Vet leaving drugs...do you feel comfortable in administering them?

Spit That Out

Spit That Out

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Whenever my vet has pascribed treatments such as injecting penicillin he's never asked me if I'm ok in doing it myself and has left me the medicine and syringes... He is a no nonsense vet that mainly deals with farmers. I personally haven't got a problem in doing it but there is a lady on the yard that gets her vet out on a daily basis to inject. I have offered but she looked at me as if I had gone mad at even contemplating injecting her horse, I just thought it would save her on a few call out charges?

Apparently her horse won't eat the powder so it has to be injected.

Obviously I'm not talking about Intravenous.

Are you ok with injecting your horse? Are you allowed to inject other peoples horses or have i offered to do a big no, no? Does your vet leave you with administrating the medicine or do you require a daily vet visit?
 
I had to inject my horse for a few days when he had an infection and although I was a bit nervous about doing it, it was surprisingly easy, especially as my horse didn't bat an eyelid. Certainly saved on vets fees!
 
I'm a nurse and would inject either of mine if they weren't dangerous to do!!! Don't want to mess up for the vets, they need to be able to jab them. One of mine eats any drugs, the other is convinced she's being poisoned!!!
 
Personally I don't like doing it, and would also prefer a vet to come out and do it. I can understand the ladies view point on your yard having had another livery volunteering to do the job on my old yard (apparently she had done it loads) she promptly let the syringe fill up with air (only didn't put the needle in when I pointed this out) and then proceeded to stab my mare so hard that she bent the needle. If it had been another horse, she would have probably have been booted to the moon I would never let anyone do it no matter how well meaning it was meant. Sorry OP
 
I'm happy to inject and have done other people's when I used to be at a livery yard. Not bothered at all. The only horse I won't inject myself is my daughters pony as is confidence is zilch and I'm probably the only person he trusts I'd not want to risk ruining that by ever hurting him :) even if it was for his own good!
 
Yes I'm happy to do it. My vet showed me how years ago when my little pony needed daily injections. As long as I didn't try in her rhino skin like arse, I managed fine!!
 
Yup . . . Kal recently needed injected antibios (Cobactan) for a persistent skin infection and after the vet had showed me how, I was happy to do it myself . . . however, Kal is really good to handle, etc., so he made it easy for me. I would hesitate to do someone else's horse.

P
 
Not a problem, when my old mare was ill, she needed 40 (yes 40!) ml of IM anti-biotic daily, 20ml in each quarter. It was ok for the first few days, but she soon got sore and very wary, then it became a 2 man job! Poor girl, felt desperate for her, but had to be done.
 
I would not inject someone else's horse in this day and age - what would you do if it went wrong?? Antibiotics are a particular risk as it's quite possible for a horse to have an anaphylactic reaction without having shown any previous signs, which can be fatal! Plus there are the usual risks of potentially hitting a blood vessel if you're not very careful or causing an abscess. Not common but certainly possible!

I've injected many horses over the years, in a different time and place, including iv's. I would feel confident injecting my own if necessary but, now I understand the risks more fully and have witnessed a horse react, it would truly have to be a matter of life or death before I injected anyone else's horse.
 
You can inject your own horse, but it is actually illegal to inject a horse belonging to someone else so you should not be doing friends horses or other liveries
 
I'd do my own if the vet showed me how. I've injected a family member with insulin, using a needle and/or a pen so wouldn't mind doing the horse.
 
Don't get me wrong, I'm not bothered that she declined, its not something I enjoy doing but with a £20 call out fee on a daily basis for two weeks I thought as she wasn't confident in doing it herself she would appreciate the offer not look at me as if I'd just grown horns and a tail!!

It wasn't really a post about you injecting others more are you confident doing your own?
 
hottoddy said:
You can inject your own horse, but it is actually illegal to inject a horse belonging to someone else so you should not be doing friends horses or other liveries
Click to expand...

I'm not sure this is right? It's illiagal to inject intravenous but not inter-muscular

Anyhoo...I'm quite happy doing my own and if someone asked I would do theirs but I'll think twice about offering to do it.
 
As Tarrsteps said you shouldn't inject other people's horses (I do but as part of my commuity work on behalf of vets - we live in the sticks and people cant/wont pay a €50 call out charge for a vet to inject horse so either it doesn't get the treatment or I do it)

Also happy to do IV, again what should I do wait an hour or more for vet to get here? When I was asked to give my tiny terrier an IV drip at home I was a little shocked I have to say! I did it though and had no problems.

I wouldn't advise anyone inject any animal without being trained by their vet how to do.

Also needles can bend if horse moves while needle is in or in case of my filly who has a very thick neck (vet did her first injection and needle bent) so not necessarily the fault of the 'injecter' if needle bends.
 
I don't have a problem with injecting any of my animals IM or SQ but do take a pragmatic view on it. I had the option recently to stab my weanling daily or put powder in feed. As he's just had a fairly traumatic few weeks with weaning, gelding etc I didn't think it was fair to then change his view of me as provider and comforter into someone who caused him pain. Powders it was:)

I'll also happily manage an IV line with drip and drugs.
 
Don`t have a problem injecting my own animals, IM, SC or IV (in my job I do frequent injections anyway & a cow is not much different to a horse!)

But I would be very wary of injecting other peoples horses as I wouldn`t want to be the one who`d put the needle in if things did go pear shaped (which although rare, does happen!)
 
I chickened out when my cob needed IM antibiotics and let my husband do it instead! He has had years and years of practice on cows so was more than happy to oblige. It was a good thing he did do the injections as my boy needed them done for 5 weeks and the callout charges for that amount of time would have been astronomical!!
 
I've jsut had to inject my horse for the last 10days its an intra-muscular injection so very simple to do though i feel really guilty having to repeatedly stab my horse i have no problem doing it myself just worry my horse will fall out with me lol :-) i dont mind him thinking the vets a big meanie but don't want him to have this opinion fo me so he gets jabbed then lots of cuddles and a carrot so hes good as gold
 
I'm quite happy doing shots - my sister even does IV shots on her tb (vet taught her, long story)

You cannot do injections on someone elses horse tho unless you are a vet/vet tech
 
I can't IM inject my mare it really freaks me out, I was once however left with a canula (?) in my mares neck and had to do about 6 injections a day into it, the vet showed me how to do it, watching for air bubbles and it was all ok!
 
It is perfectly legal for you to inject IM your own or anyone else's horse, not that I would these days. its not that long ago I'd
happily do anyone's that asked, but wouldn't do it now.
It is illegal to inject IV unless you are a vet. The loophole here is that the law is such that you can deliver any treatment to your own animals without qualifications, but try giving IV to someone else's animal and you may find yourself prosecuted.
 
I have done, didnt like the feeling as it popped through the skin so got OH to do it while I held her but I'm soft!! I can do it and would if OH not there (or any other horse than my baby!)
 
I always used to take notes so that I knew exactly what I was doing and when (and what not to do) plus I could always call the vet if I had questions. The first time I was left with antibiotics to inject, I asked the vet to watch me while I did the first one - the first time is always the hardest. Since then I've injected many other people's horses without any problems. I think it is something we should all be able to do (even if we don't like it). Like learning CPR!
 
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