Advanced Pet First Aid Level 3 (VTQ)
Course Content
- Introduction to Advanced Pet First Aid
- Course Introduction
- Course Overview
- Before we start - Coronavirus COVID 19 advice for pet owners from the government
- Meet Your Vet
- Pet First Aid and The Law
- The vet and your role in first aid
- The Role of the Pet First Aider
- When is Veterinary Care Required?
- Keeping your pet safe in an emergency
- Car Accidents
- Pet Proofing your home
- Please rescue my pets stickers
- Hand Hygiene
- Dog Microchipping
- Precautions and Safety
- Anatomy and Physiology
- First Aid Kits and Equipment
- Checking a Dog's health
- Pet Accidents and First Aid
- CPR
- Choking
- Bleeding Control
- Different Conditions you may see
- Injuries
- Suspected fractures
- Pet Fractures Treatment
- Types of fractures on animals
- Spinal injury and moving an injured pet
- Paw Problems
- Nail and Claw Injuries
- Eye Injuries
- Eye Problems
- Bandaging the Ear
- Bandaging the Tail and Tail Injuries
- Puncture Wounds
- Animal bites and scratches on pets
- Stings on animals
- Ibuprofen and pets
- Carbon Monoxide and pets
- Vet poison information line
- Inducing Vomiting in a Dog
- Snake Bites
- Pet Burns
- Electrocution
- Cruciate Ligament
- Illness
- Pets and Illnesses
- Bloat and Gastric Dilatation and Volvulus (GDV)
- High Temperatures and Heatstroke
- Hypothermia Treatment
- Vomiting in Animals
- Different Types and Causes of Vomiting
- Seizures and Epilepsy
- Allergies in Pets
- Pancreatitis
- Cushings Disease
- Coughing and kennel cough
- Diarrhoea in Animals
- Rabies
- Alabama Foot Rot
- Blue Green Algae
- Pyometra
- Vestibular Syndrome
- Parasites that affect pets
- Cats
- Different types and sizes of animals
- Summary of Advanced Pet First Aid
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Get StartedChecking Your Pet's Health and Finding Out What Is Normal
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Before we look at what is not normal or what problems an animal is going to have, we need to know what is normal. So, with Deco here, we need to know what her normal rates are, what she is normal, what she looks like. So, an important part of this course is to look at your dog or your cat to make sure that you know exactly what normal is. So, what we are going to do is just briefly have a look at Deco. We are going to have a little chat about things and the patterns that would be normal for her. Now, with Deco, she is extremely lively, usually. She is very bouncy. But she is quite happy sitting on the sofa doing filming and doing things like this, so she will lay down nice and calmly. The first thing to do is look at what their attitudes are. We know full well that Deco will happily lay here and do this, or she will lay here and be calm during the day. No problem. We also know that she is also always aware of what is around her. Now she is probably just looking through at Ella through in the kitchen. This is what she is, she is always very, very spatially aware. So, if something new comes along, we know that that is... She is going to notice it. So, if she became a lot more lethargic, not really aware of her surroundings, not listening and not being alert, like you just saw her there, just a quick twitch, it is because she is watching through next door, and then we would know there is a possible problem. Think about what is normal for your dog. And a good idea when we are doing this module is written them down. And write them on a bit of paper and take a photo of it with your phone, or maybe just put the information on your phone. So, if you are in a panic situation and you need to recall this pattern, there you have actually got it written down that you can follow. So, the first thing we are going to do is a quick head-to-toe check, so we can work out what is actually normal. So, what this would entail is stroking her, pretty much. So, we can just feel underneath her skin. Now, with Deco, she is very, very thick-coated, so you need to really feel to see whether there are any lumps or cuts on there. So, you can run your hands down their back and round through, and then you can pull out each of the legs and you can run through and just see whether there is any lumps or marks on there. So, you might find a little scratch or something like that, but we are looking for any growths or maybe a little mole. And these may be something you need to get checked out by a vet, but at least if you find it now, you are not going to get in a panic later on. So, once we have done a complete check-over of her and checked the whole of her body, maybe then get her to roll over and you can check her tummy, then we know exactly what is. The next thing will be to check her ears, and just have a little look through into her ear to make sure that there is no redness or any discolouration, and also to know what colour the inside of her ears are. And again, a little trick you can do here is, is what is normal? Well, take lots of pictures. So, take a photo of the inside of her ear, so if you needed to recall this, later on, you can do. Look through her eyes. Now, with dogs' eyes, they are pretty much black, you cannot see that much white to them. So, you