If your dog was choking at this very moment, would you know what to do?
As a responsible dog owner you want to be prepared for emergencies. If you notice your dog behaving out of the normal, you need to take action. Have ready the number of your local emergency animal hospital and know in advance where it’s located just in case it’s after hours and your regular vet is closed. It’s also a good idea to have a dog first aid kit at home or in your car and a first aid book handy. You’ll want to become familiar with some basic first aid since most likely you will be the first responder.
Common dog emergencies include seizures, heatstroke, choking, being hit by a car, ingesting poisons, allergic reactions and bite wounds from dog fights. Learn to handle any medical situations that may occur to your dog and his particular health concerns.
And now there’s an app for that! The Red Cross has an app available to people in the US. For android users First Aid-Red Cross.
Have you experienced a medical emergency with your doberman?
Here’s a good video of a pet first aid class that anyone owning a doberman should watch.
About the worst thing I’ve had to do is suture when no vet was available (it was a long pelt tear across the shoulder were a butterfly bandage wouldn’t be enough and it was checked by a vet the next day). Other times, I’ve done butterfly wound dressing (almost always enough for dog fight injuries), dealt with what I suspect was a black widow bite to the face, and some others that come to mind. I’m not a vet or anything, and when special attention is needed, the vet gets a visit, but I see people at the vet all the time with things they should have taken care of themselves hours or days ago. There is also the financial consideration for people that simply can’t afford a vet and delay care when if nothing else they could be doing basic care.
In my opinion any dog owner should know how to do anything they could get supplies for. Most of it is the same stuff you do with humans so you can share the same medical supplies. This is especially important for working dogs since working often involves distance from a vet and time spent where you would have no idea where the nearest vet is at. If a vet is available, they should be used as appropriate, but people should know how to and when to do things like set and splint limbs, mend torn pelts, induce vomiting, give poison absorbents, handle allergic reactions, etc, and you shouldn’t have to be a vet or vet tech to feel the need to learn those things.
Keep in mind the do no harm mantra, and don’t deny an animal available medical care when needed, but unless your dog is always home and you have a 24/7 vet accessible, you may be the only thing your dog has. Even then, there are disasters all the time where no pet is going to be a care concern to anybody but the owner any time soon. Also, a lot of time, immediate stabilization reduces the overall injury and healing time significantly, so even if you have a vet, sometimes doing some first aid before going is a really good idea.
I’ve had 2 visits to animal emerg. Once my dog ate a sock and the other time, I was playing fetch with a stick, the stick poked into the ground and my dog ran into it, slicing into her leg. Pretty scary at the time.