CPR Saves Dog
It is a rare occasion when CPR is used to save a dog. It is even more unusual when the person administering the CPR is a teenager.
On July 23, 2007, a 9 pound Affenpincher, named “Putter” climbed on a table, fell off and stopped breathing, right in front of his college age owner Amber and her brother Jeff, a recently graduated high school senior.
Jeff immediately started CPR on “Putter” while Amber called her mother, Robin, who is a veterinary technician at Akron Animal Hospital. Since Robin was shopping too far away to help she called her coworkers on her cell phone and had Amber and Jeff meet them at Akron Animal Hospital, which was about 5 minutes away. Jeff continued giving Putter CPR while Amber drove them to Akron Animal Hospital. Their mother’s fellow coworker, a veterinary technician, named Wendy, met them.
“Putter” was still not breathing, so Wendy started giving him oxygen and an IV catheter all while Jeff and Amber continued CPR. At this time the veterinarian, Dr. Corrie arrived. “Putter” was still not breathing, unconscious, his tongue was purple, his pupils were small but responsive, and he had a very slow heart rate. “Putter’ was given emergency doses of epinephrine, fluids and more CPR at which point his heartbeat increased.
Additional medication was given, Oxygen was continued and very gradually ”Putter” started to improve. He started to take some breaths on his own, he responded to sound and his opened his eyes and looked for his owners.
The rest of Putter’s family arrived and mentioned that Putter had had some reactions to bee stings in the past. Since Putter did not appear to have injuries related to a fall, additional treatment was given for insect hypersensitivity. He started to improve very quickly, but he still had a long way to go.
It took “Putter” a few days of intensive care and additional time to recover from some neurological deficits. Today “Putter” is almost 100% normal and is very happy to be with his family.
Pam says ...
On Thursday, Aug 23 at 9:42 AM
Wow kudos to the kids knowing just what to do.. congratulations on a job well done and Putter almost back to normal