FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT REMOTE INJECTION

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‘I have got a sick cow – do I need to tranquilize it before I administer the injection?’

 

NO! If an animal is suffering from a Respiratory or Pulmonary problem the last thing you want to do is subject it to the stress of sedation to administer the medication – just give it the antibiotic with your dart projector.
 
‘Can I use darts with barbed needles to inject my cattle with medication?’
 

All barbed needles have to be surgically removed – so unless your intent is to capture/sedate the animal to perform surgery or for whatever reason do not use barbed needles. If you do use barbed needles to inject your cattle the dart will not fall out and the wound will become infected, you will then have to sedate the animal to surgically remove the dart.
It is far easier to use darts with gel collars.
 
‘How do I load the dart with medication?’
 

All Pneu-Dart darts are front loading darts – simply take your 19 gauge syringe filled with the drug you want to administer and insert the syringe needle into the dart needle. Inject Drug slowly into the dart while it is held with the needle pointed upward, fill dart completely and leave no air in the dart. Then load the dart into the projector – USE!
 
‘What does Subcutaneous injection mean?’
 

A Subcutaneous (Sub-Q) injection is a shot given into the fat layer between the skin and muscle. Many drug labels require this type of injection. Typically for this kind of injection we would suggest a dart with a 1/2 inch cannula and gelatin collar.
 
‘What does Intramuscular injection mean?’
 

An intramuscular (IM) injection is a shot of medicine given into a muscle. Certain medicines need to be given into the muscle for them to work correctly. Triport Injection darts work very well for Intramuscular injections.
 
‘What does Cannula mean?’
 

Cannula is another name for the needle of the dart
 
‘Wouldn’t a dart leave large residues of drug concentrated in the area around the injection site?’
 

The Pneu-Dart darts are available with Triport injection, this means that they have two holes on either side of the cannula shaft – effectively giving the dart three injection points and spreading the drug over a much larger muscle area ensuring better overall induction of the drug – Triport also helps to hold the dart in the animal while the injection is being made.
 
‘If the darts are pressure activated wouldn’t these cause lesions on the animal due to force and pressure on impact?’

The Pneu-Dart darts are not pressurized or pressure activated so the impact force is minimal.
Pneu-Darts are activated when the dart comes to a positive stop and this fires the charge behind the plunger which injects the drug, the use of the Gel Collar also means that Pneu-Darts do not need high impact force to inject the drug quickly before it falls out because the Gel Collar holds the dart in the animal while the injection is being made.
 
‘I have heard that some vets don’t recommend Dart Guns for medicating cattle?’
 

This is true for some brands – not Pneu-Dart.
We have done research on this and found that in the instance where a vet has warned against the use of a dart gun to medicate cattle, the dart gun happened to be a Crossbow that fired a bolt with a 30cc syringe into the animal – this will definitely cause damage and harm to the animal and we maintain that a 10cc is the maximum safe amount you would want to inject into one spot with a dart gun.
Also Pneu-Dart Remote Injection systems have been designed specifically with the cattle industry in mind – other brands of dart guns and darts are not suited to medicating cattle and are technologically inferior to the Pneu-Dart system in this application.
Thousands of beef producers in the USA use the Pneu-Dart system to medicate their cattle, most of them don’t know how they operated without it!
 
'The Manufacturer of the drug doesn’t support the use of a dart gun to administer their products'

In this case they will be saying this due to the damage that is caused by using crossbow style dart projectors and other brands of dart guns that are not suited to use for medicating cattle.
The drug will perform no differently whether it is administered with a hand syringe or a Pneu-Dart Dart Projector (except the Pneu-Dart system will save you and the cattle a whole lot of stress, bother and time!).
 
‘Aren’t Dart Guns normally used to tranquilize wild animals – not routinely medicate livestock?’
 

Yes, traditionally dart guns have been used to tranquilize animals whether it be for capture or to undergo surgery. The Pneu-Dart System makes it possible to use Dart Guns to medicate livestock because of a number of industry firsts, the Gel Collar Retention Device, Disposable Darts, the X-Caliber Dart Projector, the quality and versatility of the dart projectors being some of the features that make the Pneu-Dart System the unrivalled market leader in the field of medicating livestock by remote injection (The Pneu-Dart System works equally well to tranquilize stock and capture wild cattle).
While the concept of Remote Injection is new in Australia, Beef Cattle producers and Deer farmers in the USA have proved the worth and suitability of the Pneu-Dart system for Remote Injection for many years.
 
 
‘What about different injection types? If I want to administer a Sub-Q or an IM injection will I have to use different darts?’
 

There are a whole range of darts with different length cannula (needles) and Power Loads (CO2 Projectors have power controls on the gun) available so you can administer the injection your cattle require whether it be IM or Sub-Q.
 
‘Wouldn’t the cattle get spooked by the noise of the gun?’
 

No – the Pneu-Dart Dart Projectors are virtually silent.
 
‘I have to inject a substantial number of cattle to administer a vaccine – if I was to do this with a dart gun while they are in the paddock how would I know what ones I have darted or not?’
 

We sell an Injection Marker Dart, this contains a marking media (that you load yourself) that puts a mark on the animal at the same time as administering the injection. Alternatively, if your cattle have ear tags and you keep accurate medical records on each beast you will be able to look at your records and see when each beast was darted and what with.
 
‘What happens to the darts when they fall out of the animal?’
 

Any dart with a Gel Collar will fall out of the animal onto the ground about 15-20 minutes after the injection has been made, all Pneu-Dart Darts are either flouro yellow or orange in colour so they are easily visible when they are lying on the ground so you can see them to pick them up. On the other hand, some cattle farmers who use the Pneu-Dart system don’t even bother to pick the darts up and of all the hundreds/thousands of darts lying on their property they have never received a puncture or had animals injured by them.
 
‘My Darts bounce off the Animal’
 

1/2cc and 1cc darts without Gel Collars or Barbs usually bounce on impact but because of the small volume a complete injection is normally made.
 
‘The drug runs out of the dart needle when putting in the drug’
 

If this happens, it is because your syringe needle is not long enough. Syringe needles should be at least 1/2” longer than the dart needle.
 
‘The Dart did not inject the drug’
 

This is usually the result of low impact or an angle shot – increase velocity.
 
‘Something is wrong with my cartridge fired rifle; dart flight is erratic or short’

Not usually the rifle but the .22 cal charges. We sell only CCI and have found them to be the most consistent.
 
‘I cannot put the syringe needle into the dart needle’

Dart may have detonated in transit. This is a very rare occurence, in the event  of this happening return package with darts and we will replace them.
 
‘The drug sprays out of the dart after leaving the gun barrel’

Barrel probably has a dent near muzzle. Please return to Pneu-Dart Inc. for assistance in repair. However if you clean your projector and take care of it you shouldn't run into this problem.