Performing CPR on a dog is different than for a human, but also similar. You have to treat a dog just as you would when treating a small child and even a large dog is delicate when it comes to rescue breathing. There are steps to take when it comes to CPR on your dog.
The first thing you need to do is check your pet to see if they are conscious, which is important. Place your hand in front of its mouth and nose, to check for breathing. Check for a heartbeat by putting your ear on the left side of the chest, where their elbow touches. If there is no sign of life, then you must clear the airway as quickly as possible. You need to pull their tongue as far forward out of its mouth as you can. You have to be extremely careful when doing this, as even an unresponsive pet can instinctively bite down. Check their airway for obstructions. If you see any, take a pair of needle nose pliers, or tweezers, and gently and carefully remove it.
Move their head until the neck is straight, but only if you are sure that they don t have an injury in this area. Close their mouth, and breath into the nose until you see their chest expanding, just enough to make their chest rise, too much could injure them further. If this doesn t happen, you will want to check again for obstructions in their throat, and check to make sure their neck is straight. Once their chest starts rising, you need to do rescue breathing for them 12 15 times each minute.
While you also need to do chest compressions, don t do this until you have started your rescue breathing. You need to lay them on the right side, with their heart area exposed, in the same location as above. Place one hand under the heart to support the chest, and the other over. You need to press gently on the heart, and the compressions are different depending on the size of the dog.
Press down ½ inch for small dogs, 1 for medium sizes and 1 and ½ for large pets. If it is a really small pet, then compress with just the thumb and fore finger, one hand only. You must do this from 80 120 times a minute for large animals, and 100 150 for smaller dogs, alternating between chest compressions and breathing. Continue with CPR until you start to hear a regular heartbeat and breathing, then call your vet right away.
Now even with all of this, your dog may still not recover, but in some cases your CPR can save their lives. There are many valuable resources online to help you, and much more detailed information. There are also classes available for CPR as well as first aid, and every person should take at least a basic course, you just never know when a situation may occur.
Author Resource:
This article was written by Kelly Marshall of http://ohmydogsupplies.com - the dog supplies store featuring dog grooming supplies and tools.
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