Why Learn Pet First Aid?

You never know when an emergency will happen!  You may think that it will never happen to you, but you just never know.  Wouldn’t it be better to be prepared?

Back in 2007, my golden retriever, Alex, was going through Chemotherapy for Histiocytic Sarcoma.  I thought I’d give him a rawhide as a “reward”.  Little did I know that rawhides are the number 1 choking hazard for dogs!  He went in the backyard and swallowed it up in one gulp! He came back to the door and I could tell he was anxious.  He had his front legs outstretched with his head down trying to cough up something.  He was choking and I didn’t know what to do!  I called my vet and they said to bring him in and warned me that he may go unconscious.  All the way there he made the worst honking sound (which is called strider) as I drove as fast as I could!  When I arrived at the vet’s parking lot, the staff ran out to my car.  Alex jumped out and the force of his jumping dislodged his rawhide piece!  He was as happy as ever, wagging his tail and greeting the vet staff.  He went inside for a check up and luckily he was ok!  I was lucky!  He survived with no help from me.  Had his airway been totally blocked, he could have died in 4-6 minutes.  It took me 20 minutes to drive to his vet.  It was the worst feeling; not knowing what to do to save my precious baby!  From the point on, I took it upon myself to learn what to do!  I found Pet Tech and took the CPR & First Aid class.  I liked it so much and thought the info was so important, I decided to become an instructor myself!

Pet Tech’s training prepared me (and I can help you) to be more proactive in finding dangerous items and potentially harmful situations and act on them before an accident happens.  Through taking the class, I found out that rawhides are the number one choking hazard for dogs and that the toy industry for pets is full of choking hazards!  In our class we learn what to do if a pet is choking and gagging, if the pet is making a stridor sound, and if a pet goes down unconscious.  I now know what to do and am prepared.  Let me help you learn these important lifesaving techniques!

Alex