Abdominal Injuries in Dogs and Cats...Emergency At Home Care

ABDOMINAL WOUNDS

What to do if the organs are showing and the “secret” household item you should have on hand that could save your pet. 

Abdominal Wounds are common pet emergencies. Frequently small dogs and cats with severe abdominal wounds receive them following an attack by a large dog. In many cases, if a pet owner had been aware of what to do, they could have saved their dog or cat’s life.

What to do if your pet ever has a serious abdominal injury...

SIGNS

The abdomen (belly) holds most of the important internal organs. It is protected by 3 layers of muscle, plus the fat and skin, but is vulnerable to injury. A small dog or cat can easily have his entire abdomen punctured by a large dog bite. The only thing visible to you may be small punctures on the surface of the skin.

These are the most important signs which signal immediate veterinary care:

• Shock
• Pain
• Vomiting
• Evidence of injury (i.e. bruising, swelling, local pain)
• Blood in the urine if the bladder or kidneys are injured
• Blood in the stool or around the anus if the large bowel has been injured Abnormal swelling may indicate a hernia particularly in the groin or flanks
• Protrusion of intestines if the abdominal wall has been torn

CAUSES

A bite, car accident or foreign object has penetrated the abdomen (belly). Other
common ways include falling and large animal kicks.

SOLUTIONS

CALL THE VET RIGHT AWAY. Serious abdominal injuries need to be treated by a veterinarian.

CHECK FOR SHOCK

A pet in shock will act weak or sleepy. The most common sign I see are pale gums and tongue- in some dogs and cats the eyelids droop. Severe shock can result in death in as little as 15 minutes. If you suspect this, then transport to the emergency vet right away. Wrap your pet in a blanket to keep him warm, and put a few drops of honey on his gum’s, give the animal Bach Rescue Remedy and drive immediately.

APPLY PRESSURE

In bleeding wounds, you want to apply direct pressure with a clean cloth or gauze pad. If the blood seeps through, re-apply a second cloth- removing it can break up a forming clot.

CLIP THE FUR

This is advised to do so long as the wound only appears superficial and doesn’t penetrate into the abdomen. Use clippers or blunt scissors. I always advise to first fill the wound with K-Y jelly to keep the hair from adhering to the wound.

CLEAN THE WOUND

I find that it is easiest to use warm running water. The best thing is using a handheld showerhead. After gently spraying, use a damp cloth soaked with antiseptic solution (chlorhexidine) and gently wipe around the wound. If you are treating the wound at home, then perform this hydrotherapy twice daily for 3-5 days.

WHAT TO DO IF INTERNAL ORGANS ARE SHOWING

This seldom happens, but if it does you need to know what to do.

RINSE THE ORGANS

First rinse the organs with saline solution- if you don’t have this lukewarm tap water is fine. This cleans the organs and keeps the tissue moist and healthy.

PUT THE ORGANS BACK

These can be gently pushed back into the abdominal cavity after being rinsed. First soak gauze pads or a cloth in either sterile saline solution or lukewarm tap water. DON’T use your bare hands. Apply firm pressure and place the organs through the hole or tear in the abdomen. If you can’t get them to go in easily, then leave them on the moist towel. WRAP the abdominal cavity and the organs with a belly band. This is easiest with plastic wrap (Saran Wrap - the secret household item we mentioned above). It just needs to be tight enough to hold everything in place till you can get to the vet or emergency clinic.

I have been educating pet owners on how to care for their pet’s at home for years by using the natural remedies and treatments found on Pet Remedy Charts, and homeopathic treatments from the book, Fast Forward to the Cure, Veterinary Homeopathy for dogs, cats, horses, birds, pet rats and backyard chickens. It’s not complicated; it’s easy when you follow the simple step by step instructions.

 

How to Perform CPR on Dogs and Cats

CANINE OR FELINE CARDIAC ARREST

SIGNS

You find your pet lying on their side not moving or breathing. Your pet suddenly drops to the ground after running.

CAUSES

This is every pet owner’s worse nightmare, but fortunately it seldom happens. Most dogs and cats which suffer heart attacks have an underlying heart problem. This can happen with a sudden blow to the chest, hyperthermia, hypothermia, drowning, car accidents and some poisons.

EMERGENCY SOLUTIONS

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

CALL YOUR VET IMMEDIATELY. CPR usually isn’t very successful without veterinary care.
CHECK RESPONSIVENESS. Often a pulse is hard to obtain, so check to see if your pet responds to external stimuli.

NO HEARTBEAT. BEGIN CPR.

