Yet ANOTHER polio question

[Jcran]

Ok, here I go AGAIN! Today, yippee, "Twister" actually ate hay...Yeah, team. My question is this: whenever I enter his pen, he starts to cry...yep, I am the big hurty monster. He sees me and starts this piteous, "Mom, help me...I don't feel good, and this hag's not helping matters." He's been getting 2 shots every 6 hours since Sunday. His little body is just absolutley full of holes! Can I give him his dose of thiamine orally? As I am adjusting the penicilling down to 2x a day for the next three days I would love to be able to limit the "needling". The thiamine is the injectable one from the vets.

[fishhead]

Have you tried giving him some raisins after the shot so the encounter ends on a happy note?

Also I've been told by people with a lot of experience with goats that SQ shots are just as good as IM and much less painful.

[Jcran]

I've been giving the subq shots in an effort to alleviate the pain...I tried yummies (and yes, I am sure going to try raisins) but he has been so sick he didn't want to eat anything. I am starting to feel ever SOSOOOO guilty! Even when I walk up to the pen, he looks at me so sadly. Now, I am not trying to anthropomorphize him into a human, and by golly, no shots=end-o-living so that's not going to stop in toto, but I would like to "lighten up" a bit, if you know what I mean.

[DocM]

Yes, you could give it to him orally at this point, it just won't work as fast, it will still work. Poor guy. They really know how to turn on the pitiful face, don't they? My polio girl runs away from me, so I know she's doing lots better.

[fishhead]

I gave my littlest wether a painful shot last summer. I grabbed him and massaged the site fairly hard for a bit. That seemed to help. A few minutes later he was grazing as if nothing happened. I was still breathing hard.

Thiamine is produced in the gut so it makes since that it can be given orally once the urgent need is over.