[nagdu] First CPR Guidelines for Cats and Dogs Released

Steven Johnson blinddog3 at charter.net
Thu Jun 14 03:20:28 UTC 2012


By Roxanne Palmer: Subscribe to Roxanne's RSS feed

June 11, 2012 9:08 AM EDT



If your dog has a heart attack and collapses, what should you do?
 
For years, different veterinarians may have offered different pieces of
advice -- but now veterinary medicine researchers from the University of
Pennsylvania and Cornell University have produced the first set of
evidence-based guidelines for resuscitating dogs and cats with stopped
hearts.


University of Pennsylvania researcher Manuel Boller and his colleagues
looked at decades of peer-reviewed data and determined that the proper rate
for chest compressions on dogs and cats is between 100 and 120 per minute.
That's the same rhythm recommended for humans. It also happens to align to
the 103-bpm Bee Gees classic disco hit "Stayin' Alive," which studies have
shown aids medical students in performing chest compressions. 


The guidelines, while primarily for veterinarians, are "very translatable to
pet owners and bystanders," Boller said in a phone interview.
 
Of course, performing chest compressions on a Pekingese is very different
from doing so on a full-grown person, or even on a Great Dane.

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For most dogs, you can apply chest compressions to the widest part of the
chest while the animal lies on its side. Credit: Journal of Veterinary
Emergency and Critical Care.
 
For most dogs, chest compressions can be performed on the widest part of the
chest while the animal's lying on its side. But in some breeds like
greyhounds with more keel-shaped chests, the guidelines recommend pushing
down closer to the dog's armpit, directly over the heart. Barrel-chested
dogs like English bulldogs can be laid on their back and compressed on the
sternum, like people.
 
Smaller cats and dogs can either be chest-compressed with one hand wrapped
around the sternum, encircling the heart or two-handed on the ribs.
 

For cats and small dogs, you can use one hand wrapped around the sternum to
try and restart the heart. Credit: Journal of Veterinary Emergency and
Critical Care.
 
One fundamental difference between human patients and animal patients is
that dogs and cats have much lower rates of coronary heart disease, the most
common cause for cardiac arrest in people.
 
"Sudden cardiac arrest in dogs is therefore not as common as in people and
may be more comparable to what occurs in young athletes with structural
abnormalities of the heart muscle or a defect in the electrical circuitry,"
Boller said in an email.
 
Pets can also suffer a cardiac arrest due to difficulties with breathing or
a severe illness that also affects the heart.
 
Boller says it's gratifying to have these standards, especially since the
original experiments on animals used in their review were instrumental in
developing CPR guidelines for people.
 
"Now we can translate that benefit back to their own kind," he says.
 
SOURCE: Journal of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care 22. Reassessment
Campaign on Veterinary Resuscitation: Evidence and Knowledge Gap Analysis on
Veterinary CPR.

To report problems or to leave feedback about this article, e-mail:
r.palmer at ibtimes.com
To contact the editor, e-mail: editor at ibtimes.com



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