Injuries, illnesses, and even accidents may arise at any moment – it’s important to always stay prepared in the event of an emergency. While understanding the basics of first aid is useful, it’s vastly different when it comes to your furkid; handling situations like a broken limb or sudden breathing difficulties can be extremely stressful, even more so if you’re unprepared.

Usually, for less immediate health concerns, the logical course of action is to take your pet to your local vet clinic in Singapore for a thorough, expert examination. In contrast, for cases that require immediate attention (and could be fatal) — send your pet to urgent care at once. Prior to that, however, you may need to take action first to stabilise your pet’s condition for fear of further health complications.

Therefore, as a pet owner – you should always be equipped with the right knowledge and skills to handle these life-threatening situations. Read on to familiarise yourself with the right tips to execute pet first aid appropriately when an emergency occurs.

First Aid Supply

Understandably, first aid is the first step to handling any emergency. You should have a checklist that informs you of what type of supplies you need, how many supplies are needed, and your current stock. It is fairly easy to find out the supplies you’ll need to conduct pet first aid — even better if the checklist is visible from an advantageous vantage point such as directly on the first aid kit or on your refrigerator.

Meanwhile, your first aid supply kit should contain essentials like latex or rubber gloves, bandages, blunt-tipped scissors, medications, a digital thermometer, and antiseptic wipes. These items listed are just a rough guide of what your kit should contain. However, for a detailed and complete first aid kit, doing your own research or consulting your trusted vet would give you a more comprehensive inventory.

Basic Pet First Aid Procedures

It goes without saying that compiling comprehensive lists of instructions detailing the first-aid procedure is key. Your instructions should cover a broad spectrum of first aid procedures pertaining to issues like burns, broken bones, seizures, poisoning, choking, bleeding, heatstroke or any other emergencies. Even if you feel like you have the procedures memorised down to a T, the high levels of stress and anxiety involved in real-life emergencies might be overwhelming and disorient you.

On top of that, creating multiple copies of these procedures once you’re done compiling will undoubtedly come in handy. Proceed to place these copies at frequently-visited and common areas around the house for convenient and easy access. Ideally, each room should have at least one copy of this set of instructions. This way, you wouldn’t have to scramble around frantically for the instructions if the emergency truly arises.

Having a clear cut procedure at your disposal will help a lot in preventing panic and assuring your pet’s safety. In crucial times, remaining calm and collected and follow the first-aid procedure carefully can be the difference between life and death before your furkid can receive proper medical treatment.

First Aid When Travelling With Your Pet

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Medical emergencies don’t only happen at home. They can happen at any place, at any time, even when you’re en route somewhere with your furkid.

With that in mind, it’s always important to stay prepared and have a contingency plan when you’re travelling with your furkids. For instance, having a portable emergency kit for your pet inclusive of clear instructions regarding the various health emergencies is essential.

The contents of your portable emergency kit should be the same as your home-based one. However, if you’re lacking in additional supplies for any reason, consider browsing through an online pet store in Singapore to procure the necessary supplies; and best of all, all the shopping can be done and delivered to your doorstep from the comfort of your own home. Assembling your emergency kit has never been easier.

Be Prepared for Accidents

Unexpected calamities like house fires, electrical hazards, wrongful ingestion of harmful products, broken glass-related injuries, and many other types of accidents may occur suddenly in anyone’s home. Just like how humans may be affected by these accidents — your furkids aren’t exempt from them either.

Therefore, we believe that preparing a disaster management and relief plan is necessary for pet owners. Much like the aforementioned contingency plan, this management plan should provide the appropriate protocol to follow when met with an emergency while letting you improvise where necessary. This plan differs from the first-aid instruction plan in that it should give pet owners a rough guide on how to react to certain types of situations accordingly.

It shouldn’t be overly complex to read; instead, it should be a broad overview containing the main actionable steps necessary during emergencies before proceeding with it. Thus, its content should be understandable at first glance. Essentially, the first-aid instruction plan is more micro whereas this management plan should be more macro.

Especially since pets are animals, after all, they would act instinctively when threatened in unfamiliar or dangerous circumstances such as house fires or power outages. Hence as a pet owner, you will have to be the one to take the right action and rescue them from situations of peril.

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As the adage goes, “prevention is better than cure”. You as the owner can take pertinent steps in minimising the risk of such hazardous accidents to begin with. One action to take would be pet-proofing your home. Installing materials like safety glass, conducting regular inspections of wiring installation, storing loose items (that your pets might choke on) away safely, and following other safety precautions are all relevant and practical examples of reducing household hazards.

Contrary to popular belief, being a pet owner is not a walk in the park. Yes, enjoying the companionship and forging a lifelong bond with your pet is wonderful and all but just like anything else in life, pet ownership comes with its tradeoffs. It comes with its own sets of unique concerns that only pet owners would be faced with.

It is therefore our role to ensure optimal safety for our pet, both in terms of health and the environment. It’s often said that being a pet owner is much like having a child; the onus is on us to be responsible and educate ourselves with the right knowledge and skills to keep our pet safe and sound and give it a long and comfortable life.