I’ve been certified in Adult First Aid and CPR for the last eight years, going through a recertification class each year. Fortunately, I’ve never been in a situation that required me to use my skills on a human, but I was able to save one of my dogs when she choked last year. I thank God that I had my CPR skills to fall back on. Otherwise, Cruella wouldn’t have made it. But since that time, I’ve known that I needed to take a course focusing specifically on animals. I finally took that class today!
The American Red Cross offers Pet First Aid and CPR classes, so I signed up for one through the Knoxville chapter. The fee was only $25, and it was well worth it. We learned not only how to administer CPR, but a number of other first aid techniques as well. They taught us how to deal with cuts, impaled objects, burns, snake bites, shock, broken bones, and a lot more. The focus was on providing immediate lifesaving care and then transporting the animal to a veterinary hospital for further treatment.
Our class had an adorable dog named Patches who got to demonstrate all the first aid techniques with her owner. I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw this dog’s head all bandaged up. She was such a good dog! She didn’t mind at all. And of course, I couldn’t help but play with her before and after the class. I wanted to take her home!
We got to practice our CPR techniques on dog and cat mannequins very similar to the ones you use in Adult CPR classes. We also practiced bandaging and splinting on stuffed toy dogs and cats.
For those of you with pets, I highly recommend the class. You never know when you may find yourself in a critical situation where you’ll be the only person around to save your pet’s life. The class is approximately four hours long. Everyone attending receives a copy of Pet First Aid: Cats and Dogs by Bobbie Mammato, DVM, as well as a t-shirt. The shirt has a picture of Charlie Brown holding Snoopy in his lap. It says “Taking Care of My Best Friend” across the top, and “American Red Cross Pet First Aid” underneath the picture.
Another interesting note is that the Red Cross offers pet first aid kits for sale. They have several different kits, and they are in neat zippered pouches. They also sell first aid books and DVDs. Just contact your local chapter if you’re interested in these items.
I plan to take the class annually just to reinforce the skills I learned today. Just as with Adult First Aid and CPR, you tend to forget the skills you’ve learned if you don’t regularly practice them.
Good luck if you decide to take the class! For those of you in Knoxville, you can find more information here.
March 24th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Good for you! We in the vet profession need lots more certified folks out there. Incidentally, I’ll be taking an advanced course called K9 down in May (in NYC). It’s for vets, techs, paramedics, military and cops looking to hone their serious emergency skills–just dogs, though, no kitty stuff.
Dr. Patty Khuly’s last blog post..Veterinary question du jour: To Lasik or not to Lasik
March 25th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Yeah! I’m so glad you did it and enjoyed it! The cost is incredibly reasonable. We’ll be posting about this fur sure!
Thought you’d like to know that we get a lot of email, searches and comments about canine cpr, thanks to you. Between the two of us I’ve found out that we’ve have been able to help save a couple of lives, that is soo cool!
Did I tell you, you rock!!!!
Woofs, Johann
Johann’s last blog post..An adventure!
April 25th, 2008 at 7:51 am
This is such a very interesting course. I am not authorized to conduct such but is totally amazed on the whole thing. I am sad to say that in our countries there are a lot of stray animals, particulary dogs. In fact in some places dogs are being slaughtered for food. Though there are also a lot of very good dog owners and pet lovers here. Great job and continue your work!