PetKnows

Do you know what you would do if something suddenly happened to your pet and you have to quickly act on your feet? I surely do not and the only resource I have at my house is the tell-tale yellow book, Cats for Dummies. Don’t get me wrong – there is a lot of good info in there but it’s not the first place I would turn to if there were a problem. Last evening after my cat Matilda ate her dinner she started coughing and I immediately thought she was choking. Thank goodness it was just a little cough, but if the problem were serious I wouldn’t know what to do.

The key is to already be aware of what to do in a situation so I went to the computer and started researching. The first thing I searched for was obviously what to do if a cat is choking. I found what I was looking for on How Stuff Works. They have a great step by step guide of what to do when a cat is choking, how to perform artificial respiration and CPR. In the process I found many other useful guides to care for pets in any type of emergency. iVillage gives an overview of what to do in different situations and also provides useful links like the American Red Cross first aid page, Pet Vet, The Humane Society pet care page, and Pet Education. These are all interesting sites with a ton of good info worth taking a look at.

And the first thing I learned (after how to help a choking cat) was that a good first aid plan can begin with having the phone number and address of your vet and after-hours vet, along with directions to the clinic, ready to go in case of emergency. Now I’m ready!