Principles of First Aid

When “cat-astrophy” strikes, will you be ready?

This is the sort of information to read before disaster hits. If your cat is suffering any kind of emergency, do not stop to read this item—contact your veterinarian immediately.

Otherwise, if your cat is gently swinging from the drapes, or perching precariously on the edge of that tree branch outside your window, this just might make good reading!

Not all emergencies can be handled by first aid, but knowing the basic principles of safe handling, bandaging, and wound care can help you play an important role as a first line health care provider. Also, accurate assessment of your cat so that the vet on the other end of the phone line gets a more accurate picture of what is happening at your home can only help your cat!

One step you can take to help prepare for the unexpected is to put a Kitty Kit together, a home first aid kit at-the-ready—see our article Kitty Kit: First Aid Kits for Cats! Another way to prepare is to learn how to assess your cat and know what is normal for her. See Home Monitoring for Health for more information on this subject.

Here are some tips for first aid home care:

• Obtain professional advice before administering most first aid measures because improper application of home care may do more harm than good!

• If you are handling any area that might be sore, take precautions to avoid bite or scratch injury. Gently wrapping the cat in a soft towel, leaving only the affected area exposed can help you to restrain the cat safely, with minimal stress to the cat.

• Tourniquets should not be applied without professional oversight, and especially, not left on for long periods of time. This can result in loss of the toes, foot or tail. Apply according to veterinary advice only in a severe bleeding emergency.

• Bandages likewise should not be applied as tight (pressure) bandages and left on for long periods because the circulation to the area will be disrupted leading to tissue injury, sometimes irreversible.

• If a limb is broken, and the bone is showing, a loose soft cover of sterile bandage material and splint can be applied gently to stabilize the area for transport if the cat allows it. Do not attempt to set the bone back in place. If there is a break or dislocation, minimize movement to help prevent further soft tissue injury.

• Dirty wounds and burns can be gently flushed with body-temperature sterile saline and gently covered with a non-stick wound dressing for transport. An awake cat will not allow complete cleaning of wounds so a trip to the clinic is in order.

• If handling bite wounds, wear gloves. This will help protect you from potential rabies exposure.

• Sharp objects piercing deep in the body should NOT be removed since sometimes this will lead to extensive hemorrhage if a deep blood vessel has been torn.

• Cats generally tolerate topical creams and ointments poorly. If they can reach it, they will groom it off. Cats often also tolerate bandages poorly, so these should be reserved for situations where professional advice has deemed them necessary.

• If contact chemical burns or contact poisoning is suspected, wearing protective gloves, eye covers, and clothes, warm water rinse the cat to immediately remove the toxin from the fur. Save any containers of chemical or poison that you find in association with the exposure event so you can relay the nature of the poisoning accurately to the veterinarian.

• When taking the rectal temperature of the cat, make sure the cat is properly restrained so that a glass thermometer is not broken or lost. It may be necessary to have a friend or family member assist with the procedure—and some cats will not tolerate this.
• Never insert thermometers into the mouth. The digital thermometers are often flexible at the tip and are thus safer. They are also faster. Leave the digital thermometer in just long enough to get the beep activation that indicates a reading. Human ear thermometers are not very accurate for cats unless the ear canal is carefully and gently straightened.
• Though veterinary ear thermometers are available, they are quite expensive. The liquid glass type thermometer should be left in for 1-2 minutes—it does not need to be inserted the full length—an inch to an inch and a half is plenty. Make sure adequate lubrication is applied to the thermometer before insertion using gel or petrolatum, and it is passed along the wall of the rectum, not into the middle of a “poop” ball. Don't forget to shake down glass thermometers between each use.

• A grumpy cat may be muzzled, but only in certain circumstances. A cat with nose discharge or any kind of nose blockage should not be muzzled as breathing cannot occur. Any cat with signs of breathing difficulty should also not be muzzled. Cats with very short faces may be impossible to muzzle anyway, and shorter faced cats should not be muzzled at home because these cats have conformation changes in the back of the nose and throat that may interfere with breathing.
• Obese, weak, stressed, debilitated, very old or young cats are also not appropriate candidates for home muzzling. Any cat that may have been stung, or perhaps is having an allergic reaction is also not a suitable muzzling candidate.
• A muzzle is only used for a very short period of time during handling to protect from injury. Remove it for transport and observation.

• If cleansing a wound, do not put any soaps, alcohol, peroxide, powders or ointments etc down inside the wound. This can be very painful and lead to tissue damage and poor healing. Sterile diluted salt-based (saline) solutions such as human nose or eye wash (without preservatives) warmed to body temperature are suitable for first aid cleansing. Wound treatments can be applied at the wound margins, or to superficial scrapes.

• A fresh, large clean wound will generally be sewn closed by the veterinarian immediately so don’t delay care. In some circumstances where there has been contamination, or there is tension at the wound margins, or there has been some delay between the injury and the visit to the hospital, other strategies including grafting or leaving the wound open to drain may be selected by the veterinarian. But all gaping wounds should be assessed early.

• Cats with breathing difficulties or serious health problems should be handled and transported with “kid gloves”. Even minor stresses can lead to worsening of the condition and even death, especially with cats in respiratory distress. Avoid holding her closely or wrapping her tightly or else you might interfere with breathing efforts.

• If a cat has become overheated (heat stroke), cold water bathing is suitable for first aid cooling. Avoid placing her in ice water as this will drop body temperature too fast and too far, and is dangerous.

• Vomiting may be induced to help clear certain swallowed poisons. Contact your veterinarian for advice and dosage for induction of home vomiting. Oily substances or caustic substances such as acid and base chemicals should not be brought up. Never use a finger at the back of the throat to induce vomiting.

• Tweezers can be used to gently remove bee stingers, small slivers, or ticks but care should be taken to remove the entire item by grasping at the base next to the skin.

• If applying an emergency support bandage, the area to be bandaged should be larger than the area of concern. Band-aid type treatments will not stay in place. For example, a cat with a wound of the front leg half way down should have the bandage placed to cover the leg joint next to the wound both near to the body and far from the body. In this case, a bandage covering the whole limb up to and including the elbow would be suitable. Avoid applying a tight wrap to a leg / tail and leaving the foot / tail tip unwrapped as tissue fluids will build up, causing swelling, and eventually, lead to loss of circulation and damage if left on too long.

• Light hemorrhage can be controlled by applying gentle, firm pressure to the area (as in a toenail trimmed too short). Count to 60 slowly, and in most cases, the bleeding will stop.

• Do not try to give food or water to an unconscious cat. They cannot swallow, and it may end up in the lungs. To transport an unconscious cat, place the head a little lower than the chest and abdomen to help keep blood flowing to the brain. As well, this helps to keep any fluid coming up from the stomach draining from the mouth since swallowing will be compromised.

• In cats, a seizure will not lead to swallowing of the tongue. Never place fingers inside the mouth of a seizuring cat or a bite may result. Placing the cat on a soft pillow or comforter at ground level will help to prevent falls, or bruising. Contact the veterinarian and try to keep track of the length of the seizure by noting the time on your watch or clock in minutes. This information is helpful to the health care team. If a seizure does not seem to be resolving, immediate transport for veterinary care is required.

• CPR or cardiopulmonary resuscitation may be used if the cat is not breathing and the heart is not beating. To check for the heart beat, place your ear right on the chest at the point where the elbow hits the ribs on the left side. The rate is normally about 3 times as fast as ours (~180 beats/minute). Contact your veterinarian for resuscitation instructions.

• Transport an ill or injured cat in a carrier containing soft bedding. When you arrive at the hospital, ask hospital staff for assistance for transfer from vehicle to hospital.