First Aid for your Dog in Case of Emergencies
Has your usually playful and energetic pup suddenly become listless? Has there been a time when your dog showed up at your doorstep after romping in the neighborhood with cuts and scrapes? Or does your canine pal exhibiting shallow breathing after being exposed to a toxic substance? Prompt medical attention may be necessary. The help of a veterinarian may save your dog’s life. Why wait for these unexpected circumstances to happen when you can update your knowledge on possible canine emergencies and assemble a dog first aid kit?
It’s important to consult your veterinarian for specific advice before administering first aid to your dog in an emergency medical situation. Nonetheless, it’ll be useful to have a kit with basic supplies at hand in the house to relieve minor problems. When thinking about what should go in that dog first aid kit, consider the usual troubles pooches get into. Besides the clinic address and contact telephone numbers (including mobile phones) of your pet’s veterinarian, be sure you or other people you may ask to watch your dog have details about your pet (including age, weight, breed and other helpful information in case of emergency). Throw in a hydrogen peroxide solution, a large syringe, sanitary wipes, antibiotic ointment, alcohol, cotton swabs, bandages and gauze pads, tweezers, some saline solution, iodine, milk of magnesia, canine ear wipes, a flea control product, latex gloves, among other basic items. If you have an overweight dog you just keep feeding anything, or if your pup keeps scrounging the garbage out of curiosity, in the process ingesting toxic substances or bacteria, be prepared to deal.
The first thing to do if a serious canine emergency occurs is to contact the veterinarian. Prompt help from a veterinarian is very important if your dog has had a heat stroke, or has been poisoned. Signs of poisoning may vary — depending on the substance ingested by the dog. There are so many toxic substances that can cause poisoning in dogs. It can range from certain foods (including chocolates) to insecticides or household cleaners, to batteries and medicines. A poison center may be called for advice. In case of canine poisoning, administering dog first aid may remove some of the poison before the pooch gets appropriate veterinary treatment.
A first aid kit for dogs can actually come in handy even for things like removing fleas and ticks when burrowing themselves around the ears, neck, chest, or between the toes of a dog. Tics can make your pet miserable with itching, apart from transmitting internal parasites and systemic diseases. If your pup’s infested with the blood-sucking parasites, use a tissue or the tweezers that you have in your dog first aid kit to steadily but surely remove them (without pressing them on your dog’s skin), then apply alcohol. The tics may leave a bump, but it’ll disappear in due time. The canine first aid kit may also prove to be very useful when bringing your pet dog along during camping, hiking, or biking outdoors.
