Any injection helpful hints?

[hallenhe]

Thaxter's on a ten day course of antibiotics (piperacillin) for an infection in his tail. The vet gave the first injection yesterday, and, as always happens, he made it look so easy. Thaxter barely moved and seemed rather unperturbed. My husband is better with needles than I am, and has very graciously agreed to do the honors. Of course, it's never as easy at home as at the vet's...
Any helpful hints for a calm chameleon and an easy injection process? We thought we might catch him while he was sleeping (because he will obstinately keep his eyes closed and ignore you when he thinks it's time to sleep); anyone tried this? Would covering his head calm him down? Or do we just accept that nobody likes needles and it's only eight more days?
BTW, while he may have been unhappy, Thaxter certainly wasn't ready to carry sulking to the point of ignoring a superworm, and so he had a nice treat after his shot.

 

[jojackson]

Covering the head with a cloth seems to calm them down, or atleast cause them to fall still long enough to get the job done. Ive been treating a Boyds forest dragon for a freind
and found he settled quickly this way.
Did your vet advise to inject at the front of the lizard, just behind the front leg?
The rear half should be avoided to ensure against re-action/problems with the animals renal system. I assume this applies equally to most species, though im not a veternary biologist.

They certainly dont appreciate it thats for sure. This poor fella runs when you open the cage. On a positive note its improving and looking good.
Best wishes with your lizard.

p.s im talking about subdermal injection in my case.

 

[justjumpit621]

Where do you need to inject it? I had to inject them into molly's muscle. I would say just keep a firm hold on him, you can cover his head if you'd like. Just make sure you don't slip, especially if you are around a spot with vital organs or nerves. Also, their skin does not heal as fast as ours so make sure it does not come back out the hole.

 

[hallenhe]

Yeah, this is subdermal, and just behind the front leg. The vet did go through the don't-inject-in-the-hind-parts because of rapid renal elimination spiel; he said some people are starting to question the veracity of this (at least in chameleons), but to stick with the front. He said injecting in the muscle wouldn't harm anything, but would be more painful. These are tiny needles, and you'd probably have to work at it for them to do real damage; I'm probably at least as concerned with making this as low-stress as possible for us as for Thaxter (who isn't going to be thinking, "Oh no, I've got to go through this again tomorrow!" or "Boy, I didn't like that shot half an hour ago!").

 

[jojackson]

Its not going to like it anyway, so you may be onto something with doing it insitu while its asleep. If he dosent budge, you should be able to do it quickly with minimal disturbance that way. Breaking the skin with the needle almost parrallel to the body isnt difficult and dosent seem to illicet any pain or discomfort response.
Check to ensure against injecting air bubbles anyway, and push the plunger nice and slow, the skin will balloon up slightly. No fluid should leak on removal.
You can gently massage the spot for a second or two with a fingertip afterward to disperse it a little. A slight bubble will remain but will go down and should not be cause for concern.
Naturally take care to avoid contaminating the needle pre-injection by accidental contact with surfaces. If your really fussy, you could dab the spot with neosporin or betadine etc before/after.
Cheers

 

[Carlton]

You may notice dark gray bruising at the injection sites. To avoid re-injecting the same tissue you can alternate one side or the other each day. I've injected chams several times and found that if they are cool (turn the lights off a while before you do it) they don't react much...actually much less traumatic than trying to force a liquid orally. He won't like it much anyway, but memory is short...once the course is done he'll gradually forget all about it.

 

[kinyonga]

I was always told to give the injection in the upper arm muscle. You have to go in on quite an angle so you won't hit the bone. I was also told (as Carlton said) to change the injection site with each injection. I sit the chameleon on a towel so that it has something to hang onto. I put my left hand (since I'm right handed) over the chameleon's back and grasp it so that the arms are pinned against its body. With my right hand I do the injection...its all over in a couple of seconds and the chameleon can be released from my grip and placed back into the cage. The towel can slide around while the back legs are gripping it so even if it struggles to get free it has nothing to push against and the arm remains steady.

I don't know if you could do it while it was asleep just by poking it or not. I definitely wouldn't want it to move while being injected in case it either broke the needle or damaged the chameleon.

 

[graydon]

Doing it while the cham is sleeping seems stressful to the cham.. You will be very lucky if you dont wake up the cham while trying to inject it.

 

[FaunaBgirl]

My cham hated the towel and that became the trauma so I had to keep inventing ways of getting him injected without it. I would carry him to a different location sometimes. And sometimes I would feed him and while his head was up swallowing, I would do a quick inject by pincing his forearm in my left two fingers to pull the skin taut and slip in between the scales to the little meat there. The only time it really hurt him is if I didn't make it between the scales but rather poked a scale giving the injection. And if it gets awkward or hard for you, just remember that missing shots or not getting his meds will increase your chance of loosing him. I say this harsh thing, because I hated to poke my boy, hurting him and our carefully built trust. I had to stay strong about it. I found that if I told him what I was going to do and why, he was more receptive to the inevitable. One time, I didn't say a word, he saw the needle coming and he went right over on his perch and was hanging upside down. I wish I'd gotten it on vid because it looked like he'd fainted. Too funny. We're ok today and all is well. Same for you!

 

[ItODDospeed]

In this thread there is some good practical knowledge. With that being said, I had an Iguana for 13 years and my mother and I treated him for all sorts of ailments. I am also currently having some issues with a Chameleon. I did then and I've found now that any procedure on a lizard is better when a it's sleeping. In the end, do what you are comfortable with along with your lizard so your procedures are a success. I hope your pet gets better.

 

[hallenhe]

Thanks for all your suggestions and input. And thanks for the warning, FaunaBgirl, but no need to worry; I'm not going to risk selecting for a resistant population of bacteria by discontinuing the antibiotics before the full course.
I'm lucky in that my husband is willing to do the actual shots, so I get to be the good guy, Distributor of Superworms. (Though he's had them two days in a row now, and he'll have to learn that you don't always get a lollipop after your shot.)