After 8 weeks of treating my hen with Tricide Neo for bumble foot, I decided to switch to PenG. I had never given an intra-muscle injection before, so read all that I could, including the Poultry Podiatry site, which was very helpful. Following the directions on that site, I found the V in my hen's ribcage, went below that and gave an injection a bit to the side of the keel bone. I gave the first shot yesterday and despite my being petrified and my hands shaking badly, it seemed to go well. I had an issue with today's shot tho and hope someone more experienced with this sort of thing can give me some direction before I give the third shot tomorrow.
When I administered the shot today, I saw the penicillin appearing right under the skin. I stopped, withdrew the needle and tried again. The same thing happened, where I could see the medicine right under the skin. I didn't want to traumatize my poor hen any further, so I just finished the shot and let her go. I think I missed the muscle and gave her more of a subcutaneous shot. Is the issue that my angle was wrong, that I had the needle too flat to the skin? I'm nervous about all this, afraid that I'm going to jab her in the heart or deflate a lung or something, so I'm assuming this was my mistake. Do I need to inject more straight up in the air?
Some background: I've never dealt with bumble foot before, and this hen was limping badly before I figured out what was going on. Tricide Neo seemed to work initially, definitely drew out some foul smelling stuff, then her scab faded then went away entirely. I soaked her foot a few days after the scab fell off, and then stopped. The swelling went down but her foot never got back to normal. She does walk much better than she had been, but when I checked her maybe a week later, her scab was back, so I started the Tricide soaks again. Since then I found 2 other hens with bumble foot, but not nearly as bad as the first. I've been soaking them for 4 weeks or so, and my goodness, it takes up my whole morning. I'm trying PenG on the first hen, and am hoping to get more confident with it before I start injecting anyone else.
My first hen has lost weight and gotten wobbly on her feet. When I picked her up today her crop felt full for the first time in weeks, and she put up more of a fight than normal, so I'm hoping the PenG is helping her feel better. I'm using 1 cc syringes with 22 gauge, 3/4th inch needles. Trying to inject 1/4th a cc of PenG, 1/4th an inch into the muscle. Thanks in advance for any advice!
When I administered the shot today, I saw the penicillin appearing right under the skin. I stopped, withdrew the needle and tried again. The same thing happened, where I could see the medicine right under the skin. I didn't want to traumatize my poor hen any further, so I just finished the shot and let her go. I think I missed the muscle and gave her more of a subcutaneous shot. Is the issue that my angle was wrong, that I had the needle too flat to the skin? I'm nervous about all this, afraid that I'm going to jab her in the heart or deflate a lung or something, so I'm assuming this was my mistake. Do I need to inject more straight up in the air?
Some background: I've never dealt with bumble foot before, and this hen was limping badly before I figured out what was going on. Tricide Neo seemed to work initially, definitely drew out some foul smelling stuff, then her scab faded then went away entirely. I soaked her foot a few days after the scab fell off, and then stopped. The swelling went down but her foot never got back to normal. She does walk much better than she had been, but when I checked her maybe a week later, her scab was back, so I started the Tricide soaks again. Since then I found 2 other hens with bumble foot, but not nearly as bad as the first. I've been soaking them for 4 weeks or so, and my goodness, it takes up my whole morning. I'm trying PenG on the first hen, and am hoping to get more confident with it before I start injecting anyone else.
My first hen has lost weight and gotten wobbly on her feet. When I picked her up today her crop felt full for the first time in weeks, and she put up more of a fight than normal, so I'm hoping the PenG is helping her feel better. I'm using 1 cc syringes with 22 gauge, 3/4th inch needles. Trying to inject 1/4th a cc of PenG, 1/4th an inch into the muscle. Thanks in advance for any advice!
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