First Aid for Dogs

By Emma A Hammett

Immediate and appropriate first aid treatment in a medical emergency can greatly reduce the pain and suffering experienced by your pet and could save their life. Knowing how to help in those first vital minutes before you can get to the vet is absolutely vital and choosing to read this book could be one of the most important decisions you make.<

• Language: English
• Publisher: First Aid for Life
• Release date: Jun 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9780995490017

Emma A Hammett

Emma Hammett established her Award Winning First Aid training business FirstAidforLife.org.uk back in 2007, but was initially inspired much earlier, when nursing; as she continually saw the difference prompt and appropriate first aid made to her patient's prognosis. Her key motivation came when working in the Burns Unit, looking after a little boy so badly burnt he needed skin grafts. Had his mother known basic First Aid skills, he might not even have needed to be admitted. Emma's sister and nephew both became paraplegics following accidents and it opened her eyes to the importance of accident prevention, management and support following an accident and an overwhelming need to empower more people with the skills and confidence to know how to help in those first vital seconds. First Aid for Pets was inspired by Gus, who attended one of FirstAidforLife's teenage First Aid courses. Straight after the course, Gus went to his cousin's birthday party and whilst the caterpillar cake was being cut, the thick chocolate face fell to the floor and was greedily gobbled up by his beloved pug, Euston. Euston went very quiet, keeled over and collapsed. Gus leapt into action and promptly used his new human first aid skills to save Euston. He picked up the dog, held him at an angle, squeezed him as he had been taught to do with a baby and out popped the chocolate caterpillar face in one piece! There was a stunned silence then the dog took a huge breath, started moving and struggled to his feet! Gus' confidence and speedy response saved Euston's life. Prompted by Gus's story First Aid for Life has worked with veterinary and canine experts to develop practical and online Pet First Aid courses and to produce this book First Aid for Dogs. Emma is widely recognised as an authority on First Aid matters and regularly writes as First Aid Expert for numerous online and print publications and is frequently called upon as a TV spokesperson on Sky News, BBC, Channel 5 News.

Book preview

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The contents of this book could

save your pet’s life!

Introduction

This guide is designed for all dog lovers. It will explain how to help your pet or any other dog should an accident happen. It is ideal for those working with dogs and pet owners to gain the skills and confidence to help in an emergency until veterinary support is available. The manual takes you through a step-by-step guide to examining your pet, recognising if there is something wrong and treatment for common veterinary emergencies. The book covers most common first aid emergencies, including helping a choking dog, dog bites, car accidents, injured limbs, CPR, fitting and poisoning. The content conforms to the RECOVER guidelines for veterinary CPR and complies with the Veterinary Care Act.

The manual consists of illustrated directions, flow charts, diagrams and accompanies the comprehensive online First Aid for Dogs course available from http://firstaidforpets.net and our practical Dog First Aid courses.

The author has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information contained within this book and whilst the book offers guidance it does not replace veterinary help. The author does not accept any liability or responsibility for any inaccuracies or for any mistreatment or misdiagnosis of any person or animal, however caused. If you suspect serious illness or injury, you should always seek urgent professional veterinary advice.

The book material has been written by Emma Hammett, Qualified Nurse, First Aid Trainer and founder of First Aid for Pets in conjunction with other medical, first aid, animal and veterinary professionals.

Safety and consent

Managing an incident

Assess the situation and make safe

Give emergency aid

Get help

Deal with the aftermath

Always start by checking for DANGER – you may not know what has injured them and if you are injured as well, you won’t be able to help them.

Human safety ALWAYS takes priority over that of the animal. If at any point you are concerned for your own safety, you should not approach the animal, and just get help.

The priority with any first aid situation is to ensure your own safety and that of the injured animal. If an animal is hurt, ideally keep them still and avoid moving them. However if an animal has been injured on the road, it may be necessary to move them to somewhere safe where they can be treated.

Ideally this would be done very carefully; a car parcel shelf can prove extremely useful as a makeshift stretcher.

Always approach an injured dog with extreme caution, even if it is your pet and you know them well. When an animal is in pain, they tend to behave differently and could bite or hurt you. Avoid looking an animal straight in the eyes as they can find this intimidating.

Be as calm as possible and avoid shouting or making sudden movements. Keep the injured animal warm and dry and move them as little as possible.

When an animal is injured it is often instinctive for them to find somewhere to hide. Do your best to be as calm and reassuring as possible so that they do not feel the urge to try and move themselves and escape.

Consider muzzling the animal if there is a strong risk of them biting; even the most placid of animals will bite if they are scared or hurt. However, never muzzle them if they are having any difficulty breathing.

Ideally use a good quality well-fitting muzzle for your dog. However if you haven’t got a ready-made one, you can create an improvised muzzle using a soft piece of cloth carefully tied around your dog’s muzzle

and behind their ears. Please be especially careful using a muzzle as dogs cool themselves by panting and pant when they are stressed. Muzzling in this way means they are unable to do this. Please note that it is also possible for dogs to nip even with an improvised muzzle.

You need to keep yourself safe the whole time, ensure that in addition to a check at the beginning, you make sure you don’t put yourself at risk at any point at all.

If you are thinking of resuscitating someone else’s dog you should always ensure you have permission to do so. Legally, animals are classed as possessions and giving CPR is likely to damage the dog’s ribs and if they do survive could result in hefty vet’s bills.

TRY TO KEEP YOURSELF AND THE ANIMAL AS CALM AS POSSIBLE

ALWAYS KEEP THINGS AS SIMPLE AS YOU CAN - TREAT WHAT YOU SEE!

Priorities of treatment

The key objectives when giving first aid are to:

Preserve life.

Prevent the condition

worsening.

Promote recovery.

When you are dealing with a serious incident, whether with an animal or human, it is crucially important that you prioritise any life threatening conditions and treat those first.

Breathing - This is your number