Hello all of you wonderful people.
I have a bit of a conundrum on my hands.
We have a sub-1yr old Goldenlaced Wyandotte from Murray McMurray who has every single classical sign of water belly.
I've done the research, I've spent the sleepless nights, I've watched the YouTube videos etc etc etc.
I learned in the military how to administer needles, perform needle chest decompressions for collapsed lungs, how to not just "dig around with the needle until you feel the vein" and all of that.
I purchased all of the required materials for attempting to drain her so she can be as comfortable as possible until her day inevitably soon arrives.
I currently have 16ga 1/2" needles, I bought the largest and shortest I could to facilitate draining and lessening the impact of stabbing too deep. The needle is connected to tubing that the syringe can attach to to avoid over-sticking our poor Winnie. Just so happens she's our best hen by and far!
On the first attempt we got a bit of fluid out. Not much.
Every subsequent attempt results in me trying to gently pull the plunger on the syringe, and the vacuum effect happening.
Basically I pull the plunger back and it acts like the needle is clogged and I'm just creating a vacuum in the syringe. I've tried different needle sites over the course of several days in order to give her a break..
What am I possibly doing wrong? I'm using the most highly recommended needles I've seen, poking her in the same spots I've seen in videos(where the skin feels thin, no veins, and very water balloon like feeling)
Thankfully Winnie has been very well behaved. But we haven't accomplished the initial goal yet and it's getting frustrating and I don't feel comfortable treating her like a science experiment.
Any advice from the amazing people here? Am I somehow getting the needle into muscle tissue? I'm only putting the needle on her right side, lower right of her 'water balloon'. I've read and heard to only do right side because their reproductive organs are all on the left side.
I just want to remove some of her fluid buildup so she can be more comfortable during her time left on our beautiful planet, and after following every instruction I've read or seen, I've only had very small success one time.
Am I missing something?
Thanks in advance!
I have a bit of a conundrum on my hands.
We have a sub-1yr old Goldenlaced Wyandotte from Murray McMurray who has every single classical sign of water belly.
I've done the research, I've spent the sleepless nights, I've watched the YouTube videos etc etc etc.
I learned in the military how to administer needles, perform needle chest decompressions for collapsed lungs, how to not just "dig around with the needle until you feel the vein" and all of that.
I purchased all of the required materials for attempting to drain her so she can be as comfortable as possible until her day inevitably soon arrives.
I currently have 16ga 1/2" needles, I bought the largest and shortest I could to facilitate draining and lessening the impact of stabbing too deep. The needle is connected to tubing that the syringe can attach to to avoid over-sticking our poor Winnie. Just so happens she's our best hen by and far!
On the first attempt we got a bit of fluid out. Not much.
Every subsequent attempt results in me trying to gently pull the plunger on the syringe, and the vacuum effect happening.
Basically I pull the plunger back and it acts like the needle is clogged and I'm just creating a vacuum in the syringe. I've tried different needle sites over the course of several days in order to give her a break..
What am I possibly doing wrong? I'm using the most highly recommended needles I've seen, poking her in the same spots I've seen in videos(where the skin feels thin, no veins, and very water balloon like feeling)
Thankfully Winnie has been very well behaved. But we haven't accomplished the initial goal yet and it's getting frustrating and I don't feel comfortable treating her like a science experiment.
Any advice from the amazing people here? Am I somehow getting the needle into muscle tissue? I'm only putting the needle on her right side, lower right of her 'water balloon'. I've read and heard to only do right side because their reproductive organs are all on the left side.
I just want to remove some of her fluid buildup so she can be more comfortable during her time left on our beautiful planet, and after following every instruction I've read or seen, I've only had very small success one time.
Am I missing something?
Thanks in advance!
