Do you know how to act in case your dog chokes? Or if you have a cat, if something or food gets stuck in its throat and doesn’t let it breathe? Without the intention of unleashing panic, a choking, as happens to us, can be very dangerous , so much so that it can end the life of the pet by suffocating it. Once we know the seriousness of the matter and take into account that it is something that can happen at the most unexpected moment, it is essential to know how to proceed.
The ideal would be to have a veterinarian by our side and for him, who is the expert, to take care of our pet. However, the reality is usually very different and we will find an animal that has choked, begins to suffocate and needs help now , it cannot wait to get to the clinic.
Well, even if it costs, you have to stay calm . To begin, we will take the dog or the cat in a wheelbarrow : by its hind legs and head down, so that the force of gravity does its work and expels what has been blocked in the airways. If there is luck, the animal will expel it. If not, you have to go to the next level: the Heimlich maneuver .
The Heimlich maneuver in dogs and cats is very similar to that done to a person. We will hug the animal below the ribs, just where the stomach begins and we will press with our fist (the other hand hugs the fist) towards the animal’s head. It will do three to five compressions, checking if with less it manages to expel the stuck object.
It is not advisable to open the animal’s mouth to remove what is choking with your hand. As the veterinarian Carlos Rodríguez points out, there is a risk of pushing the object lower and that the pet also bites us with force.
It is very important that, even if we get the animal to expel the stuck object, we take it immediately to the veterinary clinic. It is essential that the expert check that there are no parts of the object lodged in the animal’s respiratory tract and that we have not caused any internal injury after performing the Heimlich maneuver.
We give you more important information in the photo gallery below.
