Learning CPR for your pets

Could you perform CPR or rescue breathing on your dog or cat if it needed it? The Red Cross schedules regular classes to teach it to you, and News on 6 reporter Rick Wells stopped in at the Red Cross

Wednesday, January 21st 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Could you perform CPR or rescue breathing on your dog or cat if it needed it? The Red Cross schedules regular classes to teach it to you, and News on 6 reporter Rick Wells stopped in at the Red Cross Wednesday, curious about CPR for dogs.

Tulsa firefighter: "We pushed on him as couple of times, and he started breathing." A dog was pulled from a burning house he was not breathing, but firefighters got him breathing again.

Could you do it? I got a quick lesson in pet first aid at the Red Cross. Kim Sykes teaches a regular class, which includes CPR for pets. "On a dog this size you're gonna do about 10 compressions, 1, 2, 3,4,5,6,7,8,9, and 10."

And of course, if the dog is not breathing, it is mouth to mouth, or in this case mouth to snout. Hold his mouth closed and blow two breaths into his nose. Wells: â€œRight here?â€ Sykes: "Right there into the nose." Do you love your dog that much?

Mary Green runs K9 Manners and More. She has had several occasions to use first aid including rescue breathing and CPR on her own pets and on dogs she trains and shows. "I'm very glad I know how to do it and it's certainly easy enough to learn."

The Red Cross class teaches more than just CPR, there is extensive first aid training. Kim Sykes says we have become more active with our animals so it stands to reason there will be injuries, requiring bandaging for example. "There we go. On around and then all the way back down to the toe."

There is lots of instruction about recognizing illnesses, people medicines that work on animals. You get a book loaded with good to know stuff. For more information, visit the Red Crossâ€™ website at www.tulsaredcross.org.