A home pet first aid kit has one job: to get your dog or cat to a veterinary team safely. It is not for handling an emergency at home, and the most useful thing in it is a card with Avon Animal Hospital’s number on it. Everything else controls bleeding, keeps an animal still, and buys you ten calmer minutes.
Why a kit is worth assembling in October
Autumn is the point in the year when the household rhythm changes in Clayton Heights. The walks happen in the dark, the yard is wet, the garage fills up with seasonal products, visitors come and go through a long holiday stretch, and nobody is in the house during the afternoon. By October the walks happen in the dark and nobody is home in the afternoon, so an emergency is more likely to find you in poor light, at an awkward hour, with only one person in the house.
The purpose of doing this in October rather than in a crisis is that in a crisis nobody reads a label, finds the tape or remembers where the carrier is. Twenty minutes with a plastic box now removes most of the chaos from the ten minutes that matter later.
Three things to know before anything happens
What normal looks like for your own pet. Lift the lip and look at the gum colour on a healthy day, so pale gums mean something to you later. Count the breaths in a minute while they sleep. Notice how they stand, how they carry their tail, and how readily they get up. Owners who catch problems early usually do so because they know their own animal’s baseline.
Where the records are. Keep your pet’s weight, their vaccination dates, the name of anything they currently receive, and any ongoing conditions written in one place, in your phone as well as on paper. In an emergency this is the information we ask for first and the hardest to recall.
Our number, and the route. Save our number in your phone under something you can find one-handed. Know how long it takes to reach us at six in the evening, not at eleven in the morning. And know where the nearest open emergency hospital is for the hours we are closed, because looking that up while holding an injured animal is genuinely difficult.
What goes in the kit
One plastic box with a lid, kept somewhere you can reach without a chair, plus a smaller version in the car.
- Sterile gauze squares and a roll of gauze. The main thing you will actually use, for pressure on a wound.
- Self-adhesive bandage wrap and a roll of soft cloth tape. For holding gauze in place loosely while you drive, not for strapping a limb tightly.
- A clean towel and a blanket. For warmth, for carrying, and for restraining a cat safely.
- A soft cloth muzzle, or a length of soft fabric, sized for your dog. Introduced on a calm day, so it is not new on the worst day.
- A spare leash and a slip lead. Collars come off at exactly the wrong moment.
- A carrier for each cat, stored accessible rather than in an attic. A cat who is hard to box on a good day is impossible on a bad one.
- Blunt-ended scissors and tweezers.
- A flat board, a rigid bag or a laundry basket lid. For moving an injured animal as one piece rather than lifting the body.
- Saline, in sealed single-use containers. For flushing an eye or rinsing a dirty wound surface on the way in.
- A digital thermometer kept for the pet only, and a water-based lubricant.
- Disposable gloves.
- A small flashlight with working batteries.
- A printed card with our number, the emergency hospital’s number, your pet’s weight and their microchip number.
- Several resealable bags. For a sample, a wrapper, a label, or the plant your dog chewed.
What must never go in it
This part matters more than the list above, because the things that harm pets in a home emergency are usually the things an owner reached for with good intentions.
- Nothing from your own cabinet. No pain relief made for people, of any kind, in any amount. Several of the most common human products cause kidney failure, stomach bleeding or red blood cell damage in dogs and cats, and cats are affected by smaller amounts than dogs.
- Nothing bought for a different animal, or left over from another pet’s care. Amounts, species and circumstances are not interchangeable.
- Hydrogen peroxide. Both for making a pet vomit and for cleaning a wound. It damages tissue, and inducing vomiting at home can make several situations worse, including with the chemicals most likely to be eaten in autumn.
- Rubbing alcohol, iodine scrub and antiseptic creams meant for people. They are painful, they get licked off, and they make our assessment harder.
- Eye or ear products of any kind. The wrong product in an eye with a scratch on it can do permanent damage.
- A tourniquet. Firm, steady pressure through gauze is what you want. Anything tight around a limb causes damage quickly.
- Herbal or calming products bought without advice. Some interact with ongoing care, and some are not safe for cats at all.
The honest rule is that nothing in your kit is given to your pet. Nothing in it is swallowed, and nothing in it is a product bought for people.
The first ten minutes, by situation
Bleeding
Place gauze or a clean cloth over the wound and apply firm, steady pressure with the flat of your hand for at least five minutes without lifting it to check. Add more gauze on top rather than removing what is soaked. Hold pressure while somebody else drives. If you are on your own, hold pressure for the five minutes, then secure the gauze with the wrap just firmly enough to stay on, phone us, and drive. Do not wrap it tight to replace your hand.
Something eaten
Phone us immediately with the packaging in your hand, and bag up what is left. Do not make your pet vomit. The answer depends entirely on the substance, the amount and your pet’s weight, and for several of the things pets eat in autumn, making them vomit at home is actively harmful. Note the time.
Choking or something stuck in the mouth
If your pet can breathe, cough and make noise, do not put your fingers in their mouth, because it can push the object further in. Phone us and set off now, keeping them as calm as you can on the way. If they cannot breathe at all, they have only a few minutes, which is less than the drive: phone us the moment you pick up the flashlight and keep us on speaker while somebody drives. Look in the mouth and remove only something you can clearly see and grasp. Never pull on a string, thread, ribbon or tinsel even if you can see it clearly, because it may be anchored further down; leave it exactly where it is and come straight in.
