First aid
It's a nightmare for you as a dog owner if your beloved furry friend gets seriously injured - fortunately, this is a rare occurrence. On the other hand, minor accidents, injuries while romping around or biting confrontations with other dogs are more common. Regardless of how badly your dog has been injured: With prudent first aid, you can save valuable time and perhaps even save its or another dog's life.
Here you can find out what you should look out for when providing first aid in typical emergencies. The most important rule first: stay calm! Because only those who keep their nerve can think clearly and make the right decisions. It's best to save the number of your vet and the nearest veterinary clinic in your cell phone for emergencies. This also saves nerves and time.
Good to know
The information on this page is intended to prepare you for an emergency. If you find yourself in an emergency situation with your dog, please contact your vet immediately! The following information is not intended to be exhaustive. Success of the measures is not guaranteed.
emergency measures
First aid for dogs - what to do in an emergency?
If your dog has an accident or is injured in some other way, the most important thing to do - even if it's difficult - is to stay calm and get an idea of the situation first. If you have already familiarized yourself with the most important help measures in advance, this will give you confidence in an emergency. Many rescue organizations, clubs and even vets offer first aid courses for dogs. It is highly recommended that you take part in one of these courses so that you can practice the steps involved.
Important: Before you start with the emergency measures, inform your vet or veterinary clinic about the incident, your dog's condition and when you will be there. It is best to divide such tasks. For example, if you are not alone, have someone close to you call the practice or get help.
Before and during first aid, please note: Even the most peaceful four-legged friend can snap or bite when in severe pain or shock. Therefore, always approach slowly and in a controlled manner and avoid hasty movements. Your furry friend trusts you and it will calm them down if you speak to them gently and calmly. For the safety of both of you, it can be helpful to secure the mouth with a muzzle or a muzzle sling before treating it (note: not in case of respiratory distress!). If the injury allows it, it is best to keep your dog on a leash - this will prevent it from running away in panic.
First of all, it is important to place your dog in the recovery position so that you can treat the injuries in peace. To do this, carefully lay it on its uninjured side. If it is unconscious, the head must be placed lower than the body in the recovery position - you can simply place a blanket or a piece of clothing under the chest area. Be sure to check that the airway is clear. If you need to clear it of vomit, simply pull the tongue out of your dog's mouth and clean out the mouth with your fingers. This is important to avoid choking.
The blood flow reflects the state of your dog's circulation. You can easily check this by pressing on a pale pigmented area of the gums with your index finger for about 3 seconds. When you let go again, the pressure point should have returned to its original color after two seconds. If it remains pale or is even bluish in color, the circulation is in a critical condition. In this case, you should consult a vet immediately.
You can tell whether your dog is breathing by observing the raising and lowering of the ribcage or by lightly placing your hand on the ribcage. A mirror is also a good aid: if your dog is breathing properly, it should fog up when you hold it in front of its mouth and nose. Alternatively, you can hold a tuft of fur in front of the nose or mouth. If you cannot detect breathing, your dog must be placed in a stable lateral position (on the right side). Place the tongue between the front teeth and stretch the neck. The lips are held together for ventilation: Breathe in and blow your breath into the dog's nose in a controlled manner (mouth-to-nose resuscitation). You can see whether you are doing this correctly when the animal's chest rises. This process is repeated until your dog starts breathing again. You should also check whether your dog has a pulse.
If your dog is unconscious and not breathing, feel its heartbeat so that you can perform chest compressions in the event of cardiac arrest. You can best feel its pulse at the femoral artery. It runs along the inside of the thigh in the groin area. You can easily feel it with your index and middle finger because it resembles a thin cable. You should be able to measure the pulse by applying light pressure. You can also feel the heartbeat on the left side of the chest, about four to five centimeters behind the elbow joint.
Caution: If there is no pulse/heartbeat, this is an emergency and cardiopulmonary resuscitation must be performed immediately.
In the event of cardiac arrest, your dog needs immediate cardiac massage and must be given artificial respiration. To do this, the dog should lie on its right side with its neck stretched out and its tongue hanging out of its mouth. Kneel in front of your dog at chest height and place the heel of your hand about 5 centimeters behind the elbow joint on the chest. To make it easier to find the spot, you can hold the dog's paw and push the elbow joint towards the chest. The pressure point is roughly at this point. Place the ball of the other hand on top of it and press the chest vertically from above with outstretched arms. Repeat this process 30 times (2-3 massages/second). You should ventilate twice for every 30 pumps.
