Time is of the essence when your pet stops breathing, starts choking, or is bleeding profusely.

While we cat enthusiasts make our pets top priority, there’s no better gift we can give our best feline friends than the added security that we know what to do in the event of an emergency.

Having some basic first aid skills can make the difference between life and death. It

can buy some precious time for your pet before rushing to your veterinarian’s office or the nearest emergency animal clinic. A startling statistic from the American Animal Hospital Association finds, ‘One out of four pets would survive if just one pet first aid technique was applied prior to getting emergency veterinary care.’

CWA members had a chance to become certified in pet first aid, learn pet CPR as well as doing some hands-on snout to tail assessment in a day-long class following last year’s CWA Annual Conference in Dallas, TX. Taught by Arden Moore, a Pet Tech-Certified Master Instructor and an IAABC-certified animal behavior consultant, the class was jam packed with information we pet owners should have to be responsible pet parents. What makes her classes rather unique is Chipper and Zeki, who travel the country with her, and allow participants to see how it’s done on real pets, not just stuffed animals.

And it was this class that put the CWA Conference on my Must Do list last year. Because I live an hour and a half from the nearest emergency pet clinic, I wanted to know what do in an emergency. I also wanted to learn about some wellness techniques that could help my 5 feline best friends.

Zeki,  a very special kitty who survived after being skinned and left for dead, allowed us to brush her teeth, and wrap her up like a little burrito, an ideal restraint for a feisty kitty who needs medicine. Likewise, Chipper, a very mellow dog, allowed us to check his ideal weight and his pulse.

Their laid-back, pawsome personalities, combined with Moore’s energetic enthusiasm make the day fly by. That should be no surprise as she’s a popular in-demand pet trend, behavior and safety expert and host of the Oh Behave show on Pet Life Radio – the world’s No. 1 pet podcast network, and founder of Four Legged Life.com.

The first thing in pet first aid is our safety. Our knee jerk reaction is to go running to the middle of the street to rescue the cat that’s been hit by a car, our safety must come first. That’s the case if the emergency is at a busy intersection or your living room.

Step 1, she emphasized, is to ‘Stop and take a deep breath to think clearer.

Don’t go running in and find yourself the victim of an attack from a frightened and injured pet. Rather, observe the situation from a distance, approaching slowly.  At about three feet (one meter),  tap your foot and loudly bark, ‘Doggy, doggy (or kitty, kitty) are you OK?

In the hands-on class, we repeated that over and over again to in-grain it into our brain.

An injured cat or dog can be ferocious beyond their size. Therefore, it’s critical to:

• Get them under control
• Know how to safely restrain or muzzle them
• Learn to do a snout-to-tail assessment
• Administer pet first aid, if needed
• Contact the veterinarian, and transport

If the pet is totally unresponsive and does not appear to be breathing, don’t rush in to do CRP. Assess the situation first. After looking for certain signs, and finding the cat isn’t breathing, start administering CPR. The technique differs from cat to dogs.

Another major issue is choking, something that could happen anywhere or any time. Don’t run in and quickly start compressions. Wait. If pet does cough up the substance, she said, Heed our motto: grab it, bag it and tag it. Quickly scoop up the item in a plastic bag,’ and take it to the vet with your.

All participants received a two-year certificate in first aid. We also learned  of a great app from Pet Tech Pet Saver that you can download to your mobile phone so that this mountain of information can be at your fingertips, because no one can remember every step, especially if in a highly stressful situation.

What do you think about getting certified in pet first aid? Do you think you could do CPR on your cat or dog? Please share your thoughts.

Paws Note: We;re sorry that we haven’t posted in the last couple of weeks. We have scurried to have the Memorial Funeral Service for our mom, who is now at peace. We will be posting at twice a week through the month of June. Thanks for the follow and the support. — Paws.