Hello! Welcome to PCST's first blog post. We thought it would be a good idea to start with a very important part of animal care, CPR. CPR stands for cardiopulmonary resuscitation. It is easier than ever to become pet first aid and CPR certified. All you have to do is find a reputable online class, pay a small fee, and carve out 30 minutes to two hours of your day to take the class. Our own certification comes from ProTrainings, a website dedicated to a variety of online courses. You can check out their Pet First Aid and CPR course here. After completing this course, you are officially certified in Pet First Aid and CPR for 2 years. The American Red Cross also offers a training course for Cat and Dog First Aid and they also have a pet first aid app!
This post will focus on the process of CPR for cats and dogs while Pet First Aid will be discussed in a future post. We will give a step by step process on what to do in a situation that requires CPR. We recommend taking a CPR and first aid course yourself so you can get certified and get a full visual demonstration, but until then, hopefully this post will be helpful.
When and How to Perform CPR
The first thing you need to determine is whether your cat or dog needs CPR in the first place. Signs that an animal will need CPR are:
total loss of consciousness,
breathing has stopped or their breathing is agonal (agonal breathing is not true breathing, it will look like gasping breaths)
no pulse.
It is important to understand that dogs and cats only survive about 5-6% of the time when CPR is performed, even when an emergency team is involved. Usually if a dog or a cat is going to survive, they will be revived within 10 minutes of CPR. CPR can be performed for up to 20 minutes, but after that amount of time there is very little chance of the animal being resuscitated. If the animal does survive, there is a high probability it will go into cardiopulmonary arrest again.
When CPR is performed it's a series or rescue breaths and chest compressions, with intermingled pulse checks. These life-saving actions are easy to do but it's necessary that they are done correctly.
To perform a rescue breath for CPR, close the animal's mouth with one hand, cover the animals nose and mouth with your mouth, and exhale until you see their chest rise.
For chest compressions lay the animal on its side. For dogs 25+ lbs, place your hands on the widest part of the chest with one hand on top of the other. Make sure you lock your elbows for chest compressions. For smaller dogs and cats you'll place your hands over their heart. To find the heart, bend their leg to their chest and where the point of the elbow meets the chest is about where their heart will be. You can either squeeze their chest with your hand to perform compressions, or place your hands over the heart, one on top of the other with your elbows locked. Each compression should be even and should compress the animals chest about 1/2 to 1/3 the width of the chest. Release the compression completely when going up. You'll need to do 100-120 compressions per minute. To keep track, its common to do compressions to the beat of a song such as Stayin' Alive by the Bee Gees, or Another One Bites the Dust by Queen. Both equally morbid, but effective in keeping proper compression time.
If you've never checked a dog or cat's pulse before, it is an easy skill to learn. While the animal is laying down on their side or at rest, use your peace fingers (do no use your thumb, you may mistake your own pulse for the animals pulse) and place them on the inner thigh of the back leg and apply slight pressure. If you're having trouble finding a pulse move your fingers up near where the leg meets the body. You're trying to feel the pulse from the femoral artery.
CPR Cycle
To reiterate, the signs that an animal needs CPR are: loss of consciousness, no breathing/agonal breathing, and no pulse. Once you've determined an animal needs CPR, follow one of these cycles depending on how many people are around to help you, if any. Two person CPR is ideal but one person CPR will work as well. Try and remain as calm as possible when performing CPR.
One Person CPR
Lay the animal on it's side
Do 30 chest compressions
Perform 2 rescue breaths
Check for a pulse-if you can't find one, continue this cycle until you find a pulse or until the 20 minutes is up.
If the animal's pulse returns, get them to an emergency vet as soon as possible.
Two Person CPR (ideal)
Lay the animal on it's side
One person start continuous chest compressions
One person performs rescue breaths every 6-8 seconds and keeps track of time
After two minutes, check pulse-if no pulse switch positions and continue the cycle until the animal is revived or the 20 minutes is up.
If the animal's pulse returns, get them to an emergency vet as soon as possible.
Be prepared for any outcome when performing CPR. As previously mentioned, if an animal is resuscitated there is a high chance it will go into cardiopulmonary arrest again so get to the vet as soon as you can. Even if you are unsuccessful, it's still a good idea to head to your vet or the nearest emergency vet. There they will be able to officially let you know that your pet has passed and they can help you decide how you would like to put your pet to rest. It is normal and expected to be sad after the loss of a pet so allow yourself to grieve. There are many pet loss support groups and pet bereavement groups that can help you through the process.
We hope this post was helpful. If you have any questions, comments, or want to request a blog post topic, feel free to leave a comment or shoot us a message. Our next blog post will be about Pet First Aid, so keep an eye out for it!
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