15 Dog Restraint for Jugular Blood Draw
There are many methods to restrain and draw blood, or place an IV catheter! We are reviewing and practicing a few low FAS methods for your toolbox. As a lifelong learner, you will observe and experience many techniques, and many outcomes. Please evaluate each in terms of safety-both patient and staff, reduction of FAS of the patient, and quality of the sample. Be mindful of what worked and didn’t work and how you may add techniques into your own tool box. Remember, communication between handler and drawer is vital to success-build a plan together. As always, gather needed supplies-know what tubes to fill and in what order and be ready! Breathe and be happy! Commonalities in Blood Draws
- Lidocaine cream can be placed several minutes prior to blood draw and wiped off before attempt for those patients who are sensitive to needle pricks-can also be used for vaccinations in this way as well!
Generally jugular veins are not used if head injury!
Dog jugular blood draw restraint
- Secure/restrain patient, standing or sitting, or laying on their side! on floor or table, assure comfortable non-slip footing.
- Read patient’s behavior cues and use foot/leg, wall, corner as restraint assistants
- Handler body position NOT directly over patient-keep one side open = less FAS for dog. Handler positions self with one foot/leg behind the dog to prevent dog from sliding backwards and give some support, arms reach from side to gently grasp head.
- Handler assures dog has comfortable head and neck position; elevate nose with fingers under jaw, thumbs over muzzle-least restrictive measures often work best as are less alarming to the dog. Avoid gripping dog’s muzzle tightly-ideally allow dog to have mouth open. Remember object is to have jugular vein distended and stabilized-May need to turn head slightly to left or right and or lower or raise the nose.
5. Helpful Tidbits for Finding Vein and Drawing Blood!
- Blood drawer holds off Jugular vein w/non-dominant thumb, by the thoracic inlet-this NOT by the trachea it is lateral to the trachea. When holding off place thumb more proximal, then move thumb distal just a little bit to create a bit of tension in the skin-this helps to stabilize the jugular vein
- Stroke the jugular area toward heart-this causes the vein to stand up a bit, (in human medicine it is common to tap the vein a few times-this is annoying for dogs and cats and we cant tell them why we are doing it stroking is less irritating.) Apply a bit of alcohol to stick to the hair, and part the hair over the jugular to more fully visualize. Note how big the jugular vein is-helps you to calculate the angle of needle usually only need 15-20 degrees.
- To verify you have the jugular area; hold-off at the thoracic inlet, and stroke the jugular area. Watch for the skin to rise as the jugular fills with trapped blood, then release holding off and you should see the skin sink back down as the blood flows away.
- If there is a cowlick in the jugular area-start your investigation for the jugular there, you’ll be amazed how many times the jugular will be there!
- Ask the restrainer ready to poke? and listen to their reply! If “yup” then do venipuncture-we try to avoid “OK” as is a common release word for dogs! 🙂
- When drawing blood with dominant hand you can rest the barrel of the syringe on the non-dominant hand that is holding off the jugular vein to stabilize! Dont poke a bunch of times!!! this traumatizes the vein and can create phlebitis
- Bevel up point of needle toward the head, keep holding off as you enter vein, wait for flash, assure the bevel is within lumen of vein, then draw back and fill syringe or collection tube.
6. When ready to remove needle blood drawer releases the thoracic inlet, lets restrainer know to cover, THEN the needle is removed-this way there is no back pressure in the vein. With practice this becomes automatic for teams that work together-new teams need to communicate-without trigger words! :)Make sure this makes sense to you!
7. Immediately the restrainer places a folded gauze over the venipuncture site and holds in place with slight pressure for 30 seconds.
8. Praise dog and give a treat, if allowable, given the circumstances for blood draw.
HOLDER NUTSHELL
- Be safe, comfortable and sustainable in your position
- No gorilla grip on muzzle-thumbs on top, fingers under jaw
- Observe if possible or listen for venipuncturist to say “I’m letting off and removing needle,” then cover the puncture area when needle being pulled out
BLOOD DRAWER NUTSHELL
- Hold off at Thoracic inlet lateral to trachea w/non-dominant thumb, stroke vein, assure position, add alcohol, part hair
- Let restrainer know when poking, use non-dominat hand to rest barrel of syringe to be steady if needed
- BEFORE REMOVING NEEDLE, release thoracic inlet, have restrainer cover venipuncture site with folded gauze and hold 30 sec