'Pet First Aid' Course Launched In Missouri

by Sherry Morse

The Phelps-Pulaski Chapter of the American Red Cross in Rolla, Missouri, has announced it will be offering a pet first aid course featuring the latest in first aid mannequins.

Art the dog and Tiger the cat, who both come complete with "lungs" and ventilation openings, will be used to teach people how to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on their pets.

The two mannequins were named by two children, Matthew Pashia and Ryleigh Grommet, who received certificates to attend the first aid classes.

Pet owners will be taught what to do if their pets have ingested a poison, been hit by a car, or swallowed an object that is obstructing their airway.

The course will teach normal temperatures, blood pressure and other health parameters for pets, how to prevent injuries and maintain a pet's wellbeing.

The Red Cross designed the pet first aid classes to give pet owners the skills to deal with unexpected emergencies and provide care until they get their pets to a veterinarian.

Carla Owen, a pet first aid instructor with the Red Cross's Alexandria, VA chapter says, "We don't have 911 for pets. This class is a substitute for that."

The class is modeled on the Red Cross's adult and child first aid classes because many pets experience the same sort of emergencies that humans do.

Many people who sign up to take the animal first aid class have not taken human first aid courses before, but do sign up to take them after seeing the value of having first aid skills.

Since the Los Angeles Red Cross chapter offered the first pet first aid course in 1997, three hundred other chapters have offered the program.

Those who live where the program is not offered can order a pet first aid book from the Red Cross.

© 2003 Animal News Center, Inc.