For many in the Coachella Valley, your pets are considered part of your family. So what happens if your dog or cat has a medical emergency? Would you know what to do to keep them alive until you make it to the vet?
Using a stuffed animal can help you learn how to do correct CPR on your dog or cat and even how to wrap wounds if they’re ever injured hopefully to save their life.
If you ask Gregory Meinherdt what matters most, it’s simple…a hug from his best friend.
“They’re our babies and we want to make sure they’re safe,” said Meinherdt.
His two dogs, Appy and Jellybean get into trouble a lot, like most dogs do, especially eating things they shouldn’t.
“You have to make sure they don’t choke,” he said.
But what if they or your dog did? Would you know what to do?
“I think I could probably ad-lib that situation,” said Meinherdt.
Tabitha Davies, a certified dog trainer says many clients have no clue what to do.
“The owners should know where to place their hands, how to do compressions and how frequent,” she said. “So if there’s a dog fight and they’re bleeding, you need to know how to stop the bleeding. If your dog stops breathing, you need to know how to give CPR while your en route to the vet.”
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If they don’t, injuries could worsen within a matter of minutes and death could come quicker.
“There’s chances that there’s more damage or loss of life on the way to the vets office especially when there’s not a lot of emergency clinics,” said Davies.
Other dog owners like JD Lewis has some knowledge when it comes to tending to his dog, Tosh.
“I wouldn’t know what the depths would be for compression on a dog versus a human but the breathing i think would be through the snoot,”
He’s right. Breathing through the dogs nose once every five compressions while the animal lays on a flat surface on its side, compressing the chest for one inch to one-quarter at a rate of 100 compressions in a minute.
Those exercises that could save Lewis’s dogs lives.
“I don’t have any children, so my dog and my cat are my children,” said Lewis.
For Lewis and other dog owners, a class that could show them the proper way to save their dogs life is imperative. Luckily, Davies teaches that class for pet parents who know their dogs lives are priceless.
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“That is family, that’s extremely important and when something happens you don’t want to be in a panic, you want to be able to know what to do,” said Lewis.
The class starts at 11am on Saturday morning and goes until 2pm at the Palma Village Park off San Carlos Avenue.
The class is free and several spots are still available.
For more information and to register, go to cvdogclub.com.
