Of course he had to give more and the vet took some more blood from his other leg. he was very quiet during the whole operation. There was not even one sound or one movement. "Wah...good cat," the vet said.
Megat amd Toro tonight before the sub q...I put Megat on the table as he likes it here. he would usually just sit here in the middle of the family chat or dinner. I turned over the cloth and Toro decided he would sleep on the table too. This was a real surprise for me when megat did not protest and allowed Toro to sit with him. Of couse I figured this may not be the best place to do the sub q by then.
Megat and Toro sharing sleeping space after the sub q. They are still there now, sleeping like next to each other. I am still surprised as usually one of them (usually Toro) would have to give up his space to Megat who would chase everyone off the bed. I would like to think that Toro knew that Megat needed company for tonight :))
Megat 30 minutes after the sub q...He has not yet gotten out of the bedroom and I think he would not go out voluntarily although he did allow me to pet him and also did not move away when I sat with him on the bed.
Like I suspected the sub q would be rather trying for the 3 of us (Cousin R, Megat and myself). I read an account of how to do the sub q on the internet and scrutinsed all the pictures carefully. I then discovered that the part that made me nervous was not putting in the needle but the set up of the whole contraption and having to move the rollers up and down. I am especially nervous of the IV that I had gottten from the hospital but the pictures were helpful and I would have to do the actual thing myself (with the hospital IVs etc on Friday) before I can truly say that I am not afraid. :)
The mistake that I made tonight was sequestering all the boys in a separate room. This made Megat really suspicious and no amount of treats was going to placate him. I got him on the table (again) and used the cotton swab from the vet to clean up the area that I was going to inject him. He ran off like lightning into the computer room. Yeah! This is Megat! Not that docile kitty sitting pretttily on the vet's table!
I followed him and sat with hm for another 10 minutes. meanwhile Cousin R came in and closed the door. We sat together watching TV. Cousin R had to hold him down gently while I inserted the needle under his skin. My heart was beating but I figured I had to do it for him. Then once I had the needle under his skin, Cousin R had to raise up the IV so there would be an easier and faster flow. It took us about 5 minutes with Megat trying to escape periodically. I soothed him and then I had to be more firm as he decided he would try to run off.
Finally Cousin R said "okay" and I took out the needle, forgetting that she had move the roller to the off position. Poor Megat got a little drenched. I then massaged his side gently and after a few minutes I allowed him to hide. He did come out for some treats but is even now, in the bedroom resting.
So its true. I am not afraid of inserting the needle but I am just uncertain of getting the whole set up right. But it will get better I am sure.
So I think this was quite a success. I finally found the courage and steady hands to help poor Megat get better. :)
I am not sure the kind of canister fluid your vet gave you but the one you bought from CH is actually easier to use. You can easily get 100ml of fluid into him within 1 min because you can squeese the bag to push the fluid into the skin faster. That's what the vet does as well.
ReplyDeleteBecause the fluid goes in faster, it will tend to swell up the injected area as the fluid can't move away as quickly. What Cousin R can do is to gently massage the area around the needle, pushing the fluid into other parts of the body.
Tadah, all fluid in within 1 min. Less stress for Megat and for humans as less time spent.
One thing I learnt on the job is that sometimes the fluid just won't flow in. Just turn the needle a little or push in a little deeper and with this new position, the fluid will flow again.
There are times also the fluid won't flow because the a part of the tube is squashed. Just find that squashed part and massage it back to its original round shape. But try to do this before you jab him.
Wow.....great job.
ReplyDeleteIt does take a bit of getting used to inserting the needle; once done, the rest is a little fine-tuning.
Waaa...sounds complicated.
ReplyDelete