Be Your Pet’s Best Friend: Learn First Aid for Pets
Stephen Sheldon, D.V.M.

In the event of an emergency you will be your pet's best friend if you know some first aid! I call first aid 'common sense treatment' because intuition usually tells you what the right and wrong things are to do. Nevertheless, there are some important guidelines you should always follow. We'll discuss those and also how to respond to some specific emergencies. Remember to call your veterinarian immediately; first, you might get some life saving advice, and second, they'll be ready for you when you arrive.

The ABCs

These are first aid priorities and are: Airways, Breathing, and Circulation (including bleeding). These areas require attention before other injuries. Make sure the airway is clear of dirt, debris, mucus, blood and vomit by extending the head and neck, pulling the tongue forward, and sweeping the oral cavity with your fingers. If there are head or neck injuries don't overextend the head and neck. Next check for breathing by feeling for air at the nostrils and observing the chest for motion. Normal respiration should be 15 to 20 breaths per minute; expect it to be fast and shallow if the animal is in pain. Check the color of the mucus membranes (gums are best, followed by lower eyelid and vagina if gums are not accessible), if they are blue it suggests poor respiration. If the animal is not breathing, clear the airway and begin mouth to nose respiration; to do this place the tongue in it's normal position, close the mouth, and blow into the nostrils for 2-3 seconds. If you are doing it correctly the chest will rise and fall. Repeat every 3-5 seconds until the animal is breathing. Circulation is next. Again check the color of the mucus membranes, they should be pink. Check the capillary refill time (CRT) by pressing the gums with your finger; if CRT is normal the gums will go white and return to pink in 1 to 1.5 seconds. Pale or white mucus membranes indicates shock, dehydration, or blood loss (to name a few). Check the heart rate by feeling the animals chest wall or by checking the pulse in the following areas: inside thighs (femoral), under tongue (lingual) or under the toes behind the major foot pad (digital). If there is no pulse start CPR using the following breaths:chest compression ratio: 1:3 for pets less than 20 pounds, 1:5 in medium sized pets and 2:15 in giant breeds. To compress the chest, lay the animal on its side and compress with the palm of your hand over the widest portion of the chest (ie ribcage). If there is any obvious, excessive bleeding control it using direct pressure or by using a pressure bandage. Use a tourniquet only as a last resort and remember to release the pressure every 5 minutes or so to avoid permanent damage to the limb. Now is the time to proceed to your veterinarian.

RESPIRATORY EMERGENCIES

Some of the more common causes of respiratory emergencies are trauma, airway obstruction (choking), laryngeal paralysis, pulmonary edema (heart disease, electric shock, poisons), allergic bronchitis/asthma, and congestive heart failure. If it is an emergency NOT associated with choking first make sure your pet is breathing, if not, perform mouth to nose resuscitation as described above. If it is breathing, make plans to get to a veterinarian ASAP. In the meantime keep your pet as calm and as cool as possible; remember, dogs and cats dissipate heat by panting, if this is compromised they can overheat quickly. Place your cat in a cool, dark, well-ventilated carrier. Carry your dog to the car if possible; DO NOT PUT A LEASH AROUND YOUR DOGS NECK! If your pet is choking and you can't remove the object you'll have to perform the Heimlich maneuver; you can do this one of 2 ways: if you can, lift the animal heads up with its spine against your chest and your arms wrapped under its forearms and around its chest; now push inward and lift upward with short, powerful strokes. If the pet is too heavy. lay it on its side, extend the head and neck into a natural position, and place your hands behind the animal's ribs and give short pushes up towards the diaphragm (ie. chest cavity). Once you have dislodged the object bring both your pet and the object to your veterinarian.

HEAT STROKE

Since it is summer, I wanted to get in a few words about heat related injuries in part 1
(part 2 will be next, duh). There are a lot of factors that contribute to heat injuries but none is as important as our environment. It can just get plain hot here folks. In addition animals with heavy coats, preexisting medical conditions, heart disease, brachycephalic features (ie. bulldogs, pugs) are even more at risk of heat stroke. Animals suffering hyperthermia (ie. heat stroke) need immediate attention. Check the pets vital signs, go through your ABCs and resuscitate if needed. While your doing this you can start cooling the animal down. Don't waste precious time taking the temperature yet because starting the cooling process won't hurt your pet but delaying can. Use lukewarm water baths or cool water-soaked towels at first. Do not use ice water or ice baths at first; this causes the peripheral veins to constrict down which can actually prevent the heat from leaving and trap it internally (don’t worry if that doesn’t make sense just listen to the doctor please). Once you've started cooling take a rectal temperature, you can stop cooling when you get to 102-103 (normal for a pet is 101-102 F). You'll need to go see a veterinarian immediately; hyperthermia is very serious and requires aggressive supportive care. I don't need to mention never leave you pet locked in you car, do I?

In part 2 we'll discuss how to handle some more specific injuries such as toad poisoning (rinse mouth out immediately!), burns (wet compress), insect bites (benadryl and meat tenderizer), poisoning (1-800-2823171), drowning (ABCs), eye injuries (flush and cover), and shock (ABCs). Ok, so I'm a healing professional; I couldn't mention all these maladies without at least giving you a hint how to handle them.