Bandages, CPR, Emergencies…oh my! Pet First Aid Basics
by Christy Caplan
|
November 17, 2015 
An emergency can happen at any time…
I attended a first aid workshop at a local Emergency/Specialty clinic. Since I’m not currently working at a clinic, I wanted a refresher on CPCR as well as bandaging.
How often do you perform a nose to toes exam? What are some basic things you should know so if there is an emergency you can stay calm? Here are some baseline medical stats you should refer to:
- Capillary Refill Time (CRT): Life the lip of your best friend, and quickly check the gums. When their gums are pressed, the pinkish color should return in less than 1 second. If it doesn’t, look at the color – are they white, gray or lavendar – this indicates the blood isn’t circulating as it should be.
- Mucous membranes: these should always be pink
- Normal temperature on a dog: 100-102 degrees F
- Pulse at resting rate: Dogs 80-120 BPM
- Respiratory Rate: Dogs: 15-30 breaths per minute
These are all very helpful parameters when doing a nose to toes exam and helpful to remember when your dog is ill or just isn’t doing right.
Resource: Small Animal Emergency Handbook
Shock and Hypothermia are emergencies typically seen in the ER.
Signs of shock:
- Pale pink/gray gums
- Hear Rate is high or very low
- Respiratory Rate is high or v. slow
- Pulse is bounding
- Limbs feel cold
- Mentation is inappropriate
Hypothermia:
- Dogs: moved to a new environment/ dogs with a short hair coat that becomes wet
- Below 98 degrees F – shivering, HR dropped, RR rate, pupils dilated – fragile skin
- TIP: Use Warm bottles wrapped in a towel
I hope this never happens to you, but when we were hiking with Bruiser, he caught himself somehow on a stick that could have caused a very serious injury. We joke now and then about it because he was one step away fro something serious and we consider ourselves lucky… so here’s a tip:
TIP: If your best friend gets impaled by a stick when you’re hiking – don’t remove it, add a sterile lubricant around the area and bandage that area to the best of your ability to control the bleeding so you can head to the nearest vet.
Great post – and excellent tip! This is very important information and I’ll share it with my readers!
Thank you! I appreciate that! I hope folks find this helpful.
Great post! Knowing first aid for pets is so important! I’ve been wanting to take a class for so long. I know the basics but having some more instruction would probably be very beneficial.
You’d love taking a class – look for them at your local vet hospitals as two of the ones here provide free courses for the community!
Knowing basic pet first aid is so important! You never know when an emergency will pop up, and you definitely want to be prepared! Great advice!
Thanks so much!
Thanks for the great info 🙂
Absolutely! Hope some of it is helpful for folks!
Great post and tips! Being aware is important since you never know when you may need it!
Thank you!
This is such important information for dog owners to have on hand. Emergencies always happen when you least expect them to. Having the first aid kit around helps too. It can be hard to find the materials you need when you are panicking.
Thanks! Yes – and you know as I respond to comments I think I need a cat specific resource section… and you’re right these materials are super hard to find even bandaging!
I probably should take a refresher class. Where did you take yours?
I took mine at VCA but I would totally go to another one with you – I’ll keep my eye out as I bet there are some coming up!
Excellent tips – knowing the basics in times of emergency is so important.
Thank you! I mentioned this to another cat blogger, if you have any stories about this for cat parents please let me know as I’ll update this with a resource section.
Thanks for sharing this important information!
Love & biscuits,
Dogs Luv Us and We Luv Them
Thank you! Hope this was helpful!
Best to learn about emergencies and first aid before you need it.
Agreed – completely – you never know…
Great information! I always hope that I will remain calm in the event of an emergency. Hopefully, I won’t have to deal with it but we keep an up-to-date dog first aid kit just in case. ☺
Thanks! I know – remaining calm is much easier said than done.
The only head to toe I’ve done on the corgis, was nothing but a feel-up. (They’re so fluffy!) I do look them over for bumps and things on occasion, though. Hope I never have to deal with an emergency.
Hopefully you never will need to apply any of these – I also try to do head to toe exams but sometimes to hard to feel under Sherm’s fur too.
Good information. I’ve been meaning to take a first aid for pets class…. then blog about it of course
Of course!!
Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us. It is so important for pet parents to participate in these courses. We will be attending in the spring, and although I hope I never need to use some of the drastic measures, I will be glad to know the techniques, just in case.
And it’s so much easier to attend in person – I learn better when I’m actually applying bandages to a stuffed dog to practice so I enjoyed attending in person.
Thanks for sharing this important information! The instinct is to pull something out, but I guess that isn’t the best course of action.
Thanks so much! I absolutely would have pulled that stick out of Bruisy – I was actually really stunned when the vet said this too.
I bookmarked this post for future reference. Hopefully I’ll never need it but you never know. Thanks for the info.
Absolutely – glad this was helpful.
Something you hope you never need but knowing pet first aid is very important, especially for me as a pet sitter.
Absolutely — especially given your profession. And I always hope I never need to do half the things I’ve learned – agreed.
Great post! We have had a Pet First Aid kit ready to go! With an epileptic dog, I also have it filled with items necessary for Canine Epilepsy. And, I also became certified in Pet CPR and First Aid. Thanks for sharing such an informative post!
That’s so great you’re certified in Pet CPR and First Aid – you can help folks if in an emergency which is really important as many panic.
Great post, my mom needs to get a first aid kit together!!! :
Thanks! Tell her to order one off of Amazon!
Great post. Thank you for sharing this valuable information.
Thanks! I hope some of it helps and I need to do a cat version too — there are so many specific things for cat parents that as so important – do you have a post you’d like me to highlight as a resource?
Excellent first aid tips and very valuable information.
Thanks!
Great tips for emergency situations! So many don’t know what the signs of shock are, let alone what to do for your dog =)
Thanks! And the gums are so easy to check most of the time – I would not have known to that if I wasn’t a CVT so I hope that helps folks!
We just updated our first aid kit, so this is a timely post. Thanks for putting all this together.
Thanks so much: I end up using items from mine all the time and sometimes forget to replace them so hopefully this provided some food for thought for folks!
So important! Thanks!
Thanks so much!
[…] First Aid posts […]
[…] First Aid: Back to the Basics […]