Pet first aid costs $40 for the four hour course and is designed to teach individuals basic first aid techniques for dogs and cats due to common illness, injury, or life-threatening condition. Call 773-5675.
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It’s the moment between life and death when seconds count but feel like minutes.
In those moments the training and expertise of someone ready to give first aid can literally save a life.
The American Red Cross offers classes on how to perform CPR and first aid on everyone from infants to adults. They also have a class for our four-legged friends who aren’t able to tell us exactly what is wrong.
“For a lot of folks, their pets are their family,” said Marc Silva, director of Health and Safety and Regional Development for the Heart of Texas Area Chapter of the American Red Cross.
Red Cross pet first aid classes, which last about four hours, are a combination of lecture, discussion, video presentation and live demonstration. They can be taught for dogs, cats or both, and topics include actions to take in an emergency - such as CPR and controlling bleeding - and how to recognize one.
The Red Cross began offering pet first aid classes in 1997, but it was chapter specific. The course was revised nationally in 2007 and sent out to all the chapters. The course are taught locally at the Temple, Killeen and Waco branches.
“I got a lot of chuckles when I planned to roll the program out of our jurisdiction,” Silva said. “Our board members laughed. But then I brought out the dummies and they realized how serious it was.”
Students learn how to perform CPR and rescue breathing on stuffed animals modified to simulate lungs and airways.
The mannequin for a dog is a middle-sized model weighing 40 to 50 pounds. Pet first aid also covers how to approach an injured animal and how to muzzle an animal.
“Your pet is hurting bad enough they could perceive any kind of approach as a threat,” Silva said. “So you have to be careful on how you approach the animal.”
The CPR for a dog or a cat is not so different from what one would provide for a human.
“We instruct them on hand placement and the actual rescue breathing technique,” Silva said. “On a human it’s mouth to mouth, on a pet it’s mouth to snout.”
Instructor Jesse Green was certified to teach pet first aid in November of last year. Green is a veteran who worked as a medic and is also certified in CPR technique for humans.
Green said the first aid course can be structured to the needs of the student. If someone only has a dog then that is what he’ll teach in the class. He also takes the size of the animal into account.
“Smaller animals have a faster respiration rate and a faster heart rate. The amount of time and amount of breath needed changes too,” Green said. “You’re not going to take a Chihuahua and give him the breath you’d give a Great Dane.”
Green explained the techniques are taught to help keep the animal alive until proper medical attention can be administered.
“There are always going to be certain circumstances that no matter what you do, you won’t be able to save that animal,” Green said. “You have to realize that if it didn’t work, don’t blame yourself. Even if you did everything perfect.”
