Save a dog LIFE & Canine First Aid

If you want to save your dog's life, never forget that these three important things are the most essential:

• Save the dog from the danger by moving it to a safer place, but without risking your own life.
• Put into practice all the necessary first aid to keep it alive.
• Phone the veterinary clinic to ask for advice and help.

THE ABC OF THE FIRST AID

These three things are absolutely important if you want to keep your dog alive.

• Make sure that its breathing passages are not obstructed, especially if the dog is unconscious; take out any object that may be blocking them and gently pull the tongue out to leave the throat perfectly clear.
• If the dog isn't breathing, try the artificial breathing pushing its chest with your hand every two seconds, to force the air to go out of the lungs.
• Try to keep the circulation of the blood. Try to cut the hemorrhages (intense bleeding) by covering the wounds with tight bandaging

The emergencies we are about to mention need immediate veterinary attention, but practicing the first aid while the veterinary arrives can save the dog's life: dog t tee shirt

Burns. They could have been produced by heat, electrical discharges or corrosive substances. If the animal has been electrocuted, cut the general electricity switch before touching the dog. Wash abundantly any kind of burn with cold running water in order to refrigerate the injured tissues and eliminate the remains of corrosive, if the burn was produced by a chemical substance. In this case, don't let the dog lick the affected part at any time.

Chokes. If the dog is unconscious, pull the tongue out and take out any strange body that you may find. If it conscious, what you have to do is to press strongly and quickly, at once and in just one movement, its chest with both hands, hoping that the air that is till hold in its lungs gets out with enough strength to expel stuck strange body. Another possibility is to take out the object by pulling it with the help of a pair of thongs.

Drowning. If the dog is unconscious and its size allows you to do it, take it in your hands, put it up side down and softly shake it forwards and backwards to help the gravity to extract the water from its lungs. Even if the dog looks completely recovered after the maneuver, the remains of water that are kept in the lungs can give the dog pneumonia, so it must be examined by a veterinary.

Epileptic Crisis. Don't disturb the dog during the crisis; limit yourself to keep it from getting injured and, if it is possible, to leave the room silently and in the dark. Be careful when the crisis is over because some dogs get disoriented and may react on an aggressive way for a while. If the attack lasts more than five minutes or happens again right away, look for a veterinary immediately.

Fractures, Dislocations and Sprains. You don't have to splint or bandage the dog because it will fight to avoid it, making the injuries even worst. Try to immobilize the dog and don't give it any tranquilizer until the veterinary tells you so. The sprains will get better by applying cold compresses on it.

Wounds. If they are not very important, soak them in half a liter of water in which you have previously dissolved a teaspoon of salt. If they are big, deep or are located on a critical area as the chest or the abdomen, take the dog to the veterinary. You will have to have the dog checked, even if the wounds are not serious, if you notice any inflammation or bad smell, they begin to suppurate or the dog shows any problem or denies eating.

Poisoning. Up to half an hour after the ingestion (after that the poison will no longer be in the stomach), as long as the dog hasn't taken any caustic product, you can try to make your dog vomit the poison. In order to produce the vomit, put very salty water or a little crystal of washing soda on the dog's mouth (do not confuse, under any term the washing soda with caustic soda under any pretext). Collect all the possible information about the poison (keeping the bottle of the cleaning product, for example) and immediately get in touch with the veterinary. If your dog dirties its hair with any dangerous substance, keep it from licking or biting the area until it is perfectly clean again.

IMPROVISING A MUZZLE It is not strange for a hurt dog to try to bite, so it is convenient to improvise a muzzle (except if the dog has a flattened snout). If you notice that the dog is having trouble breathing, take it out. Make a loose knot on a bandage or tie and put the snout in it. Then close the knot, tightening the bandage well. Cross both extremes under the mouth, put the extremes backwards and tie them behind the head with a knot or a bow.