Place the needle for injecting

Place needle with care

Second Revision, Thursday, 22 January 2009; 19:50

Place the needle up against the tent

At one side of the tent, put the needle in place. You may want to brush hair aside if you can't see what you're doing, but unless your dog has lots of very puffy hair, you can probably omit that step. When the hair lies against the skin, even if it's rather long, it follows the shape you have pinched up.

Place before plunging

It is when the needle pierces the skin that the dog may feel a prick. However, the pinching of the skin probably numbs it just a bit, and if you first place, without pricking or plunging, you can then, swiftly, simply slide the needle right through the skin.

If you think of inserting the needle as "sliding," you will probably get just the right effect, so as not to push the needle with force, but smply insert it under the skin. This way, you don't add bruising to the occasion.

Throughout, hold that tent of skin steady, and make sure not to wiggle the needle once you've slid it under the skin.

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