Injecting Horse

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BeckyCandy

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My horse has just been castrated but had abdominal surgery as he only had one testicle that had dropped. I have to inject him with Penicillin every morning. He is very needle shy since having the surgery he was fine with jabs before this. He is 3 years old and i've done a lot of ground work with him that is quickly unravling I ended up calling the vet out to inject him yesterday who struggled and mangaed to inject him after 4 attepmts. What can I do to make this easier for him and me he is terrified runing away and doesnt want you to touch him now apart from hes head. Any advice would be really appreciated. :)
 
BeckyCandy said:
My horse has just been castrated but had abdominal surgery as he only had one testicle that had dropped. I have to inject him with Penicillin every morning. He is very needle shy since having the surgery he was fine with jabs before this. He is 3 years old and i've done a lot of ground work with him that is quickly unravling I ended up calling the vet out to inject him yesterday who struggled and mangaed to inject him after 4 attepmts. What can I do to make this easier for him and me he is terrified runing away and doesnt want you to touch him now apart from hes head. Any advice would be really appreciated. :)
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Firstly I'd make sure you have large gauge needles as Penicillin is a bugger to inject as it's so thick! I would make sure that you go in and give him some attention which doesn't involve you sticking needles into him! The he will not expect a needle everytime you go into his box. Do you have someone to hold his head whilst you are doing it?
 
If I was you I would make sure you have a trustworthy assistant, someone who you believe has the ability to calm and contain the horse, I would also put a nose twitch on a couple of minutes before you go to do the injection (really helps to cut down on stress!), then as mentioned above make sure needle is a high enough gauge to mean that the antibiotics go in easily. The other thing I do is I don't put a number limit on the amount of times you bang the muscle before injecting, I keep banging until I feel the muscle is relaxed enough to inject, even if this takes two minutes, its much less painful for the horse if the muscle is relaxed. One last thing, when pushing the plunger down if possible do it steadily, I think it helps to keep pain to a minimum if the antibiotics go in slowly (obviously only when safe to do so!). Good luck!
 
Thank you for all replies. We get the penicilin out of the fridge half and hour before so that is cools and thins a bit and isnt so cold going into him. He is pretty much in a blind panic mode now even when he see's us :( We put the needle in and let him relax then managed to get 5mls in and he went mad. Kick out etc, in the end we had to give up before he hurt himself and gae him hes dinner i got hes soft brush out but he just kept spinning away whenever i went near hes neck belly bum etc he is pretty traumatised by the last few days bless him. He isnt backed so no option to do it when ridden unfortunately. The needle is big enough for the injection. We have tryed twitching, distracting with carrots and covering eyes with hands a towel etc but the minute he hears any movement or feels you attatch the suringe to the needle he spins away runs backwards etc. Its all very stressful.
 
Ask your vet if you can change to Norodine granules to put in his feed. You will have a seriously phobic horse if you persue the injecting course of action. There is no need for this when the Norodine will do the job perfectly adequately.
 
As he is ok until you start to inject I would think the biggest problem is that penicillin stings like hell and he knows it. I would ask your vet about either giving him granules in his feed, a paste thats given orally (syringed like a wormer), or perhaps exenel which may cost more and need a bit more careful handling/storage but its a lot easier to inject and does not sting.
 
Are you changing where you are injecting him everytime? Eg. neck, rump, opposite side rump and then neck? I would just have someone good at his head and get on with it. But as I said make sure that you're not injecting him everytime you go into his stable as he'll put two and two together. I would also make sure that the Penicillin is warmer than fridge temperature before injecting. Or just ask your vet to come out twice a day and do it for you?
 
With our young boy he got a feed in a big bucket for something to concentrate on, one handler to distract and the other to inject. Decent needles make a world of difference

If this continues you may have to try something like the half tap (look up endospink on you tube), otherwise he will become needle shy for life, which is very undesirable
 
Two things for you to try:

1. Pain levels - is he on any bute or other pain relief? If he is uncomfortable then he will be much more sensitive to things like injections than he normally is. Remember horses are not good at showing low level or constant pain, so if he is not on any pain relief then he needs some (think what you would need if you were in his shoes).

2. If pain is being managed then you need to manage his expectations and adapt the injection technique. The muscle should be relaxed, few horses relax a muscle that is being hit so try a firm rub with the back of your hand containing the needle then 'pop' it in rather than throwing/hammering it in. Make sure the needle is a brand new one (sharp ones hurt less) so inject with a different one to drawing it up with. Whilst you are injecting have someone distracting - a firm repeated pat on his neck/neck twitch/food. Try a different muscle group (neck/bottom/pectorals), some horse hate one site but hardly notice another.

Failing that change antibiotic! Somethings just aren't worth risking yourself for or upsetting your horse that much.

Good luck!!!
 
We have tried different sites, different distractions, different twitching areas(neck & nose) Vet is very reluctant to give powder or oral as he has had abdominal surgery risk of infection is very high. Which is important but what is also important is that he does not become a dangerous horse. He is already vary wary of me and others. I caught him tonight and gave him dinner. Then just stood for ages rubbing and patting both sides of neck whilst giving treats them put him back out. I am going to go down to the vets tomorrow for more needles and also insist they give me powder as well so if we can only get 10mls in we can give him powder in he's feed. I do not want a ruined horse. :(
 
Ask your vet for Karidox. It's a liquid version of a relatively broad spectrum antibiotic with good tissue availability and will be better than powders.

If you're not able to inject the full dose then there is little point carrying on, even if you forget about the negative effects on your horse, and do make sure he is on enough bute.
 
p.s. one of mine had surgery as a foal, followed by many injections, and she was very dangerous. She is now 4 and I can do anything with her, so all is not lost.
 
That is really good to hear. I suppose its just awful to watch when they are sore and tired from surgery having to go through painful injection and the added worry that he won't let us inject him when we know he needs it. Is the Keridox easier to inject?
 
BeckyCandy said:
That is really good to hear. I suppose its just awful to watch when they are sore and tired from surgery having to go through painful injection and the added worry that he won't let us inject him when we know he needs it. Is the Keridox easier to inject?
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Karidox is a liquid to put in his feed (or squirt into his mouth if he'll let you!?!), so you should then avoid injections all together. We regularly use it instead of injectables for various reasons and most horses accept it in their feed and it is much better than powders.

And yes, it's awful when you are trying to do the best by them in helping them but they just think you're out to get them. Keep spending time with him and he will get there.
 
Managed to inject him. Got him in the stable blind folded him patted him hard both sides. It appears he was taking the mic along with being worried so we dealt with him how we would if he messed around in hand and he stood still inject went he no problem and the stress level was zero for him and everyone. He is still chilled and allowed me to groom without a problem
 
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