Author Denise Fleck has two new releases on first aid for your dog and your cat. These are neat little "back pocket" booklets that touch on the basics of immediate need to know first aid techniques.
Dog First Aid & CPR plus Cat First Aid & CPR are both small enough to literally fit in your back pocket ro be tucked into a fanny pack, travel bag or purse. The glove compartment of your car is another great location.
What Ms Fleck has done is look at some of the most common emergency situations with your pets and give you quick, easy tips to help your pet while you contact veterinary help. Choking, poisoning, bleeding and seizures are all covered briefly. While many topics overlap between the two books, some topics are species specific such as the high rise syndrome for cats falling out of apartment windows and heatstroke for dogs who are more likely to be outdoors in hot weather.
Also included are clear directions for CPR with photos demonstrating the techniques. Ms Fleck has a chart indicating differences based on size for the dog booklet as well.
One quick example of a very practical and fast way to deal with a bleeding ear injury in a dog is: "Ear Injuries...Think opposites! Press UPRIGHT ears DOWN against the dog's cheek to apply direct pressure. Flip DOWNWARD ears UP on the top of the dog's head to apply direct pressure." A simple guideline to quickly stop any bleeding!
The booklets have the patented "quickfind" page setup, with cutouts on the bottom of the pages so you can quickly and easily find the treatment you need. I also really like the space for you to record the baseline normal values for your dog or cat for respiration, weight, temperature and pulse. That way, even if you are nervous, you can quickly look and see if your pet is showing any changes in those areas.
Two small criticisms - I would not have included problems with births as I have rarely run across those as emergencies in practice among the general pet owning population. So I might have subbed in emergency care for lameness instead.
Also, it is stressed that your veterinarian be a member of AAHA (American Animal Hospital Association). Certainly it is a plus if your veterinary clinic is AAHA approved but there are many excellent clinics that aren't due to costs of required equipment that may not be used very often, etc. NY State offers a veterinary clinic certification program which would be appropriate for the clinics in our area. The VFAP (Veterinary Facility Accreditation Program) has accredited over one third of all practices in NY state, including those in our area.
Those are small criticisms however and I think both cat and dog fanciers would find these books a good addition to their libraries. They can currently be ordered from www.quickfindbooks.com for $6.95 plus $2 shipping. They should appear in local pet stores and bookstores shortly.
For the contest, for one week, send in emergency and first aid tips to me at debme15@hotmail.com. At the end of the week, I will choose a winner for dogs and for cats and they will each receive a free copy of the booklets reviewed here.
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