Autumn 2002Animal First Aid
One article really cannot cover all first aid situations so this will mostly be looking at the differences between animal and human first aid.
Secondly, think about whether the patient is likely to be dangerous. Remember, even the sweetest pet when injured may scratch or bite. Our native species are still wild animals despite the fact that they usually are very cute. Ask anyone who has been bitten by a cockatoo or even a lorikeet whether they approach our native species with some care. Use towels or jumpers or whatever you have to protect yourself from scratches and bites. It is a lot easier to examine any injured animal, be they pet or not, if one person controls the head while the other examines.
Before going on there is one rule that all people should remember. NEVER try to examine or touch a flying fox (fruit bat). We now have a virus in Australia called Lyssavirus which may affect these animals; this is contagious to humans and can cause a rabies-like disease. If you find an injured flying fox place a box over it and call WIRES or SMWS rather than attempting to touch it. No matter what the animal’s injury is (it may have a very minor injury), if you get bitten or scratched, the flying fox will have to be euthanased so it can be assessed as to whether it was carrying the virus, and you will need a series of vaccinations.
Having said that, we are fortunate that our animals, unlike humans, don’t have any serous diseases like AIDS or hepatitis that blood splashes will pass on to us.
Assuming that the patient is not critical, you may need to deal with bleeding wounds, splinting fractures etc. The principles of human first aid apply here. However, an animal has 4 legs so can usually be quite mobile on 3 legs. Fractures above the knee or elbow are difficult (or even impossible) to splint so I would usually not attempt this. If there is a very unstable fracture (i.e.one that “waves in the breeze”) apply a support bandage, if there are bleeding wounds on lower limbs apply a dressing, if it is on an area that is not possible to bandage apply pressure with a clean dressing material.
To clean a contaminated wound use saline (this is a .9% salt water solution-i.e. 1 teaspoon salt to 500 mls water). If you feel a disinfectant is warranted, remember that anything that goes on an animal’s skin will be licked, so test it on your own tongue and if it burns you, it will burn the animal. There is a commonly held misconception that animals’ skin is tougher than human skin. In fact, the outer layer of animals’ skin is designed to be protected by a thick hair coat, so their epidermis is usually thinner than ours; so never assume that if we use a disinfectant at a particular strength on our skin that it should be used at a greater strength on the dog or cat. Some of the nastiest skin burns I have seen have been from the use of ‘Dettol’.
Mouth to mouth resuscitation is not possible in dogs and cats (unless your mouth is even bigger than mine) so mouth to nose resuscitation is what is used. However, there really are only a few times when this is likely to be needed (such as toadfish poisoning and drowning). If an animal has a seizure it will usually fall on its side so is very unlikely to swallow its tongue (unlike a human who will fall on their back) so never try to pull out a dog’s tongue during a seizure - you will just get bitten.
Commonsense and observation are the keys to dealing with animal first aid. Remember, if in doubt, give us a call. Rosalie
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Firstly, in any emergency assess the general situation. Is the patient conscious, is there a lot of bleeding, are legs in unusual positions suggesting fractures etc, is the patient in a dangerous position e.g. on a road? 
So the next question is, how critical is the patient? In humans you may ask questions but with animals this obviously cannot be done so your powers of observation are extremely important. Is the patient breathing? Is their circulation adequate? So, having seen that they are alive and breathing, check their gum colour. Importantly, you need to know what a normal gum colour looks like, so this is something you should practice on your own pets. Learn what a normal pink gum colour is so that you can tell if the injured animal looks pale or cyanotic (blue). In terms of telling if the animal is in a life threatening situation this is the most important assesssment you can make. Also, practice feeling for the heartbeat on the chest wall. This can be difficult in fat animals and even animals who are panting (and many shocked animals will be panting), but also lets you know how critical they are. At this point the best thing to do may be to transport them to the nearest open vet, but at least this will let you know how urgent veterinary attention is.