It seems the younger the cat, the more likely it is that they will ingest something they shouldn’t. My older cat wouldn’t touch chocolate – very toxic to cats - but the younger one has yet to taste anything he doesn’t like.It also seems to be true – the same way that your car goes dead on the Sunday of a long weekend or on a country road in the middle of nowhere - that your cat will only get themselves in some major life-threatening situation in the middle of the night, or after regular vet office hours, or when your car is out of commission.
Knowing how to help your cat right away can make all the difference.
Three things you should always have in your medicine kit:
3% Hydrogen Peroxide,
Activated Charcoal.
A dose syringe or plastic eyedropper.
Toxic Substances:
If you know or suspect your cat has ingested chocolate, chewed on your poinsettia, or ingested any other known toxin:
1. Call a Vet immediately.
If the suspected poison is not a caustic or petroleum product:
1. Start to induce vomiting
Give your cat approx. 5 ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide every five (5) minutes until the cat vomits.
Note: ¼ oz = approx. 7 ml.
A plastic eyedropper or dose syringe is the easiest, fastest way to get the liquid down it’s throat. A small baster (as in turkey baster) will do the trick in an emergency.
2. After you’ve made your cat vomit, give it activated charcoal – it may absorb some of the toxin.
Caustics include battery acid, corn and callous remover, dishwater detergent, drain cleaner, grease remover, lye, and oven cleaner.
Petroleum products include paint solvent, floor wax, and dry-cleaning solution.
Choking:
You hear your cat coughing or gagging, pawing at his mouth, acting frantic. You know or suspect something is caught in its throat.
1. Open the cat’s mouth by grabbing the cat’s head so that the palm of your hand is over the cats head, and your thumb and index finger are behind the canine teeth.
2. Tilt the cat’s nose up and use the index finger of your other hand to open the mouth.
3. Put your finger on the lower teeth and gently push the jaw downwards.
This is not something you want to be doing for the first time in an emergency situation. Practice on your cat now so that if in the future you need to do this procedure, you will at least have an idea of how to do it and how your cat will react.
4. Look in cat’s mouth and remove object.
In most cases this also means getting scratched and/or bitten.
PLEASE NOTE: If you see a piece of string, ribbon, thread, anything wrapped around the cats tongue. DO NOT PULL ON IT OR TRY TO REMOVE IT.
You could very well do some serious damage to your cat.
GET IT TO A VET IMMEDIATELY.
If you see something embedded in the roof of the cat’s mouth. DO NOT TRY TO REMOVE IT. GET YOUR CAT TO A VET IMMEDIATELY.
5. If your cat struggles too much for you to see inside its mouth or if you cannot see or remove the object:
a. Pick your cat up by its hind legs so that it’s hanging upside down.
b. Shake the cat.
c. Slap the cat on the back while you’re shaking it.
This may help to dislodge the object.
6. If your pet is too large or heavy for you to pick up
a. Lay it on its side.
b. Put your palms behind the last rib on both sides of the cat’s abdomen and press your palms together quickly 2-3 times.
c. Repeat rapidly until object is dislodged.
d. Continue trying to dislodge object even if your cat loses consciousness.
7. If your cat loses consciousness, you should also start mouth to nose rescue breathing.
a. Make sure tongue is not blocking airway.
b. Close the cat’s mouth
c. Breath into its nose – one breath every 3 seconds