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is physically and emotionally demanding. It is therefore best to work with someone else. You can take turns or one person can do the chest compressions and the other the mouth-to-nose resuscitation.
If your dog is bleeding heavily, for example after a traffic accident, blood loss can quickly become severe. To prevent this, you should know how to apply a pressure bandage. The blood flow can be stopped by applying external pressure to the injured vessel.
As a rule, a classic pressure bandage is used to treat leg injuries. To do this, the injured leg must first be raised slightly to reduce blood flow. The wound is then covered. A sterile wound dressing is best suited for this - if necessary, a clean handkerchief can also be used. Place a non-absorbent object that is larger than the wound area over it. You can use a (wrapped!) fixation bandage, for example. Tie it so tightly to the wound that the bleeding stops. This is an essential first aid measure.
Immediately following the first aid measures, your dog must be taken to a veterinary practice or veterinary clinic without delay. Please be particularly careful during transportation so that your pet does not become frightened and possibly sustain further injuries. If possible, ask another person for assistance. It is essential that the animal patient is carried stably and safely using a blanket or board. If it has not yet regained consciousness, keep it in the recovery position.
If you have to carry your dog on your own, carry it in your arms if possible and make sure that the injured body part is on the opposite side to you. In the case of broken bones, it is essential that the body part is in a stable position.
Open wounds
First aid for open wounds
Whether small cuts, bite wounds or deep flesh wounds: It is always advisable to consult a vet for open wounds. Even if the wound appears small and only bleeds slightly, the tissue in deeper layers of the skin can be damaged and in severe cases - such as after a traffic accident - even your dog's internal organs can be affected.
Professional care is also advisable to prevent infections caused by bacteria or other harmful microorganisms. Until then, it is not only helpful but also important that you can provide initial care yourself.
Before starting, it is best to put on disposable gloves or at least wash your hands thoroughly so that no bacteria or other pathogens can get into the wound.
Cuts and bites
First aid for minor cuts and bites
If the wound is still bleeding, you should first apply pressure to stop the bleeding. The best way to do this is to use a sterile wound dressing or a clean handkerchief and press on the wound until it stops bleeding.
Depending on the condition of your dog's coat, hair may reach into the wound. Cut or shave this off carefully first. Prevent the hair from getting into the wound. Next, remove any coarse dirt from the wound. To do this, rinse it carefully with sterile saline solution or lukewarm tap water. If you find small foreign bodies such as splinters, small shards, etc., you can remove these with disinfected tweezers (important: please do not pull out large foreign bodies yourself; leave this to the vet).
Allow the wound to dry briefly after cleaning and then apply a suitable wound ointment or wound gel. This will keep the wound moist in the initial phase and support wound healing.
Then cover the injury with sterile gauze, pad it with absorbent cotton if necessary and wrap the wound loosely with a gauze bandage. The bandage should be non-slip, but not too tight so as not to cut off the blood supply.
Good to know
Watch out for bite wounds!
Bite wounds can look harmless because you may only be able to recognize the bites as small holes on the outside. This is not so easy, especially in the fur. However, biting dogs often also pull hard on the skin, which can damage the tissue under the surface of the skin. There are also many bacteria in the mouth. There is therefore always a risk of infection in bite wounds. To be on the safe side, always consult a vet, as the extent of a bite wound sometimes only becomes apparent on closer examination!
paw injuries
Special case of paw injuries
As paws and claws are well supplied with blood, injuries here can bleed more than in other parts of the body. Non-bleeding injuries (e.g. from stepping on a thorn or similar) can often be recognized by the fact that your dog is lame or avoids a walk. In this case, make sure that it does not step on the thorn again and keep it quiet so that you can assess the injury calmly and prevent it from getting worse.
