Dog First Aid: What to Do in an Emergency Until You Reach a Vet

First aid for dogs has one job: to keep your dog as safe as possible until a vet takes over. Almost every emergency below ends with "call your vet", and the most useful thing you can do today is make sure you know who to call at 2am.

This guide follows the advice of PDSA, Vets Now and the Royal Veterinary College. It isn't a substitute for a vet, and if you are ever unsure, ring one.

Before Anything Happens: Save These Numbers

Your practice's out-of-hours number. Every vet practice in the UK must take steps to provide 24-hour emergency first aid and pain relief. The RCVS Code lets practices share cover or use a dedicated emergency clinic, but they must tell you in advance who provides it, where it is, when it is open and roughly what it costs. Ask your practice now if you don't know.

Vets Now. Many practices use Vets Now as their out-of-hours provider. It runs emergency clinics across the UK that open when normal practices are closed, including weekends and bank holidays. Its website has a clinic finder. Out-of-hours care costs more than a daytime appointment, so check your pet insurance covers emergency fees.

Animal PoisonLine: 01202 509 000. Animal PoisonLine is run by the Veterinary Poisons Information Service and is open 24 hours a day. It can tell you whether what your dog ate needs a trip to the vet. It charges £35 a call from 8am to 8pm on weekdays and £45 at other times, including bank holidays, paid by card at the start of the call. If your dog does need a vet and the vet charges you for calling the poisons service, Animal PoisonLine refunds your call. If your dog is collapsed, fitting or struggling to breathe, skip this and go straight to a vet.

When you phone a vet in an emergency, ring ahead so the team is ready for you.

Keep Yourself Safe

A dog in pain can bite, even one that has never bitten before. PDSA advises moving slowly and using a muzzle or a towel to protect yourself if you need to. Never muzzle a dog that is struggling to breathe or has an injury to its face. If you think you might get hurt, stop and call your vet for help.

Heatstroke: Cool First, Transport Second

Heatstroke can kill, and the damage gets worse the longer the dog stays hot. Research from the Royal Veterinary College found that most UK dogs taken to vets with heatstroke had not been cooled before the journey, so the RVC now tells owners to "cool first, transport second". Vets Now lists the signs as heavy panting or drooling, vomiting or diarrhoea, unsteady legs, glassy eyes, a racing heart and excessive thirst.

1. Stop and get out of the heat. Move the dog into shade or a cool room.
2. Soak the dog in cold water. Pour cold water over the whole body. Water from the cold tap is fine. Keep it away from the nose and mouth.
3. Get air moving with a fan, air conditioning or a breeze. Water plus moving air is what cools the dog.
4. Use immersion if it suits the dog. A young, healthy, conscious dog can stand or lie in cold water, such as a paddling pool or stream, and should be allowed to get out if it wants. For older dogs, flat-faced breeds, or dogs with heart or breathing problems, stick to pouring water and air movement. Never immerse an unconscious dog.
5. Don't cover the dog with a wet towel or cuddle it. It traps heat.
6. Offer a drink of cool water, but don't force it.
7. Call your vet while you cool. When you travel, use air conditioning or open windows, and if someone can come with you, keep cooling on the way.

The old advice to use only lukewarm water isn't supported by the evidence. The Hot Dogs research project found cold water, even close to freezing, cooled dogs quickly with no ill effects. Use whatever water you have, as long as it is cooler than the dog. A car is a poor place to cool a hot dog, so cool first.

Bleeding

PDSA's advice:

• Find where the blood is coming from.
• Press a clean cloth or bandage firmly over the wound.
• If blood soaks through, add more on top. Don't lift the dressing to check, because that pulls away clots and starts the bleeding again.
• Call your vet. If you can't control the bleeding, or you think the dog may be bleeding inside, go straight away. Internal bleeding is often life-threatening.

To clean small cuts and grazes, don't use TCP, Dettol, hydrogen peroxide or alcohol. Vets Now warns these damage tissue and slow healing.

