Veterinary Medical Practices Injections Worksheet

Introduction to Injections

·      Dosage and administration statements describing directions for use such as how much, how often and for how long as well as the route of administaration such as intramuscular, subcutaneous or intravenous can be found on the drug label.

·      An intramuscular or IM injection is the injection of a substance directly into the muscle.

·      Injections are most commonly given with a syringe, which is made up of three parts: one the barrel, two the plunger, and three the needle.

·      Needle sizes are measured by gauge.

Small Animal

·      Bordetella is an oral vaccine.

·      There might be a little bit of swelling where the injection was given initially, that is completely normal.

·       Another vaccine that we commonly use is called feline leukemia which is a disease which affects a cats immune system.

·      Cats, historically have been associated with things called vaccine induced sarcomas or injectable induced sarcomas.

·      There are a couple locations that you can give an IV injections, the most common are the cephalic veins which run on both forelimbs.

·      We have several sharps containers located around the clinic, wherever we commonly use needles or scalpel blades.

Large Animal

·      We give all IM injections, in horses, in this triangle right here in their neck.

·      The vaccine is absorbed through the mucous membranes in the nose.

·      IM injections are generally given in this triangle right here in cattle.

·      There are a few antibiotics that are labeled for injection at the base of the ear.

·      I use the tent method for Sub Q injections and elevate the skin.

·      IV or intravenous injections and blood sampling is another procedure we do in cattle using the jungluar vein.