Fluid help

S

SqueeM3

Member Since 2026
Sometimes the fluid flows quickly out of the bag and other times it barely drips out of the bag
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The tubing isn't kinked. The wheel is fully opened. I don't want to shift the needle too much under the skin because it has a tendency to pop out the tent and leak fluid everywhere. On a bad day, I might get 5o mls or less into Leroy before he starts moving which makes the needle pop out or fluids leak everywhere :blackeye: Any tips on how to get the fluids to flow out every time?
 
Hey Squeem, hope you get some tips from the others. I'll do some research for you later.

In my engineer brain I can imagine that if the needle goes in even a little weird or is like being blocked by some tissue that the pressure of the fluids in the bag/line isn’t enough to flow. Maybe a slight reposition? What gauge needle? Bag high enough?
 
I read some discussions online and it seems like a lot of folks are talking about needle positioning and adjusting the position slightly can make a big difference. Even just a little rotation. They also talk about avoiding scar tissue. There was one discussion about the larger gauge needles potentially being uncomfortable, even though they have a higher flow rate, maybe you net more fluids with a smaller needle (he sits longer).
 
It went better today although I still had to poke him 5 times because the needle kept going through the tent :facepalm: And he was meatloafing so I couldn't get a good tent anyways.
 
I’m definitely not an expert, but what helped me with Kai was making a larger skin tent and inserting the needle more parallel to the body instead of straight downward. When I used too steep of an angle, I’d sometimes poke through the other side. But i'm not sure how much skin you have to work with. Kai has a good amount to pull at lol every cat is different.
 
Leroy is a skeleton with little skin☹️ There's not much skin to tent up. I try to point down because going parallel means going straight through the tent. I've seen videos where people insert parallel right over the spine but Leroy's boney spine isn't covered with such skin. Poking bone might be 🫣
 
Fluids today was difficult. The needle kept popping out of the tent no matter which way I poked it in or where on his body. Leroy wouldn't eat his snack so he kept moving and the tubing is only so long. I ended up poking him more times that he liked to get less than 100 ml in. He was growling and cranky :(
 
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