Would You Save Your Cat’s Life with Mouth-to-Meowth?
The Associated Press and Petside.com recently polled 1,166 pet owners about their pet safety habits. While it showed that many pet owners would go to extraordinary measures to save their pets, most are unprepared for pet emergencies.
The one question that struck me funny was “Would you perform CPR on your pet?” The answer was surprising.
Among my cat-loving friends, I’d guess the percentage who’d be willing to give CPR to their cats would be above 90%. But the poll results were much lower. 63% of dog owners and 53% of cat owners would be at least somewhat likely to perform CPR on their pets.
It’s the guys who are dragging down the average: 65% of women vs. 50% of men say they’d be more likely to perform CPR.
Some findings on pet owners:
- 54% don’t have a fire evacuation plan.
- 41% have had at least one incident requiring an emergency trip to the vet.
- 30% of dog owners and 22% of cat owners at least sometimes give them bones from table scraps.
- 20% have a pet first aid kit at home.
- 16% have pets who’ve had allergic reactions.
- 7% have pets that have eaten something poisonous.
Having emergency and disaster plans so that you can properly care for — and evacuate with — your pet can mean the difference between life or death for them. If you don’t have a pet emergency kit, you should assemble one – it’s easy to put one together on your own. Click here for instructions.
Many shelters provide CPR and pet safety training. If you don’t know how to administer CPR to your pet, here’s a video:
In a reader? Click here.
The better prepared you are, the more likely your pet is to survive an emergency.
[LINK: Petside.com Poll]
Mama tried rescue breathing on me, but she thinks the fluid had filled my lungs. Even with her mouth over mine and my nose, the air wouldn’t go in. She’s very glad to see that video for pulse check and chest compressions. That’s something she didn’t know how to do for us. So I know my mama’s willing to do what she can for my sisters!
Our Mom would be more willing to perform mouth-to-mouth breathing on a doggie or kitty than on a human being – we have less germs and contagious diseases – MOL! We think it’s good for all pet owners to know CPR and rescue breathing – it saves lives!
Pawsome video with very useful info – thanks!
mom is a pet nurse and she has done mouth to meowth. She says she is happy she knows how to do it in case she ever needs to for one of us.
absolutely, I would! Great video,thanks
I could not live with myself if I didn’t give mouth to mouth to my cats if they were in distress.
That was very informative. I am studying to be a vet assistant (NOT vet tech, it’s different) and I studied how to give CPR to small animals, but it’s nice to be able to see how it’s done instead of just read it. I wouldn’t even have to think about it, I’d give CPR to any animal that needed it, if I could
It’s wonderful that you posted this, since regular CPR/First Aid courses don’t have training for pets. I’m registered in CPR/First Aid, but since I took the 6-week class at a local community college and not for Veterinary Medicine, they didn’t do animal CPR/First Aid (which really made me sad, because I’m studying Veterinary Medicine and hope to become a registered vet and open my own clinic). Thank you so much for posting this and the First Aid Kit list!
You can go to Bark10-4 dot com and see how to help your local Fire Department get the pet oxygen masks.
This mask can help Fire Departments save pets lives.
My Daddy did mouth to meowth on me when I went unconscious. He took care of me in the backseat of the car while Mommy drove (really fast) to the pet ER. He wasn’t sure exactly what to do, but he did it anyway. Thank you, Daddy!
Our old neighborhood was severely affected by the flooding caused by typhoon Ketsana. Our next door neighbor, who had four cats, escaped the fast rising flood water in the house by fleeing to their 2nd floor bedroom. Unfortunately, one kitten got away and landed in the water. Our neighbor rescued the drowning cat and gave her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Bravo! a true blooded cat lover…good thing she is a doctor so she knows how to perform CPR…
You bet I would in fact I have and so has my husband. It was many years ago back in the early 80’s but it was all we could think to try when our kitty Rocky was having problems…alas it didn’t work but we did try and we tried it on Boxer too!!! Boxer went to Rainbow Bridge in the middle of the night Saturday and it broke our heats to lose him but we tried we did.
I would definitely perform CPR on Ashley. I wouldn’t even hesitate. I can’t believe there are pet owners out there that would.
Hi, I am an “Angel” kitty now, but on June 7, my Momma gave me both CPR & Mouth-to-Mouth. The first time I almost went to the Bridge, was about 7am, on that day, but Momma helped my heart to start again & kept it going for another 12 hours, almost exactly to the minute. I was just so very tired, that evening, that I could no longer “Hang~On”, and my Momma’s tears are rolling down her cheeks, as she types this for me, because it really tore her Heart out, when my little heart stopped beating.
But I have given my Momma a new “Project”; there is a little Mommy Cat who looks so much like me (see “Smudge” # 1058005) and she came with a complete “Family” of 6 newborn babies! Momma will be busy, for a while!
Absolutely. I’d give CPR/mouth to mouth to my sweaty, ugly, needs-to-shower neighbor if that could somehow save the life of my cats or dog!!!
Mom says she would most definitely give any of us mouth to mouth & try every way she could to save us.
Thanks for the video! Mom knows how to do CPR & stuff on humans, just not furs so it will be very helpful!
From Mama J:
Of course I would give CPR to my girls – with absolutely no hesitation.
I just adopted my first cat this past Feb. (he’s two) I can’t imagine being without him! I would definitely give Morris CPR and do everything I could, without any hesitation, to save his wonderful little life!
Of course our mom would perform CPR on us..
she loves us muchly !
I have been Pet CPR and First Aid Certified for years.
I pray I never have to use it, but I am glad that I have taken the course.
I would do anything to help or save my babies.
Mom would give us mouth to mouth without a second thought. She already kisses us on the mouth, what’s a little “breathing”?