Dog First-Aid Kit: What Belongs in It + Important Emergency Number!
Dear dog friends
I have experienced it myself many times: the dog vomits or gets severe diarrhoea... usually on Sundays and public holidays or towards the evening, which means the only option left is a trip to the emergency room of an animal hospital. Especially in Zurich, the dog is then often kept overnight or for several nights even for a 'minor matter'. Your dog is certainly examined and cared for excellently, but you quickly end up with a bill of over a thousand francs and your dog is traumatised by the overnight stay and will associate going to the vet with panic + negative experiences in the future.
In this post I will tell you how you can avoid this in future. At first you will be surprised what makes a good first-aid kit. Because especially diarrhoea and vomiting could easily be brought under control; if this does not happen, however, your dog dehydrates within a few hours and becomes exhausted, can no longer stand up and their condition deteriorates dramatically, which at the latest then results in a trip to the emergency clinic.
First-aid kit for your dog
The components of a first-aid kit for your four-legged friend should therefore be:
VOMITING : here I have had very good experiences with the medication Cerenia . It stops the urge to vomit and relaxes the stomach. With vomiting, however, first wait and see whether the dog stops on its own after 1-3 episodes, as the harmful stomach contents have then been expelled. If vomiting continues, the medication is one way to stop your dog's discomfort and also the dehydration. You can tell that your dog is going to vomit because they become restless, keep repositioning themselves, sit, lie down, get up again; they also start to salivate or smack their lips and stare blankly into space. Please note: these measures are meant to help you through the night, for example if you cannot go to the emergency clinic. Nevertheless, please have a vet look at your dog the next day during consulting hours to check that the problem has resolved itself.
DIARRHOEA : the big problem with diarrhoea is likewise dehydration. The more fluid the small dog bodies lose, the weaker the four-legged friends become, the organ system stops working well, circulatory and organ problems loom. Here it already helps to stop severe diarrhoea with the medication Prifinial . Usually it stops after just 30 minutes and your dog can first sleep and recover. In addition, you should prescribe a 'diet' for 24 hours first (water only, no more feeding). You can also build up and supply energy to a dehydrated dog really well with broth (simply dissolve a stock cube and let them drink it). This activates the electrolytes and gives back energy and a little more strength. After 24 hours, please switch directly to bland food (cook rice - as soon as the liquid is reduced, add a few small pieces of meat - grate vegetables over it (please observe the list of toxic foods) - sauté everything in a pot - let it cool down - serve). Please note that rice binds a lot of liquid, so you need to increase the food portion here, although less food at the start is also good for the stomach. Usually you can finish the treatment with Prifinial after 2 days and slowly phase out the bland food after 4 days. Please note: these measures are meant to help you through the night, for example if you cannot go to the emergency clinic. Nevertheless, please have a vet look at your dog the next day during consulting hours to check that the problem has resolved itself. However, if your dog regularly suffers from diarrhoea, it is better to find out the cause (see my post about nutrition). For medications the rule applies: the more rarely you give them, the better they will also help in a real emergency. Personally, I unfortunately could not achieve any success with other recommended remedies such as activated charcoal. I also personally do not recommend Moro's carrot soup, as some dogs react to carrots and it then irritates the stomach even more.
INFLAMMATION For inflamed ears or also wounds and hotspots that have triggered itching and thus scratching and licking in your dog, the very well tolerated but costly medication Apoquel has worked wonders with my dog. Ear infections are often very painful, and whenever there was a shaved spot on a paw or injuries somewhere on the skin, my dog licked these spots intensely until sore or scratched and made everything worse. Here you can give the dog relief and thus let the wound heal in peace, without the dog constantly fiddling with it. In addition, I have a very stomach-sensitive dog and Apoquel was very gentle on him. If the scratching & licking does not stop, please have him wear a protective collar for 3-5 days sooner rather than too late (until the wound has healed). We offer collar training in our basic courses. Meanwhile, I sometimes only need to give 1 tablet for 1-2 days (my dog weighs 30 kg) and the inflammation is gone and I was able to clean the ears painlessly. For wounds, it also helps to initially use the Clorexyderm foam solution for disinfection. Please note: But here too, please address the causes if your dog often has hotspots or ear infections. See my post about nutrition.
EAR CLEANER I have tried various ones; my dog sometimes reacted very sensitively with itching to certain ones. The ear cleaner that gave him relief and always cleaned well was, for us, Clorexyderm Oto più .
EYE DROPS Especially young dogs often get eye inflammations, as their immune system is not yet fully developed. Here the over-the-counter eye drops Vidisan Augentrost already help wonderfully. Apply them into the eye several times a day and check whether things have improved after 2 days. If not, please go straight to the vet. Then something stronger may need to be used for treatment, or the eye should be examined for injuries.
DEWORMING With deworming, take care not to overdo it, but also not to forget it. If your dog digs a lot or eats things from the ground, then more often. But rather than straining the gastrointestinal tract too much with deworming, I recommend submitting stool samples (your vet will advise you on this). Because the deworming itself kills not only the bad parasites but unfortunately also the good gut bacteria, which is why you should give a stomach protector (about 30 minutes beforehand) BEFORE the deworming and then rebuild the gastrointestinal area 10 days AFTER the deworming with probiotic bacteria . Otherwise there are sometimes nasty surprises in the weeks after the deworming, because your dog no longer has a natural protective barrier against other pathogens and could show vomiting or diarrhoea after just a tiny sip from a puddle.
All medications should be purchased in consultation with your vet. Please also get advice regarding the dosage (depending on body weight) and intolerances, because every dog is individual.
Emergency contact for you In an emergency I recommend calling this emergency ring of veterinary practices. Even if they do not happen to have an emergency service at that moment, the answering machine will tell you the phone numbers of the next practice where you will also be treated at night. Please be sure to listen to the recorded message to the end and note down the numbers. The advantages here are quite clearly
lower costs than at the animal hospital,
usually the dog can then spend the night with you again,
you are allowed to be present during the treatment of your four-legged friend and hold their little paw.
Vet training from the very beginning is also very important so that you have relaxed and therefore cooperative dogs in an emergency. It is best to contact us about this. We cover the procedure in our basic courses.
TIERKLINIK ZÜRICH OST (FORMERLY DÜBENDORF) Industriestrasse 34 8305 Dietlikon
Emergency number: +41 44 820 02 33
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