Informational Sheet: The Office of Animal Resources has provided a set of guidance documents (Policies, Guidelines, and Informational Sheets) for use when planning animal procedures at the University of Iowa. This Informational Sheet provides the current guidance on recommended testing of research biologics for pathogens.
This document provides information about administration volumes and needle sizes for commonly employed routes of fluid administration in various animal species. The volume limits are consensus figures based on published literature and are set up to maintain animal welfare and prevent potential complications, such as muscle damage with high volume intramuscular injection, or aspiration & pulmonary injury with high volume oral administration.
Species & weight |
Per os (oral) |
Subcutaneous |
Intramuscular |
Intraperitoneal |
Intravenous |
Rat200g |
4 ml 16 G |
4 ml 20 G |
21 G |
4 ml 21 G |
2 ml 23 G |
Mouse25g |
0.25 ml 18 G |
0.5 ml 20 G |
0.05 ml 23 G |
0.25 ml 21 G |
0.125 ml 25 G |
Hamster100g |
4 ml 18 G |
2 ml 20 G |
21 G |
2 ml 21 G |
1 ml, 25 G |
Guinea pig200g |
4 ml |
2 ml 20 G |
21 G |
2 ml 21 G |
1 ml 23 G |
Rabbit4kg |
80 ml |
20 ml 20 G |
0.5-1 ml 20 G |
40 ml 20 G |
20 ml 21 G |
Cat5kg |
100 ml |
100 ml 20 G |
1 ml 20 G |
100 ml 20 G |
25 ml 21 G |
Dog10kg |
200 ml |
50 ml 20 G |
5 ml 20 G |
200 ml 20 G |
50 ml 20 G |
Pig25kg |
250 ml |
62.5 ml 20 G |
2-5 ml 20 G |
250 ml 20 G |
250 ml 18 G |
Ferret1kg |
10 ml |
5 ml 21 G |
0.5 ml 23 G |
10 ml 21 G |
5 ml 21 G |
Goat/Sheep45kg |
450 ml |
450 ml 19 G |
5 ml 18 G |
450 ml 19 G |
450 ml 18 G |
Last Reviewed by the IACUC 6/10/2020