Booster jab in rear end

[phoenix]

I took healthy tiny Tinker for the dreaded booster today,  and mistakenly thought he was taking her temperature up the bum.  I was still Waiting for the scruff of the neck jab, when he started saying goodbye to me. Neither Tinker or I had realised he'd already  done it in her thigh!    He said that this is how it's done now.  Like some people.   I googled this , and some say that if you have two shots eg + a rabies, they do different legs, so they can see which has caused a reaction. 
She didn't feel it, whereas with a scrawny neck, it has hurt her before.   
Any one know anything about this.?

[Mudmagnets]

I took healthy tiny Tinker for the dreaded booster today,  and mistakenly thought he was taking her temperature up the bum.  I was still Waiting for the scruff of the neck jab, when he started saying goodbye to me. Neither Tinker or I had realised he'd already  done it in her thigh!    He said that this is how it's done now.  Like some people.   I googled this , and some say that if you have two shots eg + a rabies, they do different legs, so they can see which has caused a reaction. 
She didn't feel it, whereas with a scrawny neck, it has hurt her before.   
Any one know anything about this.?

Not heard of it b4, but weather permitting I am taking Minstrel for his booster tomorrow, so will let you know

[Mari]

I don't know anything specific. But some injections are given just under the skin and some into a muscle and for some meds you can choose (and some go in the blood, but no vaccines I know of).

Most vaccines are injected under the skin as far as I've seen. And the neck is a practical site for these types of injections since the skin is extra loose there. But it is possible to do it other places too. I had one vet who gave injections under the loose skin in front of the hip. Dogs have a practical feature, their skin is not firmly attached to the muscle underneath the way our skin is. So subcutaneous injections are easy to do on them.

When injecting something (vaccine or other meds) into a muscle it is common to do this in the gluteal area since this is a meaty area with plenty of muscle to hit. My dog has gotten injections and vaccines both places. It makes sense to use two different sites for vaccines or other injections that should not be mixed.

When it comes to pain, a subcutaneous injection (scruff of neck type) should be the least painful in theory. There is plenty of space for the injection to go into and you only penetrate the skin with a tiny needle. For an intramuscular injection you also penetrate part of the muscle and force the liquid into it rather than into an empty space. But we get our human vaccines in the muscle and as we know it is only a passing discomfort, a vaccine is such a small injection it's rarely as painful as we imagine.

As we know from our own experience pain is relative. Some injections hurt more than others. And we react differently on different days. I have given my dog injections under the skin of the neck for her arthrosis, some times she yelps other times she does not react at all. Same medicine and dosage, same injection site, same size needle and completely different reactions

[phoenix]

Thanks Mari,   That’s interesting. I think it must have been in loose skin because it was done in a second! It strikes me as safer than the neck end for a small dog or puppy.

[Mari]

Thanks Mari,   That’s interesting. I think it must have been in loose skin because it was done in a second! It strikes me as safer than the neck end for a small dog or puppy.

Both are safe, almost impossible to do anything wrong with a subcutaneous injections when you have been taught how to do it. Especially on cockers since there is plenty loose skin to lift up to create more space for the needle. It's basicly the first thing vet students are allowed to try because it is difficult to mess up. But it looks scary, especially on the little ones, I agree In the muscle is quick too, especially when someone with experience does it

[PennyB]

Thanks Mari,   That’s interesting. I think it must have been in loose skin because it was done in a second! It strikes me as safer than the neck end for a small dog or puppy.

Some vets though can be really skilled in doing certain things (one vet in my practice used to administer the KC vax and you didn't now they'd done it yet another vet you knew)

[Patp]

There are also reports that some dogs get cancerous tumours where they are injected so vets may choose to inject into a leg as it can be removed!  I don't boost anymore and the lepto vaccination has wreaked havoc with jinleys immune system. 

[Mari]

There are also reports that some dogs get cancerous tumours where they are injected so vets may choose to inject into a leg as it can be removed!  I don't boost anymore and the lepto vaccination has wreaked havoc with jinleys immune system. 

What reports? What type of tumors? Never heard anything like that. If a vaccine was proven to cause cancer it would be removed from the market. It would actually never even reach the market as there is extensive testing before medications are approved for use. It is not unheard of to get lumps at injection sites that may look like tumors, these disappear after a while by themselves and are completely harmless.

[Patp]

https://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/cancer/c_dg_vaccine_sarcoma

[PennyB]

I was told its still quite rare in UK re vaccine sarcoma - I had a cat with a fibrosarcoma on his neck and she said even then its unlikely

Its more likely they preferred putting it into a muscle as others have said some are put under the skin (my vet once allowed me to inject antibiotics into my cat to stop him getting stressed by having to go to the out of hours vets when my vet was closed (my cat had to have 2 injections a day at the time) but as I was happy injecting him with insulin anyway my vet trusted me to do this (he prepared the syringes in the practice) and they need to be under the skin too

[Mari]

https://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/cancer/c_dg_vaccine_sarcoma

Thanks, interesting! I did a quick search on google scholar for research articles and surveys. Seems like there could maybe be a possible connection, but it also seems to be extremely rare to find a presumed vaccine related sarcomas. I didn't find the research worrying at all. Not pretending to be an expert on evidence based medicine here, just did a quick search to satisfy my curiosity. One thing I do know or certain is that they don't choose injection sites to have a more convenient location for a potential super rare tumor occurence. Vets are people, most of them care about animals more than the average person.