Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a combination of rescue breathing with chest compressions to help keep blood moving if the heart has stopped beating.
How do you know if your pet’s heart has stopped beating? You can feel for a heartbeat by placing your ear or palm flat against your pet’s lower chest, just behind the left elbow. Another place to find a pulse is on the inside of the thigh at the groin, the site of the femoral artery. Press your fingers firmly against this area and you should feel a pulse.
TIP: Try finding your pet’s pulse in both the chest and groin now, before you need the knowledge in an emergency situation!
CPR for cats and small dogs (under twenty pounds) uses the cardiac pump technique: you will be literally squeezing the heart to force blood to pump.
- Find your pet’s heart: flex your pet’s left leg. The center of the heart is located where the point of the elbow crosses the chest.
- Place your pet on his side on a flat, firm surface.
- Cup your hand over the point of the chest and squeeze firmly with your thumb on one side and your fingers on the other. Press in approximately half an inch.
- Try to make between sixty and one hundred compressions per minute. Alternate one breath for every five compressions until help arrives or you reach the veterinarian.
For larger dogs (more than twenty pounds), your technique will be slightly different. The thoracic pump method will place compressions on the higher end of the chest; as the pressure changes inside the chest cavity, the blood will be forced forward. Place your hand at the high end of the chest wall, near the armpit. Place your other hand over the first and compress the chest.