Shipping & Returns

Since I've only used 18 of the 100 needles I purchased, I don't have enough experience with (any) needles to give them a score of 5 (yet). I use them daily for subcutaneous delivery of 150ml of IV fluid under the skin behind the shoulder blades, in my cat who has kidney disease. He is 14 years old. The vet gave me size 18 needles, Nitro brand. These were very hard to deal with, they are quite a bit larger than the size 20. Also, when they were pushed in I often felt a raggedy dragging feeling as if they had burrs, but there weren't burrs visible, so I put this down to them not being sharp enough. Not every needle, probably about 50% of them. And I felt like I was pushing a shovel in him, not a needle. Due to the needle size and my cat being hard to manage, myself and my wife had a very hard time administering fluid to our cat. One day we fought it for hours before finally giving up, trying to calm him down, etc. He is on Gabapentin full-time. When I was getting low on needles I decided to try a smaller needle to see if it would make things easier. I researched on line and the Terumo needles got a good review, so I decided to try them. Also buying on-line is so much cheaper than the vet. However, I ordered IV bags and tubing as well as needles, and it took a couple of weeks for the seller to get with the vet and ok the prescription items, and I ran out of needles. So I went back to the vet, and asked her to give me #20's instead of #'18's which she did. I only bought ten just to last until I received the Terumo ones I had ordered. The vet gave me #20 Nitro brand. I had thought that anything used by the vet would be high quality, but the Nitro #20's also had the same raggedy dragging feeling going in, as if they weren't sharp enough. This makes me think they just buy the cheapest so-called quality ones. When I received the Terumo #20's, I started using them straight away. I was worried that a smaller needle would slow down delivery and this would be bad with a really jumpy cat. To my relief, the fluid goes in pretty quickly, combined with 10 drops/ml tubing. So far I have really liked the Terumo #20 needles. They seem to go in much easier than the Nitro ones, and I've had no trouble so far. Combined with Gabapentin, and our husband-wife team working with our cat and soothing him together, and the new #20 Terumo needles, the whole thing has changed to being just a few minutes procedure each evening. We do this after his dinner. So, he's been fed, we then give him Gabapentin, then wait for an hour or two for it to kick in, then we give him the IV fluid. We put him on the small island in the kitchen with myself and my wife either side. Our cat is in a cardboard box, lined with towels, and we rolled up extra towels that go each side of him to make him feel secure. The box stays made up ready to use, we just store it in a corner until we need it. The IV is hanging from a plant hook in the ceiling next to the kitchen island, so it's always ready. I just change to a new needle before we begin, then it's off to the races! To help we give our cat treats and pet him gently and talk soothingly until the whole ordeal is over. We also run the IV tubing through a folded heating pad on 'LOW' to warm the fluid. It seems to be much easier in the evening instead of during the day, but that may be unique to our cat. The Terumo needles look good quality in clean quality packaging, and they don't get stuck on the tubing like the Nitro ones, which were much harder to get off the tubing after use. So I only have good things to say about the Terumo # 20's. I have 82 in the box left to use, so we'll see how that goes, time will tell. But so far I'm really happy I used my intuition to switch to a smaller size and to switch from Nitro brand to make things more tolerable for my pet (and my and my wife's nerves!).

Amazing, so much easier to use than the 18G I received from the vet. Flows just as fast if you hang the bag up high enough. Less than 5 minutes to do 100ml of fluids. My cat used to cry but now barely feels anything. Definitely recommend!

Alittle longer needle than the ones I got from the Vet, but my cat didn't mind. These needles are very thin and super sharp. Much sharper than the old needles I used. I can tell by how easily they go into my cat's skin and how my cat reacted to the needle. Much better experience for both of us. Thank you Thriving pets for carrying this particular brand of needles, and shipping them out so quickly.

Researched and Terumo needles were recommended for being sharper and giving smoother application of subq fluids at home for cat. This size is smaller than what vet had given (18). It delivered the fluids a bit slower but less invasive to the cat. As she has gotten more aware and feeling the poke anything that helps is appreciated.

These needles a slimmer and coated so they’re so much more comfortable for my cat.