If visits to the vet throw your dog into bouts of anxiety, learning how to vaccinate your pet at home might help keep him calm and relaxed. You can continue his annual vaccination schedule to maintain a disease-free animal, but emergencies and unexpected illnesses will still require veterinary care. Inoculating your dog yourself will save money on vet and clinic fees while preserving his health.
Things You'll Need
- Vaccines
- Needles
- Syringes
Instructions
Extracting the Vaccine
Place the needle onto the syringe and turn it clockwise to tighten it. When the needle and syringe come as one unit, the needle needs to be tightened in the same fashion.
Remove the needle cap and insert the needle into the vaccine vial through the rubber seal on top of the bottle. Pull back on the syringe plunger to withdraw all the liquid into the syringe. If the vaccine vial contains multiple doses, extract only one milliliter (1 cc).
Check to see if the vaccine is a recombinant, meaning that the vaccine has been split into liquid and powder components. In this situation, withdraw the liquid portion into your syringe. Inject the liquid into the solid portion, remove the needle and syringe and shake the vial to mix the ingredients. Place the needle back into the vial and extract all of the combined liquid into the syringe.
Remove the needle from the vial and slowly push the syringe plunger to expel any excess air inadvertently drawn into the syringe.
Injecting the Vaccine
Ask a helper to hold your dog so that the animal doesn̵7;t move or jump during the injection.
Lift a portion of your pet̵7;s skin directly over the shoulder blade. You should see what appears to be a loose V-shaped fold of skin.
Insert the needle gently into the middle of the ̶0;V̶1;, checking to see that the needle is not protruding through the other side of the skin fold.
Pull back on the plunger to make sure you have not inserted the needle into a blood vessel. If you see a small amount of blood in the syringe, lightly pull back on the needle for a small distance and readjust your position without removing and re-inserting the entire needle.
Administer the vaccine by pushing smoothly on the syringe plunger until all the liquid is gone. Remove the needle and replace the cap.