Do you have a pet first aid kit?

[MrsL123]

After another doggy accident today, I wondered what everyone else has in theirs? Ours is actually a rather large first aid bag that we've made up ourselves (rather than a kit off the shelf) and it acts as our human one too. At the moment we've got:

Saline solution
Savlon wound wash
Antiseptic wipes
Styptic powder
Antibacterial powder
Savlon cream
Germolene cream
Aloe Vera gel
Vaseline
Rescue remedy
Arnica pills
Piriton
Ear drops
Eye lotion
Non stick dressing pads
Gauze pads
Gauze bandages
Vet wrap in varying colours!
Micropore tape
Cotton wool
Cotton buds
Tissues
Two needleless syringes
Scissors and tweezers
Plastic booty thing
Foil blanket (nicked from fire fighter BIL!)
Metacam and some rimadyl from the vet

Everything is at varying stages of emptiness, so I'm needing to stock up! So is there anything else I can add to my ever growing bag?

I have never ever heard, of a first aid bag for pets, i don't have any pets at the moment, but have in the past.

Just being nosy really, but you carry a massive bag full of all the stuff wherever you go with your pet?

Do you have a accident prone dog?

Lol cookielove, yes I do have two very accident prone dogs! They're labs so they tend to go running off into trees and bushes and leaping off things without looking, so we have scrapes and cuts to deal with quite regularly, usually minor stuff but it still needs cleaning up and taking care of. And the cats get a few knocks and scrapes too occasionally from fighting or climbing. The bag doesn't get taken everywhere though, it's just kept in the house unless we're going any distance from home or into the middle of nowhere, when it gets shoved in the boot of the car (reason it's in a bag rather than a big tub or box) - would do the same if it was just for humans though, too. Can't go off into the wilds of Scotland without a bit of savlon handy

Most people I know have some kind of animal first aid kit, so I don't think it's that strange? Maybe everyone I know just has accident prone pets!

I must add though, it's not a body-sized holdall we've got, just a small overnight bag-type thing! When I said rather large, I meant in comparison to those little green plastic lunchbox things you get

no,
nothing,
zilch.

Oh ok, it is actually quite interesting, ah beloved family dog, was quite a homebody, bless him, was actually scared of water, never jumped head first into anything. He would rather walk the whole way round puddles (had some rather large puddles a few metres across near my childhood home), ponds, boggy areas, e.t.c there dare step INTO THE WATER, ha ha

we have a tick removing tool.

Take out the germolene along with TCP it is an irritant for dogs. Replace savlon cream with intrsite or vetalintex heals wounds much quicker. Change savlon wound wash for hibiscrub less toxic to nice cells coming to heal the wound.
Actually in the surgery we only flush the wounds with saline if they are an open hole we stuff them with vetalintex and don't use any antibacterial wash as it can inhibit healing.

Saline - no antiseptics etc for reasons Lizcat describes. Was taught to use Hibiscrub only on unbroken skin so don't even keep that.

Dressing pads
Vetwrap
Round ended scissors
Thermometer
Vaseline
Piriton
Ear cleaner
Micropore
Cotton wool
20ml syringe for flushing wounds

That's it really

And latex gloves

Thanks lizcat, that's handy to know. We were advised to use germolene on the puppy's razor rash by the vet nurse instead of the tea tree oil cream we'd been using - it did clear it up but it smells pretty nasty, so I'll keep it for DH's mishaps in future! For small scrapes while we're out and about I usually wash it out with the savlon spray and then put a layer of savlon cream or vaseline on to protect it, because both are easy to carry in pockets when in the middle of nowhere. Didn't realise it could be doing more harm than good! The savlon is good for washing bits of dirt out because it's a pump action spray, but I'll just fill the bottle up with some saline instead. I tend to use the saline at home anyway because it's much cheaper! I've never used the vetalintex but I had a tube of intrasite which I finished a few weeks ago when the older dog chewed half her paw pad off (I don't abuse them, honestly!)) so I'll get some more. I've been using the aloe vera gel a lot lately, seems to be the only thing they don't lick off!

Bella, do you think I should get a thermometer? Bit worried about losing it, if you catch my drift Do they do one with a giant stopper on the end?! Maybe I'm best leaving that one to the professionals

It must sound like my dogs are always being patched up - I thought everyone was like me and had big clumsy dogs who have no fear of thorny bushes! I think full body armour might be in order

I wouldn't recommend a thermometer unless you and your dog are used to using it.

I really would lay off all the gels: you run the risk of sealing in a potential infection. Much better to flush out with saline and leave it be really.

Mine have never done anything much more serious than a little puncture wound, so flushed then off to vets for ABs. Only biggie was a mahoosive dog bite so pressure bandage and straight into back of car and off to vets.

Think the vet gets sick of seeing me, that's why she gives me lots of supplies!

I have to put something on the older dog because she's a compulsive licker - she sliced her paw to the bone about 2 years ago on a broken bottle someone left sticking out of the ground (grrr) and it took months to heal because she was always at it, and in the end she gave herself a huge lick granuloma. She now has a lovely big lump of scar tissue which keeps filling up with fluid, so she's going in at the end of may to be operated on again - it's never ending ! So I have to smear lots of nasty tasting things on her to put her off (bitter apple tastes lovely apparently!). I think the aloe vera must be gross because she doesn't touch it. Just googled vetalintex and was very pleased to see it doesn't come in one of those stupid tubes that intrasite does, that makes it much better in my book - if it tastes foul, it's a winner!

