You should seek the advice of your veterinarian if your pet is ill as only he or she can correctly advise on the diagnosis and recommend the treatment that is most appropriate for your pet.

Intravenous fluids are given at different rates depending upon the size of the animal, the disease process and the degree of dehydration 

Supervision of intravenous fluid administration requires some form of measurement. This can be done by checking the rate that the "bag" empties over time - or by setting the giving set (or automatic pump) to provide fluid at a given rate. 

MOST giving sets give approximately 20 drops per ml of fluid (BUT check before you set it up!). This can easily be measured by running the fluids into a measuring cylinder and counting how many drops it takes to fill 1ml.

So, a 25kg dog requiring a fluid rate of 10ml/kg/hour needs :

20/60 x 10 x 25 = 83 drops per minute. 

Last updated : January 2016