Our furry friends are just as important to us as our human family members, aren’t they? The possibility of losing a beloved pet is devastating, but accidents happen, and there may be a time when you might need to step up and save an animal’s life.
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, is an emergency procedure involving artificial breathing and chest compressions in order to help a victim who isn’t breathing or doesn’t have a heartbeat. Commonly used on humans, CPR can certainly be effective on pets such as dogs and cats. While there are many internet stories of people performing CPR on smaller animals, like lizards and hamsters, currently there is no official advice for performing CPR on these smaller pets.
However, if you are a cat or dog parent, it is crucial that you understand the process of CPR on animals. Even short periods of decreased oxygen in the blood can lead to vital organ failure and even brain damage. In case of an emergency when a pet is seriously injured, call your veterinarian or the nearest emergency animal hospital immediately. Act in accordance with professional guidance, and be ready to help resuscitate your fur baby until help. Stay calm, and follow these steps:
- Check for A-B-Cs: Airway, Breathing, Cardiac
- Airway
Open the animal’s mouth and look for obstructions, like food or small objects. Doing so can often lead to a much simpler solution to the problem. If you do see something lodged inside your pet’s throat, try to get it out, but be careful not to push it further in. If the object is too far down to reach, you can actually perform a modified version of the Heimlich maneuver by squeezing the sides of the ribcage.
- Breathing
Pay attention to the animal’s chest and feel in front of their nose for airflow — if you see up-and-down movement and feel air coming out, that means that the animal is breathing. In this case, you do not need to perform CPR.
- Cardiac
Place your hand over the left side of the animal’s chest, and check for a heartbeat. Remember that breathing and heartbeat are two different things, so it’s important to check for both.
- Perform CPR
If the animal is not breathing or does not have a heartbeat, you should begin CPR. First, place the animal on their back and tilt their head back slightly to open the air passages. Then, cover the nose and mouth with your own mouth, and blow air in to make the chest rise. You should aim to breathe in every 2-3 seconds. Release after each breath to let the air back out. If the animal is too big, like a large dog breed, cover the nose only and hold the mouth shut with your hand.
- Start chest compressions
This is where the coordination of it all gets a bit complicated, and it is a good idea to have a second person join in the effort, if possible. Place your hand over your pet’s heart, and repeatedly press the chest in to about ⅓ or ½ its usual depth. Aim for 1-2 compressions per second — yes, this is how fast an animal heartbeat is!
As you continue to do CPR and chest compressions, check for breathing and heartbeat every two minutes or so. You may actually revive them on your own this way! If they start breathing, but remain unconscious, you can stop CPR and compressions, but keep monitoring vigilantly until help arrives.