can just open them up and have a little look, or just get her to follow your finger and she will move her eyes about. And there should not be any excessive redness or anything like that within the eyes. Now she is panting a lot and drooling a lot, which is normal for Deco. With Ella, she is very dry-mouthed. She very rarely ever dribbles, unless there is food involved. But like this, she would never have a wet mouth. So, what we can then do is have a look inside her mouth. So, have a look through, just peel their lips back and have a little look at her teeth. Now Deco is eight now, so, she has got a little bit of discolouration on her teeth, but that is all okay, checked through with the vets. Have a look through at the teeth, make sure there are no missing teeth. Then look through at her gums. You want to know the colour of her gums. As you look through, you can check the gums over, they are pretty much a bright red-y colour at the minute, but there will be these little black marks on them, that is normal. And again, look what is normal for your dog. Now, some breeds do not have darker-coloured lips or gums, so you need to, again, have a look and see what is normal. Have a little look in their nose as well just to make sure that the area is just perfect and there are no actual problems, no cuts or anything like that on it. Next things we need to do is know what is normal for her heart rate. In another video, we look at taking the dog's pulse. So, we need to find out what her resting pulse is. Her breathing rates, again, resting breathing rates. For this, we can just count the number of breaths that she does in maybe 30 seconds and then double it to look at what her breathing rate is. Now, breathing rates in a dog will vary massively depending on what exercise. Deco here has just been out in the garden, so she is panting a little bit, but at rest, they are going to be much, much slower. After a walk, they are massively faster. So just learn about your animal, just take a little bit of time with them. Look all over them. Make sure you know everything about them, there is no surprises, should anything happen. Supposing they damaged their paw, you know what normal is. And the other trick, if an accident did happen, you can always compare left with right. So, if there was a problem in this eye, you can have a look at what normal should be by looking at the other eye. Of course, that does not work if there is a problem with both eyes, but it will give you an indication. The final things to think about are the feeding habits. And Deco typically plods through her food. She is a little bit of a fussy eater, but she will eat everything that you put in front of her. Ella is a very slow eater, but she is very possessive over her food. So, think about what the eating habits are because this could be really important if you have a problem later on when they go off their food. And a very last thing is their toilet habits. Looking at the shape and colour of their poo, it might be pretty gruesome to have a look at, but this is the sort of thing we need to know what is normal. So, if you are looking at poos that are normal and suddenly they are very runny, or if you have blood in the poo, you would know these things... Blood is a very obvious thing, but if they are not quite so solid. And also, how often they are going out. It may be a good indicator if they go out very regularly but then they wet in the house, this could be another indication of the problem. So, just put all these things together and have a good record of what you think is normal for your dog, and then when you get to the vet, if something went wrong, you can recall this information quite easily.
To be able to identify problems your pet may be experiencing you need to know what is "normal". This means being aware of many different factors including:-
- What is there normal energy level
- How alert is your pet when he or she is healthy and well
- The healthy weight of your pet
- Check their coat and skin for bumps, cuts or growths
- Check the ears for redness and discolouration
- Check the eyes, get your dog to follow your finger, so that you can check the whites of the eye for excessive redness
- Look at the gums and teeth regularly, know what is normal, some breeds have darker gums than others, some have black marks which are quite normal
- Check the nose for cuts or grazes
- Check their paws and pads for cuts, or grazes
Learn what is a normal heart rate for your pet:
- Do this while your pet is resting
- Count the number of breaths in 30 seconds, double it to calculate the resting breathing rate.
- Breathing rates in dogs vary between breeds
The final things to consider is your pet's feeding habits a change could indicate there is a problem and checking their stools, runny stools could indicate a stomach upset which could need veterinary assistance if it continues, also check for blood in the stools. Also is your pet passing stools regularly? If your pet is let out regularly and still wets in the house, this may indicate a problem.
If you take the time to know your pet and your pet's habits you will be in a good position to know when something isn't quite right.