Injection help

Hey, I havn't been on here is ages.

I just bought some Ivomec from my local vets to treat my horses for mange mites. A lot of people use is as a regular wormer too so I thought this would be a good place to seek some advice.

The lady who sold it to me said that I need pinch some skin and inject it intradermally, not intramuscularly. I nodded and felt confident at that moment but now I'm home and I've been thinking about whether she understood the vet correctly, and if she did, injecting it intradermally sounds a lot harder than the old "stab straight down till the needle's fully emerged" alternative.

I've done vaccines intramuscularly, and I know the safe sites for injections but I'm a bit unsure on the whole itradermal, 10 - 15 degree angle thing. Does anyone on here inject Ivomec? Do you do it intradermally or intramuscularly? Would it make a difference to how it works?

Please help

First, you don't do injections intradermally--that would be into the layers of the skin itself. What she described is subcutaneously---in between the skin and the muscle but that isn't always an easy task in horses because they have less loose skin. So, right off the bat I would call back and talk directly to the vet to get an appropriate dose and directions for giving the injection. This is an off-label use of this product, meaning that it hasn't been studied for safety or efficacy in horses. There have been severe adverse reactions to giving ivomec injections in horses.

Oh I see. They already filled syringes up for me in the correct dose. I bought 2 though as I have 2 horses but one of the syringes has a 1.5inch long needle which I understand isn't used for subcutaneous injections (the other one is less than an inch long). I'll be going in next week to ask about this and get a proper discription on how to administer it. I hope they give me a refund because it says it expires today...is that right? I only bought it today. Thanks a heap for the help by the way.

As them...unless their bottle was really really short-dated it shouldn't just expire the day after they dispensed it.

I'm glad they drew up the drug for you, but if the same person that gave you instructions drew it up I would be worried that it's not the right dose.

Apparently it's 1mL of Ivomec per 50kg of weight. I think they want you to use it the same day they draw it up for you but it probably doesn't actually expire. I'll be asking about the needle sizes and everything when I go in. Thank you a lot for your advice - I didn't want to do something that I had doubts about. I might also ask a few other vet clinics how safe they think Ivomec is for horses.