You need to know and carry with you the phone numbers and addresses for your veterinarian and an after hours clinic, as emergencies can happen anywhere and anytime with most seeming to occur after regular business hours. Your regular veterinarian is a good place to get a referral to an emergency service and visa versa.
Having a first aid kit and learning how to use it will improve the care, treatment and prognosis for your pet, but is not a substitution for proper medical attention. Before you are able to get your pet to a veterinarian, knowing some basic first aid can help save your pet’s life. Rather than go into details of how to handle specific first aid topics, which you can find inside any quality first aid kit, I would prefer to address some general concepts on how to approach a situation and determine the urgency.
When presented with a problem you need to make some sort of initial decision as to how serious the problem is, which may be obvious with a nose full of quills or a bleeding cut pad, or more challenging if vomiting / diarrhea or weakness.
If the situation is an obvious emergency get immediate transportation to the vet and if your pet can’t walk a door, board, blanket or floor matt can be used as a stretcher to transport injured or weak animals. If you need to muzzle your pet use a soft cloth, rope, necktie, or nylon stocking. Wrap around nose, under the chin and tie behind the ears. Care must be taken when handling weak or injured pets. Even normally docile pets will bite when in pain. Do not use a muzzle in a case of vomiting. Cats and small dogs may be difficult to muzzle. A towel placed around the head will help control small pets.
An advance call to the vet before you leave is always a good idea, use a cell phone while on the way if you must.
Where the urgency is not obvious your assessment should include the ‘TPR’ or temperature, pulse, respiration and it must be done safely and quickly! If your pet’s vitals signs are above or below the normal limits you should be contacting your veterinarian.
Normal Pulse and Heart rate:
Cats: 150 -200 bpm
Small dogs: 90 – 120 bpm
Medium dogs: 70 – 110 bpm
Large dogs: 60 – 90 bpm
The order of urgency is pulse first, is your pet’s heart beating effectively? Is there a pulse for every heart beat? Pulse is somewhat different than heart rate, which is simply a measure of the number of heart beats per minute. A strong pulse should follow every heart beat and is measured in the groin area. Place your four fingers on the inside of the back leg with the thumb on the outside. Slide your hand up toward the pet until the back of your hand touches the abdomen. Gently move fingers back and forth across the inside of the leg until you feel the pulsing blood. It is important to note the strength as well as the count. Best to try this when all’s well a few times to get comfortable with what it is supposed to feel like before being put to a real test.
Respiration is checked by simply watching the pet’s chest during inspiration / expiration and putting your ear or a mirror in front of their nose to see how much air they are moving with each breath. Again the count is as important as the quality, characterizing them as shallow, deep, regular or irregular, with or without excessive effort. In some situations you may see the chest moving as if breathing, but no air is actually moving in or out. If your pet’s breathing seems odd it probably is and it should be checked out by a veterinarian. If there appears to be any associated distress, the sooner the better!
Temperature may or may not be an important clinical indicator and I would suggest erring on the side of caution. Some animals can exhibit quite aggressive resistance to the procedure making it too dangerous to both the pet and the people on occasion. Normal rectal temperature for dogs and cats is from 38.5*C to 39.0*C.
Thermometer should be made of non-breakable material such as plastic, not glass, and should be mercury free. It should have a flared shape so as to prevent it from sliding too far into the rectum where it could get lost! We use and recommend a plastic digital thermometer as safe and accurate. Human thermometers that use the ear are not so good in pets due to the amount of hair and debris potentially in their ear canals and the thermometer has to ‘see’ the ear drum to get an accurate reading!
If you are still not sure if you have an emergency on your hands, call your vet and they should be able to help you make the right choice.
Final words; Be prepared. Don’t panic.
And if accidentally bitten while trying to help your pet, remember to seek medical attention as bites from dogs and cats can become infected quickly.
Bill Golbeck BSc DVM
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