Dear Mishu – What is the Most Important Thing Dog Owners Should Know About Pet First Aid?

I came across a great site, Dear Mishu, where a “canine advice columnist provides a dog’s common sense solutions to everyday problems”.

Mishu

While accidents involving care for your dog certainly don’t happen every day, the mere fact that accidents can happen every day does. So Mishu, being the advice guru that she is, asked us at Pro Pet Hero,

“What is the Most Important Thing Dog Owners Should Know About Pet First Aid?”

The most important thing dog owners or ANYONE sharing their lives with pets in any capacity should know about first aid is how to recognize a problem and have the confidence to ACT!

I know that’s a general answer but let me dive a little deeper here; when you spend each and every day with your dog it can be challenging to notice when something is not right. Dogs are stoic creatures and it’s in their nature to hide an injury from the world, as not to appear weak. It’s a survival tactic – your dog has no idea that you are literally on standby to help them – but you absolutely should be.

A limp can be obvious but its cause might not be. Did your dog break their nail or do they have an infection from an unknown puncture wound they suffered?

Pawing at their face can be another sign of a problem, but do you know if it’s because they have a stick stuck in their tooth or a scratch on their eye?

Knowing first aid is vital information dog owners should know. First aid is the very first care that is applied to a pet; this can simply be knowing that you are taking your dog to the vet – immediately. This could also be knowing how to comfort your pet, stabilize their arterial bleed so that you can safely and with a greater chance of survival, get them to an ER veterinary hospital.

Shucks, even KNOWING where the closest ER vet is can mean the difference between life and death, stress and calm, or pain and comfort.

On Christmas Day my own Boxer fell through the ice while we were out hiking in super cold New England! My husband and I are trained in pet first aid and CPR. We knew what had to be done to safely get our guy out of the freezing water safely and most importantly; we astutely knew the signs of hypothermia. It was that confidence, that ability to stay calm in what was a an adrenaline-packed few moments that was important – our knowledge of pet first aid, recognizing issues and how to act helped keep our dog safe after his accident.

Mishu has a great story of her own on how she was once a model and a product consultant but later moved to become a terrific advice columnist. Her writing will certainly give some pups a run for their money. So checkout our new friend Mishu but also go get yourself the crucial knowledge your dog needs you to have – how to recognize a problem and have the confidence to ACT by learning dog first aid & CPR. 

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She has some great advice and cool adventures