After the wound has been treated, a special paw bandage is applied. This sounds more difficult than it is: it is important to pad the toes individually before applying the bandage so that they are not compressed by the bandage. To do this, you can carefully push absorbent cotton or gauze into the spaces between the toes (please also pad the wolf claw). However, this must never touch the open wound. Depending on the injury, you can then pad the leg from bottom to top with rolled absorbent cotton and wrap it with a gauze bandage or an elastic bandage. Again, it is important not to wrap the bandage too tightly.
insect bites
Insect bites in dogs
Is your dog also an "insect hunter"? Especially in summer, when wasps, bees, bumblebees or hornets are out and about, unpleasant encounters can occur if your four-legged friend snaps at them or accidentally steps on a bee, for example. Insects can also feel threatened and sting when your dog rolls around on the lawn.
Although insect bites are painful, they are generally harmless. In rare cases, dogs have an allergic reaction to a sting. In the worst case, this can end in an allergic shock and even become life-threatening. Because you are often unaware of insect bites on your dog, it is important that you quickly recognize the symptoms of an allergic reaction and know what to do in an emergency.
Symptoms of an insect bite in dogs
If your dog is stung by a wasp, bee or other insect, it may suddenly howl and/or run away in a hurry. Sometimes dogs repeatedly lick a certain part of their body or salivate profusely. An insect bite can also be the cause if an animal suddenly lifts its paw and limps. In the best-case scenario, this only triggers the typical symptoms such as itching, redness, wheals and swelling of the skin. As with humans, these will subside after a few hours to a few days.
However, the situation is different if your dog has an allergic reaction to the insect venom. If a sting occurs, certain messenger substances, in particular histamine, are released.
It becomes problematic and, in the worst case, life-threatening if the insect bite leads to an allergic - known medically as "anaphylactic-shock". In contrast to the usual allergic reaction, an excessive amount of histamine is released. This leads to an immediate dilation of the blood vessels, causing blood pressure to drop abruptly. This can lead to cardiovascular failure and respiratory arrest.
Danger: Allergic shock in dogs
If your dog has suffered an allergic shock, you can recognize this by typical symptoms:
- Wheals at the injection site
- Weakness, trembling, staggering
- Increased or decreased internal body temperature
- Rapid, shallow breathing
- Increased pulse rate
- Pale mucous membranes
- Vomiting
- Uncontrolled loss of urine or feces
Clouding of consciousness with apathy or even unconsciousness
First aid measures for insect bites
First of all, calm your furry friend down and try to check them thoroughly for a bite. To be on the safe side, you can put a muzzle or muzzle sling on your dog (as long as he is not showing any breathing difficulties) and put it on a leash.
If a bee was the culprit, a stinger will remain; a wasp, on the other hand, can sting several times and leave no stinger (hornet or bumblebee stings also leave no stinger). You can easily remove the stinger with tweezers and then cool the area with a cooling pad, a cold compress or cold water.
You can treat unproblematic insect bites yourself. Special anti-inflammatory and antipruritic care products for dogs are suitable for this, which you can apply to the affected area. In the event of severe allergic reactions or a deterioration in the general condition, rapid assistance from a vet is essential. Please note the following during transportation: Your dog's head should be lower than the rest of its body, unless it has breathing problems. In the case of respiratory distress, however, the head must be positioned higher.
Good to know
Beware of stings in the mouth or throat!
As an immediate measure, the following also applies here: cool from the outside and observe the dog, as the airways can become blocked within a very short time. As soon as your dog's throat or tongue swells up, it appears apathetic, rattles and is no longer breathing properly, immediate veterinary treatment is required!
Preventing insect bites in dogs
Especially in late summer and fall, you may encounter wasps, bees and the like. However, you can reduce the risk of insect bites:
- Avoid placing bowls outside and check regularly for insects
- Only provide as much food as your dog will eat at a meal, as wasps, bees and other insects are attracted to open food
- Avoid proximity to bee and wasp nests or remove them from the house or garden as quickly as possible
- Install insect screens on windows and doors
- Do not leave your dog unattended in the garden
- It is best to train your dog from puppyhood not to pay attention to insects and not to snap at them
Good to know
Has your dog ever had an allergic reaction to an insect bite? There are emergency kits with anti-allergenic medication that you can administer to your four-legged friend yourself in an emergency. Your vet will be able to advise you on this.
