Sunday, August 26, 2007

Surmising Sunday

Welcome to another edition of Surmising Sunday.

Today's entry is being changed from what I originally had prepared to post for today, as an at home incident made me decide to post on the topic of personal interest.

How to save a choking small dog or cat.

(click above link if currently experiencing a dog/cat choking incident)

Literally, a few minutes ago, I was just forced to save my dog's life.

Story: I was sitting upstairs on my bed with my laptop, playing around on facebook, when my beagle, Molly, came upstairs carrying her water dish. I filled it with water and she took one gulp. Suddenly she started pawing at her mouth, and then finally threw up the little bit of water. She tried again. Same thing. I assumed she couldn’t swallow, but otherwise she seemed fine. And was obviously breathing.

Next, I tried one of her treats, same result. I also had some free Caesar dog food I received in the mail for small dogs – teeny tiny dog food kernals. I gave her one of those, and she caught on to chew it thoroughly then swallow it. It was taking her quite an effort though.

She was obviously still breathing, but every now and then she would paw at her mouth. So I went to grab the phone to call the emergency vet (thinking perhaps she had ingested something toxic). Before I had a chance to make the call, she ran for a drink again, managed to get some gulps down and seemed momentarily fine.

All of a sudden, she really started pawing at her mouth, her eggs bugged out, and she thrust her nose into the air (all the classic signs of a dog choking). But then she ran away from me and wouldn’t let me catch her. She ran downstairs and onto the couch but then practically collapsed, as I guess she had trouble breathing by then. I grabbed her and gave her a couple chest thrusts (thankfully didn’t break any ribs) and reached down her throat. She fought me and fought me but I grabbed ahold of this white clump and yanked. Out came about a 6 inch long impacted white soft lump that looked like bread dough. And then she was fine.

(Later I discovered a torn open box of instant potatoes on the floor that she somehow managed to knock off the shelf!) So now I have made sure all food items are only on the highest shelf where there is no way she could get at them.

Scary! Thought I was going to lose her there for a moment!!

So, I thought today I would post a few links to websites with information on what to do in a pet emergency, so if something similar happens to your pet, you'll know what to do. I didn't know what to do, and just applied what I knew from first aid/CPR classes to my dog. I was partially right...:

One of the best sites I have come across so far, although you have to scroll through a few advertisements, but is step-by-step, so I good one to keep book marked:

Dog First Aid 101

A Simple website: What To Do When Your Dog Is Choking


And a bonus article for fun:

Dog Performs Heimlic on Choking Owner

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