Diabetic Dog

Does anyone else give insulin shots to a pet? It went well for us for the first two months, but now I freeze up when it's time to poke the needle in and my hands start shaking. I've talked to my NOCD therapist about it and we aren't sure if it's OCD or GAD, but it has been so hard. This morning I was crying and my dog had to stand there for forever and I've been stressed all day about how I have to do it all over again tonight. If you have experience with struggles giving pets shots, I'd love some advice.

Amy B.

Date posted: 2d

Some more info: A big fear is that it will hurt when I poke the needle in, or that I'll accidently poke it somewhere I'm not supposed to (he has a lot of fat lumps where he has skin loose enough to do the injections). He cried when giving him his shot once, which led to me being nervous, which has built up to all of this.

sick&tired

Date posted: Yesterday

Hello, I’ve had to administer subcutaneous fluids to help my cat with kidney disease. I don’t think I struggled with OCD when I was doing it. Or anxiety. If anything, the OCD was telling me to do everything I can to protect her. I would say remind yourself that this is an act of love. Maybe talk to your therapist about seeking reassurance vs. trusting yourself. You care about your pet and want to see them happy and healthy. 💕

Amy B.

Date posted: Yesterday

@sick&tired I really appreciate you bringing up trusting myself. My dog trusts me so much—I don't think he would let anyone else in the family give him his shots even though it's been a disaster lately. He still just stands there, often for minutes at a time and sometimes while I'm crying and shaking, just waiting for me. If he can trust me that much, maybe I should trust myself a little more too. I like that mind frame and I'm going to see if it helps. I don't meet with my therapist again until Tuesday, and I've got to give 10 more shots between now and then. Thank you!! ❤️

sick&tired

Date posted: 21h

@Amy B. Sounds like you’re a wonderful pet parent! And I wanted to clarify that this wasn’t my backhanded way of saying that I think you’re reassurance seeking. Just from the thoughts you’re having, I would ask myself: did the vet already share everything that I need to know about how to properly administer the shots? Am I truly missing some information to do this safely and accurately, or is this just my anxiety/OCD talking? Do I really think that I’m causing my dog harm, or do I know that medical procedures are generally uncomfortable for everyone? These questions would usually help me determine if I’m about to engage in reassurance seeking or not. But also I’m not a professional and I prefer I-CBT vs. ERP so take this with a grain of salt 😅 You got this! Remember, your dog is being patient with you because he loves and trusts you. And he knows that the shots are helping him feel better. 🫶🏽

Amy B.

Date posted: 21h

@sick&tired Thanks for writing again. I do feel like I have all the info I need, and that the fear is irrational. But knowing it is irrational hasn't made it easier. In so many ways this has felt like OCD, but overall I really don't know if it is, and so I'm not sure that ERP has been the best for it. Doing loop tapes about how I might hurt him and practicing on stuffed animals with my hands artificially shaking got me comfortable with the idea that I might mess up and that's ok, but it totally wiped out my confidence I think. Yesterday I focused on how much trust he has in me and how I owe him to trust myself that much too, and at shot time I was so nervous but I told myself I was letting him down if I didn't trust myself to do it, and the shot went so well! It took less than twenty seconds to go for it and poke the needle in and my hands were only shaking a little and I was so proud of myself and if I did any crying it was tears of joy. And it felt so good afterwards to have made things easier on him. We'll see how this morning's shot goes here in a couple hours, but so far I'm not feeling quite as scared of it coming up. Thank you so much for your advice yesterday, I think it's turned things around for us ❤️ And if it turns out it is me reassuring myself and giving into OCD, I'd be ok with that for now to be able to get his insulin in him. I can work on a heirarchy for it later if need be, but my anxiety has been at a 10 doing the shots and I'd been really close to not being able to do it. Thank you ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ !!!

Amy B.

Date posted: 20h

@sick&tired Winnie says thank you, too!!

sick&tired

Date posted: 20h

@Amy B. Yaayyyy congrats on the major win!! 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽

Lauraiguess

Date posted: Yesterday

Try it on yourself with one of the needles. You’ll be surprised how little it hurts, and they don’t have as many nerve endings as we do.

Amy B.

Date posted: Yesterday

@Lauraiguess Logic seems to have flown out the window at this point, in typical OCD fashion, so even if I logically think that it won't hurt him and he'd be much worse off without the shot, I still freeze up 😩

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