I am giving Adequan every month, and have been for about a year. I usually give the injection in the front of my GSD's legs, alternating each month. Recently I saw a vet and asked about different sites I could use. He showed me on the back where I could do it, a couple inches out from the spinal cord.
I'm a nurse and used to giving human's IM injections, and am comfortable because I know the anatomy. I am not so familiar with a dog's anatomy, and fear doing something wrong. Does anyone have any knowledge about this? I gave him the injection in his back this morning, and usually he stands perfectly still when I go in the legs, but he flinched when I gave it in the back. (I know to draw back to be sure it's not in a vessel.) How big is the musculature on the back? I don't want to damage any organs, and certainly no nerves. Is there any risk of that?
Searching online has been fruitless in answering these questions, and I should have asked more direct questions of the vet.
Reg: 08-29-2006
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I'd probably place a call to your vet, just to be 100% sure.
I don't think the needle is long enough to damage an organ. There's always a chance you could hit a nerve, which might be painful but I don't believe is dangerous. The vet will know better than I do about nerves.
IMO, the back seems like a more sensitive spot and if it was the first time, he probably wasn't expecting the pinch there.
I use the hind-leg thigh muscles for Adequan injections and that works OK.
I've been using the thigh muscles, alternating for a year. But I'm just concerned to keep using those muscles (especially with his recent left leg pain); I don't want to cause a problem due to inadvertent re-injection into the same spot. He's a lean dog, without much thigh to work with!
It's a good idea to alternate any injection sites, no matter what the med. Any time you introduce a needle into your skin/fat/muscle, you're causing a small trauma to the tissues in the area. Repeated injections into the same spot can lead to scar tissue buildup, infection at the over-traumatized site, potential tumor development due to repeated trauma, or can cause a significant wound to develop. I've seen it mainly with IV drug abusers, who continually use the same vein.
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IM injection sites
#211353 - 10/02/2008 10:07 AM 
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