Pet First Aid, CPR Class Coming To Cookeville

A CPR and first aid class for cats and dogs will take place at Cookeville’s UT Extension Office Saturday.

Instructor Christie Faccinto said the techniques do not replace veterinary care but will improve the likelihood of an animal surviving the trip to get emergency care in case of an incident. Faccinto said these are important skills to have because there is only one animal hospital with after-hours emergency services in the area.

“There’s choking hazards everywhere that people aren’t necessarily aware of,” Faccinto said. “Even for a large breed dog one of the most common things they’ll choke on is a standard tennis ball. And if you don’t know how to perform just that one life-saving technique of relieving a ball choke, it’s a one hundred percent fatality.”

Faccinto said the number one way to protect pets is still to take preventative measures to prevent the need for first aid or CPR at all. Faccinto said this includes blocking off pools, putting up electrical cords, and monitoring animals when they play together.

“There’s so many scenarios where like a dog will get their jaw caught in another dog’s collar,” Faccinto said. “That can be catastrophic.”

Faccinto said the ability to act fast and respond correctly is important because cats and dogs can go into shock after losing only a few teaspoons of blood.

“If your animal goes into cardiopulmonary arrest you have ten minutes to get that heart started or at least start getting oxygen to the tissues that need it,” Faccinto said. “And so ten minutes is a very short period of time, especially after hours, to reach out to your veterinarian, get them to call you back, get your dog there.”

Faccinto said the compression to breath ratio for CPR on these pets is very similar to the one for people.

“Where it gets different, obviously, is the size of the animal,” Faccinto said. “And then the basic anatomy, where is the heart located, and even that small detail is different based on the size of the animal, the shape of the animal, how deep is their chest, or how barrel are they.”

Faccinto said the event costs $75 per person and serves as a fundraiser for Putnam County’s Disaster Animal Response Team.