1. Assess responsiveness
2. Establish a patent airway
3. Perform rescue breathing
4. Cardiac massage - establishing circulation

STEP 1

RESPONSIVENESS

The first step is making sure that your pet is truly unresponsive.

1. CHECK his breathing by placing your hand in front of his mouth and nose.

2. CHECK for his heartbeat by placing your ear against the left side of his chest. This is the area where his left elbow touches his chest, immediately behind his left armpit.

FIND A PULSE.

Put your ear on the left side of your pet’s chest directly behind their armpit and listen for the heart. You can also feel for a pulse, although this is often difficult to do in a healthy dog or cat. Press your fingers into the inside of the back leg ( the thigh and groin) to palpate the femoral artery.

Check the palpebral (relating to the eyelids) reflex by touching the inside corner of his eyelid. He should then blink.

Check the menace (threatening) reflex by quickly moving your hand towards his eye- it should cause a blink.

Pinch the toes, or the webbing between the toes. He should pull his foot back or at least twitch or move his eyes in response to the pinch.

NO RESPONSE, BUT BREATHING. No response likely means that he is unconscious. If you can see breathing, then he is likely in shock. Wrap him in a warm blanket, Put a few drops of honey on his gums, and give BACH RESCUE REMEDY every few minutes, while you get to the Vet or emergency clinic ASAP.

STEP 2

AIRWAY

The second step in CPR is obtaining an open airway.

1. PULL the tongue out of your pet’s mouth, but be careful to not get bitten. If you can't get a good hold on the tongue use a piece of gauze or paper towel.

2. STRAIGHTEN the neck by moving the head to be in line with the neck.
DO NOT HYPEREXTEND (forcefully stretch out, beyond its normal limits) IN CASES OF NECK TRAUMA.

3. PERFORM two rescue breaths, by closing the mouth and performing mouth to nose ventilations. IF they continue, then proceed to STEP 3, BREATHING (below). If there are no breaths, then look into the mouth.

4. VISIBLY inspect the mouth and look down the throat for a foreign body. If you see something, reach into the airway and remove it.

5. IF the airway is still not open, attempt THE HEIMLICH MANEUVER (shown in following steps).

6. TURN your pet upside down, with back against your chest.

7. WITH both arms, give sharp thrusts to the abdomen.

8. AFTER 5 thrusts, stop and check to see if the object is visible in the airway. If so remove it and give 2 mouth-to-nose rescue breaths. If the breaths do not go in, repeat the HEIMLICH MANEUVER.

STEP 3

BREATHING

After achieving a patent airway, perform RESCUE BREATHING.

1. CLOSE your pet’s mouth and breathe directly into his nose until his chest expands. If the chest doesn’t expand then go back to STEP 2 – AIRWAY.

2. VENTILATE at 15 breaths per minute. One BREATH every 4 seconds.

3. PROCEED to STEP 4 – CIRCULATION

STEP 4

CIRCULATION

1. ENSURE there are no major points of bleeding. Control as necessary.

2. GENTLY lay your pet on his right side.

3. LOCATE the heart, which is found on the lower half of the chest on the left side, behind the elbow of the front left leg. Place one hand below the heart to support the chest; place the other hand over the heart.

4. COMPRESS the chest 5 times followed by 1 rescue breaths. The goal is to give 80 to 100 compressions and 15 to 20 breaths per minute. Compress the chest 1⁄2 inch for small pets and 1 1⁄2 inches for large pets.

5. EVERY 5 times follow up with 1 rescue breath.
You will have to exert a lot of force with large dogs, but don’t worry about breaking ribs, ribs heal.

After every minute, stop and check for a pulse or breathing.

Continue heart massage compressions and the rescue breathing until you hear a heart beat and feel regular breathing. ONCE your pet is breathing and his heart is beating, CALL your veterinarian immediately!

ACUPUNCTURE (Resuscitation Point)

There is an acupuncture point that will stimulate breathing and help revive an animal from unconsciousness or apparent death. Stick a pin in the middle of the slit of your pet’s upper lip below the nose (midway between the nose and upper lip). If you don’t have a pin, use a knitting needle, the tip of a non-retracted ball point pen, a chopstick or the tip of your fingernail, etc.

HOME CARE

After any pet has had a heart attack, the most important thing in preventing it is determining why. Your Veterinarian can ultrasound and X-ray the heart to see if underlying heart disease was the problem.

Will you ever need to know CPR?

Probably Not.

But what if you did?

Do You know what to do?

Practice CPR on your pet BEFORE you need it.

For more information on home treatments using herbs, homeopathy, flower remedies and acupressure for dogs, cats, horses, birds, pet rats and backyard chickens visit, Pet Remedy Charts.