The puppy doesn't care less so I'll not put anything on hers. Saying that, when she does something it tends to be big and always needs a trip to the vet - she knows how to do things properly!

Blimey MrsL123 yours are accident prone! I have piriton and a tick remover and that is pretty much it!

My dogs microchips have a thermometer built in and as I have a chip scanner for work I guess I could use that but never have to be honest. (actually I don't own a thermometer for the DC's!)

A tick remover is about the only thing I don't have actually!

The piriton is now a permanent fixture in the kit (and my pocket on walks), after the older one got stung by something when she was about 5 months old and get whole head swelled up It was on a Sunday (of course!) and we had to drive all the way to the emergency vet with her face getting bigger and bigger, and her getting less able to breath by the minute. By the time we got there she looked like a bull terrier, she had no definition between her nose and the top of her head at all, it was all just one big swollen mess, and her eyes looked like they were about to pop out. Still don't know what stung her and it's never happened again, but made me very paranoid - we were only at home at the time, dread to think what would have happened if we'd been in the middle of nowhere!

I don't use a tick remover. I douse the little beggars in neat Frontline or, if I'm feeling more environmentally friendly, smother them in vaseline. They breathe through holes in their body so vaseline suffocates them

Luckily we've never had any ticks, but I'll keep the evil vaseline in mind if I do

You know the more I think about it, the clumsier my dogs are. Not a week goes by without one of them doing something. It's probably the places we take them though, lots of trees and bushes. And the fact that they're stupid, obviously! The older dog is the worst. When she was about 8 months old she dived into a bush chasing a squirrel and ran chest-first into a sharp stick. Lots of blood, me just about hyperventilating thinking she'd punctured a lung or something, but she only needed two stiches and her tail never stopped wagging the whole time (never did catch the squirrel though). She's also cut her paw open on a shell on the beach, tripped over whilst running with a stick and needed splinters removed from her throat (she's now banned from picking them up), and of course the broken bottle incident (some little b*stard had done it on purpose though, so technically not her fault). She's only three years old! But we later found out she'd been rushed to the vets before we even got her, after falling down a gap in the breeder's decking and getting stuck upside down - so she's obviously just that way inclined! She's just clumsy in general though, she's always tripping over her own feet and sometimes she'll turn round too fast and just bang her head on the wall

You can teach dpgs body awareness exercises I think she may need a bit of practice at some of these!

Can she walk backwards?
Can she walk backwards to a step and put her back legs on the step and front legs off?
Put a ladder on the floor and get her to walk over the ladder and see if she puts all four feet in the gaps or does she knock her legs on the rungs?

Great things to teach to get the dogs more aware of their own body and less likely to do themselves a mischief.

Also if you put a bit of gravel on the grass most dogs learn to put their feet down carefully and will learn that if they touch something sharp to quickly lift their feet up again. Prevents many injuries due to glass etc.

Thanks for those tips minimu, she can walk backwards, but if we tried the step or the ladder I think she'd fail miserably

It's funny though, there's a low wall about a foot wide that runs the length of the local promendade, and she can run along it full pelt without falling off. She can also run along watching a ball as it flies through the air and catch it when it comes down first time, is great at frisbee and can find lost balls in the sea - but she's very bad at tripping over and bumping into things. We even had her eyes and ears checked at one point because we thought something might be wrong, but she got the all clear - it definitely sounds like body awareness is the problem! It's sad though because she's a very nervy dog at the best of times (we had a fire in our house when she was young and she was never the same), and sometimes she'll bump into something and send it clattering to the ground and will wet herself in fright

My dog is one tough cookie and never makes a peep if injured - but is so gung ho has been known to charge through a barbed wire fence! Ouch. I've bandaged up her paw before after she stepped on some glass she hadn't seen (neither had we) in the snow, just realised she was hurt after seeing the bloody footprints in the snow. Poor thing.
I usually keep ear drops as she seems prone to ear infections. A colleague told me that you can use some childrens medicines on dogs too - I've not generally tried it, but I did give dog some Calpol when she cut her paw as she seemed very quiet - I think there was a reason why we couldn't get to the vets but can't remember now what it was.
Looking at your post minimu I reckon my dog has good body awareness, her problem comes from being rather excitable when outdoors.

I think it's something to do with the breed MrsL!

I have black labs and also have a respectable (I think) first aid kit because we've needed it!

Ours has

Saline
Plastic gloves
Vet wrap
Dressings
Bandage
Melolin
Tick Remover
Scissors
Forceps
Glucose Tablets
Space Blanket
Piriton

I work them on shoots, so they do hurl themselves into all sorts of situations while picking up and they do hurt themselves.

I wouldn't go anywhere without it, part of looking after my dogs, I think.

I think basic first aid is something you should be able to do for your dogs really (and your kids ideally!) - I've taken a tick off DD but dog hasn't picked any up (yet)

remove all the creams and buy tahitian noni juice...it is absolutely fantastic. I have seen deep gashes clear up within days.