Cleaning/Re-using Syringes...

[Jenk]

Does anyone have a recommended method for disinfecting syringes?

Also, when do you use the same syringe for one rabbit and/or one drug only? Or do you swap them at times?

Thanks,

Jenk

 

[mouse_chalk]

I moved this to the Infirmary so you might get a speedier response

 

[Pipp]

The needles should only be used once of course, but I've been rotating between cleaning and disposing the plastic syringe depending on the meds.

I forget which is which -- some were easy just to take the needle off and throw it in a bowl of hot water for awhile, then rinse (and rinse) but some were murder to get the goop out of the edges, so I'd toss them and use a clean one.

I never felt comfortable using the same syringe for different meds unless I can be sure there wasn't a speck of the other meds left.

Doesn't help much, sorry!


sas :bunnydance:

 

[dquesnel]

Jenk wrote:

Does anyone have a recommended method for disinfecting syringes?

Also, when do you use the same syringe for one rabbit and/or one drug only? Or do you swap them at times?

Thanks,

Jenk

Dish soap and hot water! I swap syringes all the time, I use a pipe cleaner to wash them out with. As long as they are in the water long enough it will be fine. I throw them away when the black measurements start to fade- this is usually 9-10 washes.

 

[Maureen Las]

If you are going to reuse syringes that you use for injectable medsyou would have to make sure that you never push any of the medication into it back into the bottle.

For ex: often when I withdrawbicillin from the bottle I draw up more than I need and then push it backto the correct line on the syringe.
you could never do that if you reuse a syringe ..even if you wash it

otherwise you are contaminating the entire bottle of meds

Inever reuse a syringe (inless it is an oral med)becauseI am a nurse and sterile technique is so in my blood that I couldn't do it any other way.

 

[dquesnel]

angieluv wrote:

Inever reuse a syringe (inless it is an oral med)becauseI am a nurse and sterile technique is so in my blood that I couldn't do it any other way.

YES good point. I was assuming that the question was regarding oral meds, I agree I would not reuse syringes for injectables.

 

[Jenk]

angieluv wrote:

If you are going to reuse syringes that you use for injectable medsyou would have to make sure that you never push any of the medication into it back into the bottle.

For ex: often when I withdrawbicillin from the bottle I draw up more than I need and then push it backto the correct line on the syringe.
you could never do that if you reuse a syringe ..even if you wash it

otherwise you are contaminating the entire bottle of meds

I'm referring tooral meds. only.

Are you saying that you can or cannot push oral meds. back into a bottle with an already-used syringe? Just want to understand you correctly.

 

[BethM]

When I do oral meds, I wash the syringe out with warm water until it's totally clean, then air dry. (I take it apart.) Is this safe to use again?

I haven't tried the pipe cleaners to clean the small parts, so I will toss a syringe if I can't get some residue out.

The first time Mr. Nick was sick, my vet gave me a few syringes of different sizes. I've been keeping them around, especially the bigger ones, in case I ever needed to give fluids again. I think I tried those ones with pellet slurry, too. (Didn't work, he wouldn't take it.) The smaller ones have been used with meds. (Well, not all of them have, but I can't tell which ones are which at this point.)

Should I just toss all of them?

 

[Jenk]

Beth,

I've been doing the exact same thing as you. (I could've/should've written your post. ) And I wonder the same thing, too: Is it wrong to continue re-using syringes (especially between various medications)?

In my case, I always have at least one bun on medication (and it's been that way for the past 17 months' that I've had them); so I'd waste a TON of syringes if I had to use one syringe per each med./each bun/etc.

BethM wrote:

When I do oral meds, I wash the syringe out with warm water until it's totally clean, then air dry. (I take it apart.) Is this safe to use again?

I haven't tried the pipe cleaners to clean the small parts, so I will toss a syringe if I can't get some residue out.

The first time Mr. Nick was sick, my vet gave me a few syringes of different sizes. I've been keeping them around, especially the bigger ones, in case I ever needed to give fluids again. I think I tried those ones with pellet slurry, too. (Didn't work, he wouldn't take it.) The smaller ones have been used with meds. (Well, not all of them have, but I can't tell which ones are which at this point.)

Should I just toss all of them?

 

[pamnock]

Jenk wrote:

I'm referring tooral meds. only.

Are you saying that you can or cannot push oral meds. back into a bottle with an already-used syringe? Just want to understand you correctly.

I would not risk cross contamination by putting any medicines back into bottle with an already used syringe. Some bacterias will be resistant to that med and can grow in the bottle.

I was surprised when I had that happen with tempra paints. I had a little paint left that I put back into the container. Some kind of bacterial or fungal growth caused thepaint toexplode out of the container when I opened it and the smell was horrific. :scared:

Pam

 

[Maureen Las]

pamnock wrote:

Jenk wrote:

I'm referring tooral meds. only.

Are you saying that you can or cannot push oral meds. back into a bottle with an already-used syringe? Just want to understand you correctly.

I would not risk cross contamination by putting any medicines back into bottle with an already used syringe. Some bacterias will be resistant to that med and can grow in the bottle.

I was surprised when I had that happen with tempra paints. I had a little paint left that I put back into the container. Some kind of bacterial or fungal growth caused thepaint toexplode out of the container when I opened it and the smell was horrific. :scared:

Pam

I guess technically you should use a clean sterile syringe for each dose of an oral med but I have to be honest and say that I don't do that.
I'm very careful with the sq or Im drugs in vials
I would think that if you wash the syringe in soap and water and draw up the correct amount of the med from the oral med bottle and don't push anything back into the bottle that would be OK

Pam is really correct
as she is talking about contaminating the entire bottle of meds which is a possibility

even on the tube of opthalmic salve that I give Beau there is a huge warning about touching the endof the vial to the eye itself which would contaminate the entire tube.