Rescue Breathing & CPR, Not Just for Humans
Learning Animal Life-Saving Skills Could Save Your Dog or Cat's Life
Apr 9, 2009
Across the country, pet parents are enrolling in Pet First-Aid & CPR classes and many are actually putting the skills to use by saving an injured animal. Kate Ahrens who was trained by Sunny-dog Ink expressed it best when she said, "The last thing you want is to wish you had taken a Pet First-Aid Class." The skills she learned have been critical in caring for her senior Dachshund Bubba.
These skills are best learned under instruction where pet parents can watch demonstrations and actually participate in hands-on practice sessions using canine and feline mannekins that feel life-like for compressions and whose lungs actually inflate during rescue breathing practice. Never perform Rescue Breathing on an animal who is breathing or CPR on an animal who has a pulse.
Look, Listen & Feel for Breathing
Observe your pet's chest. Place your hand on the chest and in front of his mouth also listening with your ears. If you can not detect breathing, open his airway by pulling the chin back to stretch out the throat area.
If Your Pet is Not Breathing
Place him on his side (legs away from you) and administer two breaths into his nostrils while you hold his mouth shut. Breathe just hard enough to make his chest rise as in a normal breathing situation.
Check For a Pulse
Place two fingers on your pet's hind leg at the knee and roll them inward to the thigh feeling for the pulse in the femoral artery.
No Pulse, Begin CPR
Gently take animal’s top-most front leg and bend it at the elbow, rotating it at the shoulder. Where his elbow touches his body is where you place your hands for compressions* and then alternate with breaths. Repeat. Every 4 or 8 cycles*, checking for a restart of a pulse. If there are two people, rotate tasks and have one breathe after the other compresses at the rate of one breath for every 2-3 compressions.
Quickly transport pet to the nearest Animal Emergency Center. Realize that you may not get animal to breathe or resume a heart beat on his own and you may need to continue CPR while someone else drives. Even if you do resuscitate the pet, high-tail it to the Vet! You may have restarted his heart and lungs but you haven't fixed whatever caused these vital organs to stop in the first place. You must have a veterinary professional to check him over. Most animals, and people for that matter, are not resuscitated until they reach a hospital (if then), but by knowing and performing Rescue Breathing and CPR, you can give your dog or cat a fighting chance by keeping the life-giving blood and oxygen circulating to your pet’s brain and vital organs until you reach professional veterinary help.
*Please note:
Small Animals: 5 compressions & 2 breaths; check pulse every 8 rounds
Medium Animals: 10 compressions to 2 breaths; check pulse every 4 rounds
Large Animals 15 compressions to 2 breaths; check pulse every 4 rounds
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