A seizure
Do not restrain them and do not put anything in their mouth. Move furniture away, dim the lights, cut the noise, and note the time it started. Once it stops, bring them in, covered unless they feel hot to the touch. Any first seizure, any seizure lasting more than a couple of minutes, and any series of seizures is an emergency.
A limp or a suspected fracture
Do not try to straighten or splint anything. Confine the animal, move them on a board or blanket if they cannot walk comfortably, and come in. A limb at an odd angle, or a pet who will not bear weight at all, comes in now rather than in the morning.
An eye problem
Stop them rubbing it, which usually means a cone or a hand. Flush gently with saline only if something has splashed into it. Nothing else goes in an eye. Eyes change quickly and come in the same day.
A collapsed or very quiet pet
Check the gum colour, keep them still and quiet, and come straight in. Cover them to keep them warm unless they are hot or panting hard after exertion or time in a vehicle, in which case leave them uncovered and tell us on the phone. Do not offer water or food. Pale gums, laboured breathing or a swollen belly with collapse is an immediate emergency.
Our guide on balcony and open window safety for Surrey cats covers a common way a healthy cat becomes an emergency, and it applies all year rather than only in summer.
Getting them into the car
A frightened animal in pain may bite the person they love most, so protect your hands and keep your face away from theirs.
For a dog who cannot walk, slide a board, a rigid bag or a folded blanket underneath and lift that, supporting the spine and keeping the head and body in line. For a cat who cannot walk, or who has fallen or been hit, slide them onto a board or a rigid surface the same way. Scoop a cat into a towel only when they are mobile and you are simply containing them, then put the bundle in a carrier or a box. Keep the container level. Cover an injured animal to hold their body heat, which drops faster than people expect.
Phone us while you are on the way rather than after you arrive. Tell us what happened, when, and roughly how much blood or how much of a substance is involved, and come in through our urgent care. Where we need to see inside, our pet diagnostics team can image and run bloodwork quickly, and our surgical services and medical services teams pick it up from there.
Weekdays we run 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM, Saturday 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM and Sunday 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM, and statutory holidays we are closed, Thanksgiving Monday included. Sunday before ten is the longest stretch in our week with nobody here. Any time the lights are off, an open emergency hospital is the right destination, and a call while you drive gets them ready for you.
Keeping the kit useful
A kit that has sat untouched for four years is not a kit. Twice a year, check the saline has not expired, the tape still sticks, the flashlight batteries work, and the gauze is still sealed. Make sure everyone in the house knows where it is, including a visiting family member or a pet sitter. And write our number on the inside of the lid, because a phone battery dies at the worst possible moment.
Frequently asked questions
Can I give my dog anything for pain until I can bring him in?
No. Please give nothing by mouth, and in particular nothing made for people. The common human pain products cause stomach bleeding, kidney failure or red blood cell damage in dogs and cats, and cats are harmed by very small amounts. Pain relief is one of the first things we handle when you arrive, and an empty stomach makes everything we may need to do safer.
Should I keep hydrogen peroxide to make my pet vomit?
No. There are several common situations where making a pet vomit at home makes the outcome worse, including with corrosive substances and with a pet who is already unsteady, and it also wastes the window where help is most straightforward. Phone us instead and we will tell you whether bringing it back up is the right move at all.
How tight should a bandage be?
If you are wondering, it is too tight. What you want is gauze held in place loosely enough that you could slip a finger under the edge, with your hand providing the actual pressure. Anything applied firmly around a limb or a tail can cut off circulation in a short time.
Is a pet first aid course worth doing?
Yes, particularly a hands-on one, because the skills that matter are physical: holding pressure, applying a soft muzzle, and moving an injured animal. They also tend to make owners more willing to phone early, which is the part that matters most.
What should I do if my cat will not go into the carrier?
Drape a towel over the cat and scoop the whole bundle. With a top-opening carrier, lower them in rear end first. With a front-opening one, stand it on its back end so the opening faces up and lower them in the same way, or back them in rear end first, never head first, because a cat who can see the opening will brace against it. Keeping the carrier out as furniture all year, rather than producing it only for emergencies, makes an enormous difference. A laundry basket with a towel over the top works if there is nothing else, but tuck the towel right under the basket, have a passenger hold it, and never let a cat travel loose in the car.
Do I need a thermometer in the kit?
It is useful if you are comfortable using it, mainly because an unusually low temperature in a collapsed animal changes how urgently we want to see them. If you are not comfortable, skip it. It is not worth a struggle with an unwell cat, and it should never delay setting off.
What is the single most useful item?
The printed card with our number, the emergency hospital’s number, your pet’s weight and their microchip number. Second is the gauze. Third is the carrier you can actually reach.
Speak to the team at Avon Animal Hospital
If you are putting a kit together and want to know what suits your own dog or cat, ask us at your next visit. If something has already happened, phone us and tell us what and when. Outside our hours, go to the nearest open emergency hospital and call them on the way.
Published by the team at Avon Animal Hospital.
This article is for general educational purposes only and is not a substitute for an in-person veterinary examination or advice about your individual pet. If you have an urgent concern about your pet, contact Avon Animal Hospital or your nearest emergency veterinary hospital right away.
Avon Animal Hospital
19475 Fraser Hwy, Surrey, BC V3S 6K7
Phone: (604) 532-7600
Email: avonanimalvet@gmail.com
Hours: Monday to Friday 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM; Saturday 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM; Sunday 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM; statutory holidays closed