What To Do If Your Pet Stops Breathing
If your pet stops breathing, you may be able to revive your pet if you act fast. Pets can come back from not breathing if you take the right steps and know what to do in advance.
Call for Help
If there is more than one person with you when you notice that your pet is not breathing, have the other person call for assistance for a local veterinarian while you attend to your pet. They should let the vet know what was happening to your pet right before they stopped breathing. They should keep the vet on the phone as you render assistance to your pet. The vet may be able to give you extra pointers and advice as you help your pet.
Check to See If Their Airway Is Blocked
The first thing you need to do is check and see if your pet's airway is blocked. Your pet may be chocking. Open your pet's mouth if it is closed. Then, very gently pull your pet's tongue forward and out of its mouth so that their tongue is flat.
Look down into your pet's mouth and see if you can see any object in your pet's mouth. If you can see something in your pet's mouth, try to very gently grab the object and remove it with tweezers, pliers or your fingers.
If you can't get the object out, put your hands on your pet's rib cage and apply pressure. This should very quickly push the air out of your pet's lungs that is still present and hopefully push the object out of their airway.
Assist Your Pet with Breathing
If you can't see anything in your pet's airway, they may need some assistance with breathing. Giving a pet rescue breathes is different than giving rescue breaths to a person. You are going to want to put their tongue back in their mouth and close their mouth. Gently hold their mouth closed with your hand. Then, breath onto your pet's nose. Breath until you see your pet's chest expand, then wait a few seconds, and breath on your pet's nose until their chest expands again. Keep this up until your animal starts breathing on their own or until you reach the vet.
If the vet instructs you, move your pet to the car while you continue rescue breaths and take your pet to the nearest emergency vet. Your vet should be able to help get your pet breathing again. If your pet is already breathing again, your vet can evaluate your pet and see if there are any underlying conditions that need to be dealt with.
Visit a website like http://www.emergencypetclinics.com to learn more.