Step 1 - Find you spot
Determine where on your pet’s body you will be administering the injection. Areas with lots of loose skin - like the scruff or between the shoulders - are good places to give subcutaneous injections, because there is frequently loose skin, and pets don’t often react painfully to injections administered here.
Step 2 - Lift the skin
Using your non-dominant hand, lift the skin away from the body. When we administer subcutanous injections, we are giving them into the area beneath the skin, and lifting the skin allows us to avoid administering the injection into muscle.
Step 3 - Make a tent
Push your finger against the skin you’ve just lifted, coming from behind the skin you’re holding up (rather than perpendicular into the side of it). The skin that you have lifted forms a “tent”, and where your finger is pushing here is the “entrance” to the tent.
Step 4 - Find the entrance
When you are administering SQ injections, you will be inserting the needing from behind the skin you are holding up - at the entrance of your tent. Do not inject into the side of your tent - you may poke your needle all the way through.
Step 5 - Insert your needle
Insert your needle into the skin at the “entrance” of your tent - not the side. Your needle should be inserted at an angle parallel to the spine - not downward towards the spine.
Step 6 - Check for blood
Once the needle is in the skin, gently pull back your syringe plunger to check for blood. If blood comes into the syringe, you have hit a vessel. If you have — this will be very noticeable. This is extremely unlikely to occur following these instructions. If pulling your plunger allows blood to enter the syringe, do not give the injection, as you will give the injection vascularly, which may be dangerous. If this occurs, pull the needle out, and start over with a new injection. If air enters the syringe, you may have gone all the way through the skin, so that the tip of your syringe is drawing in room air.
Step 7 - Give the injection
If there’s no blood in your syringe, go ahead and give your injection! When you are done, pull the needle back out of the skin and discard the syringe.
Step 8 - Don't forget the treats
Give your pet a treat! While subcutaneous injections are not painful to the vast majority of our pets, it’s good to give them treats to reinforce the perception that shots are not a bad thing - and that they get a reward at the end!
