Dogs first aid kit

[DEKAW 85]

What do you carry in your first aid kit. Also what is the most common injury you treat(running dogs/terriers)

[socks 32,253]

i carry a basic surgical kit and fluids as the most common injurys are going to be cuts dehydration or shock .... with this kit i am able to carry out the essential work needed to get the dog sorted untill you get them home to treat them properly ............

 

SURGICAL KIT ...........

 

 

 

FLUIDS .......

 

 

SOME OF THE KIT IN THE GARAGE .........

 

 

[bucknut 1]

wow! impressssssive socks!

[maty j 6]

can you buy them kits over the counter or online socks? ive just got the usal stuff at home but its not much good there when your in the middle of no were.

[socks 32,253]

i dont know mate i made that one up myself .........

[sandymere 8,263]

To repeat a comment from an earlier thread impressive kit socks but bloody deadly in the wrong hands, ie your average person, not what i would promote on a forum.

Personally i prefer to carry common sense if a dog is bad enough to need IVI's it needs a vet in a hurry not pissing about in a field in the dark. Unless you have very expert people then common fist aid ie pressure to bleed site then grab and run, ie to vet etc, will be a lot more effective than bodging on site.

Ps that draw contains sterile packages but from the looks of things not sterile for long lol.

[socks 32,253]

To repeat a comment from an earlier thread impressive kit socks but bloody deadly in the wrong hands, ie your average person, not what i would promote on a forum.

Personally i prefer to carry common sense if a dog is bad enough to need IVI's it needs a vet in a hurry not pissing about in a field in the dark. Unless you have very expert people then common fist aid ie pressure to bleed site then grab and run, ie to vet etc, will be a lot more effective than bodging on site.

Ps that draw contains sterile packages but from the looks of things not sterile for long lol.

 

so people shouldnt put up a picture of a gun then incase somebody else gets one the same and shoots somebody ??? .......

 

so if a dog needs fluids that badly then you would rather drive the hour to the vet and risk the dog dying on the journey compared with giving the dog fluids there and then and saving its life .......

 

i know how to use every bit of kit in that roll and have used it on a fair few occasions under a little more pressusre than a little darkness ........

 

the original question was .... what do YOU carry in your first aid kit .... NOT what do you suggest we carry in our first aid kits ...... and what i put up is what I carry in MY first aid kit .............

[maty j 6]

cheers Socks. any decent books or reading material you or anyone else recomends. ive been looking at Field Guide: Dog First Aid Emergency Care for the Hunting, Working, and Outdoor Dog. anyone got/seen it?

cheers,

[sandymere 8,263]

As a home kit there may be times that IVI's are relevant but to part of one carried, "what do you carry" (DEKAW) then i question the times of use and safety.

Please with a little honesty and no googling etc can those that advocate such kits please give some examples of:

Times they have used them? ie

Why in the field and not at home or vets etc?

What rates they would use?

Total volumes?

What to look out for when it goes wrong?

 

I apologise if this is hijacking the thread but feel that that leaving it without a reply could mean that inexperienced owners may follow.I have a knowledge of the subject through hands on experience in a number of emergency situations and over 35 year in running dogs so don't post without a little background in the subject.

[FJager 0]

Smart looking kit Sock's real good. I think letting people know that administering a Saline drip isn't just a job for a vet is a great idea. With a little training just about anyone can do it and it can certainly be a life saver. As far as dosage rates go Saline is basically sterile salt water and its pretty hard to O.D. with it.

 

Not being fecitious Sandymere, but administering a drip in the field could very well keep the dog hanging on until it arrives at the vet. I just posted a pic of a great dog in the 'Boarhunting' forum who was lost to heat out in the field, if we had have had Saline, things may have been quiet different for the Big Fella.

 

I went down with heat myself in Borneo years ago, I was given 20 minutes to live, it was Saline and some very handy working class blokes, not doctors that kept me going.

 

The only thing I cannot see, although by the looks of things they are probably in there is tampons for stuffing in bad gashes and punture wounds.

I also carry snake bite bandages everywhere when hunting, they are taped to my knife sheath.

 

Maty J, better off sourcing the bits of kit yourself and making your own kit.

 

Great post people, thanks for sharing.

[socks 32,253]

ok mate i carry mine in the truck at all times and change the solution when the run out date is up ... i have used it on the greyhound track during a trialing session in the summer when some knobber ran his dog 3 times in one morning ..... i have used it on terriers that have been to ground for a long time and when we got to him he had gone into shock ..............

 

as you can see from the above the dogs in question could not have waited to see a vet or they would have died ..........

 

i set the giving set to a medium drip and i give fluids untill you see a noticable recovery ie respons from the dog ... the couler coming back into the gums ..... pupils returning to normal .........

 

as i said sandymere i am more than qualified to be able to administer fluids via a giving set infact i can administer fluids via the anal tract but that would be a dangerouse thing to explan on an open forum ............

[Guest reload]

Sandymere there are folk who do know what there doing on here, I agree some of the types that post on these hunting forums, cant even spell let alone read a label of a medicine....lol.....

But i doubt they would have the will, or interest to find out or to seek someone to teach them how to use certain medical products.

 

Good going to socks and i wish I and others had someone up the road to call on in a emergency who knew what they were doing rather than waiting for the 'on call vet' too turn up.....

 

When i wanted to know about sutures, I found out and was given a tutorial, same as using a stapler, luckily from some good friends from a Veterinary University ...it the perks of being in the right industry for me

 

But for the layman(the person who know feck all) dont piss about get down the vets

 

I carry a basic one in the truck, sterile water, arnica, bandages and sterile wipes,scissors, clamps. and something to use as a tourniquet.

[sandymere 8,263]

The average owner is a layman and promoting giving IVI's is IMO a recipe for trouble. I'm happy for "qualified" / experienced people to do what ever they are able to do but the trouble comes with doing things you don't understand. The terrier scenario is one where IVI's could be appropriate but with such a small dog you'd have to be very careful not to overload the dogs system fluid overload can amongst other things kill and in a shock rather than blood loss event then saline would be of limited use. In a trauma situation a slightly to fast flow could well blow any forming clots with the resulting negative effects. I can just see someone copying, going out getting a litre of, may or may not be, saline and running the lot, stat, into a terrier or small whippet! be like a water bomb. The track dog would have needed rest and cooling more than IV's, stick it in a trough or hose down. The worst scenario, with over running, is heart damage and lobbing fluids in is a very dangerous balencing act if there is any chance of cardiac failure.

Cardiogenic shock is usually a death sentence to man or beast.

In the overnight waiting for the vet, firstly why wait? 2nd it would probably be as effective and very much safer to give sub-cut fluids which are a hundred times safer and easier to administer.

 

 

Lastly we should all work within the bounds of our own competence rather than our own confidence.

[socks 32,253]

SANDYMERE YOU ARE OBVIOUSLY THE ONLY ONE ON HERE QUALIFIED TO USE FLUIDS ....... .........

[sandymere 8,263]

SANDYMERE YOU ARE OBVIOUSLY THE ONLY ONE ON HERE QUALIFIED TO USE FLUIDS ....... .........

 

Lordy I'm not qualified to walk without a map!

It's not the giving it's the promotion of there use with out the knowledge to know when they should be used and the pit falls of use. I don't know of one profession that is trained to give IV's that would not put at risk their professional registration by being seen to promote the use of IVI's as part of a "first aid kit" to be used by the general public other than in exceptional circumstaces.

 

The most important component of a first aid kit is keeping a cool head and using common sense, although that is easier said than done at times.