Dog Health Emergencies
Sure, you may be a master of human First Aid. But do you know what to do in dog health emergencies?
Approaching Dog Health Emergencies: Two Steps
1. In any dog health emergency, stay calm and think.
2. Approach the dog cautiously. The dog may become aggressive because of fear or pain. You can’t help the dog if you’re
hurt yourself.
Dog Health Emergencies 1: Traffic Accident:
1. If possible, do not move the dog.
2. Call the nearest Humane Society or ASPCA office.
3. If the animal workers can’t or won’t come and you must move
the dog, slide a blanket under the animal. Lift the animal to
safety with the help of another person.
4. Check for a heartbeat and bleeding. Try to stop the
excessive loss of blood by holding a clean cloth or pad over
the wound and securing it tightly with a makeshift bandage.
5. Take the dog to the nearest vet, calling ahead to prepare
them for the emergency.
Dog Heath Emergencies 2: Burns
1. Immerse the burned body part in cold running water for as
long as possible.
2. If the burn is from a caustic substance, wash it off.
3. Call the vet.
Dog Health Emergencies 3: Heat stroke
Warning signs: The dog is overheated and without sufficient
air. The dog might be panting, vomiting, frothing at the mouth,
or already collapsed.
1. Remove the froth,
2. Place or douse the dog with cold water to lower body
temperature.
3. Take the dog immediately to the veterinarian for treatment.
Treatment usually consists of more cold water, drugs and
observation.
Emergency 4: Dog Poisoning
Warning signs: Look for muscular twitching, vomiting, bleeding,
convulsion or collapse.
1. Don’t wait to see what happens. While it may be nothing, you
have to take action immediately in case it is poisoning. Any
delay could be fatal.
2. Call the vet. (Don’t know the vet’s number by heart? Right
now, make sure you have put the vet’s number by every telephone
in your house, and in your mobile phone contacts.)
3. Follow the vet’s advice. Different poisoning cases sometimes
have to be treated differently.
4. If you know what the poison is, take some of it with you to
the vet’s office.
5. If you cannot reach the vet, call the ASPCA’s animal poison
control center: 1-888-4ANIHELP (1-888-426-4435). Put this
number by your home telephones and in your mobile phone
contacts right now. A $50 fee per incident applies for this
nonprofit service–it’s worth it. If you don’t have a credit
card, they can charge the fee to your telephone bill.
Emergency 5: Dog Choking
1. Open the dog’s mouth carefully and try to see what is
causing the problem. It could be anything: a small ball, bone,
stick, meat wrapping.
2. Pump the chest by pressing down on the ribs and releasing
immediately at 5-second intervals.
3. If this doesn’t dislodge the object within a few moments,
rush the dog to the nearest animal hospital to have the foreign
object removed under anesthetic.
Dog Health Emergencies 6: Drowning
1. Remove the dog from the water.
2. Try to get the water out of the dog’s lungs as soon as
possible by pumping the chest as for choking (see above).
3. Take the dog to the vet to be checked out.
Hopefully, you will never have to handle any of these dog health
emergencies. But if you do, you have the dog health advice that
you need.
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