Choking

A coughing dog can still breathe. A choking dog will struggle to breathe at all, may paw at its mouth, and its gums and tongue may turn blue. PDSA's steps:

• If you can see the object, use pliers or tweezers to pull it out. Don't put your fingers in a conscious dog's mouth. It will panic and you are likely to be bitten.
• If the dog is unconscious, open the mouth and sweep a finger across the back of the throat to remove anything lodged there.
• If you can't get it out, lay the dog on its side, put both hands on the side of the rib cage, and push quickly and firmly, or strike the rib cage with the flat of your hand, three or four times. Repeat until the object comes out.
• If it won't shift, go to the vet straight away.

Balls, rawhide chews and small toys are the usual culprits. Pick a ball too big to swallow and don't throw treats to be caught mid-air.

Poisoning

If your dog has eaten something it shouldn't:

1. Take away whatever is left, including from the mouth or fur.
2. Call your vet straight away. Don't wait for symptoms. Some poisons take hours or days to show.
3. Don't make your dog sick unless a vet tells you to. PDSA warns it can do more harm than good, and Vets Now says not to give salt water either. Vets can make a dog sick safely at the practice, but even they don't do it for corrosive substances such as acids and alkalis.
4. Take the packaging, or a photo of it, with you.

Vets Now lists the common culprits as chocolate, human medicines such as ibuprofen, rat poison, slug pellets, grapes and raisins, vitamin D supplements, onions, antifreeze and household chemicals. In autumn, add conkers and acorns.

Seizures

A seizure is frightening to watch. PDSA's advice:

• Move the dog off a sofa or bed onto the floor if you can, and clear space around it.
• Dim the lights and keep the room quiet and cool.
• Time the seizure and video it if you can. Both help your vet.
• Don't hold the dog down, don't go near its mouth, and don't wrap it in a blanket, because it may overheat.
• Don't drive to the vet during the seizure unless your vet tells you to.

Call your vet straight away if the seizure lasts more than two minutes, or if your dog has had more than one in 24 hours. Otherwise call once the dog starts to come round, even if it seems fine.

Road Traffic Accidents

Any dog hit by a vehicle needs a vet, even if it seems unhurt. Internal bleeding, a ruptured diaphragm and spinal injuries aren't always obvious at first. PDSA's advice:

• Make sure you're safe first. Watch the traffic.
• Check for heavy bleeding or breathing problems and deal with those first.
• Move the dog carefully. If it has hurt its neck or back, keep it still until you've spoken to a vet. Otherwise support the head, neck and back and slide the dog onto a blanket, coat or board, then lift by the corners. PDSA suggests not lifting a dog over about 15kg on your own.
• Keep the dog warm with a blanket or coat, ring the nearest vet, and go.

Drivers who hit a dog must stop. Under section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, dogs are one of the animals covered by the duty to stop, and if they don't give their details at the scene, they must report it to the police as soon as they reasonably can, and within 24 hours.

If Your Dog Isn't Breathing

CPR on a dog is a last resort and is hard to learn from text. Watch PDSA's guide to CPR for dogs now, while nothing is wrong, and get someone to phone the vet while you work. A practical pet first aid course, run by a vet or vet nurse, is the best way to feel confident.

Dog First Aid Kit

PDSA's suggested kit:

• bandages and wound dressings
• self-adhesive bandage tape
• blunt-ended scissors
• wound wash
• cotton wool
• tweezers and a tick remover
• vinyl gloves
• antiseptic wipes
• a foil blanket
• a blanket or towel you can use as a stretcher

It is also worth adding a soft muzzle that fits your dog, a spare lead, a bottle of water, and a card with your vet's day and out-of-hours numbers and the Animal PoisonLine number. Never give your dog human painkillers from your own kit. Ibuprofen is one of the common causes of poisoning in dogs.

Sources

• PDSA: first aid for pets, including heatstroke, bleeding, choking, poisons, seizures, road traffic accidents and moving an injured pet
• Royal Veterinary College: cool first, transport second
• Hot Dogs: cooling hot dogs, myth busting
• Animal PoisonLine
• Vets Now: dog poisoning, grapes and raisins, heatstroke and first aid for wounds
• RCVS: 24-hour emergency first aid and pain relief
• Road Traffic Act 1988, section 170