Assembling a First Aid Kit for Your Cats
Lots of people have emergency preparedness kits of one kind or another, and even more have a first aid kit safely located in the home as well. If you are someone who owns cats, particularly if those cats are allowed both indoors and outdoors, it is a good idea to have a first aid kit for the cats too.
What should be contained in a basic kit? It is important to differentiate between the everyday supplies you use for the cats in the household, and the emergency supplies required for an unusual event. For one thing, you will want a kit that is closed tightly to prevent spilling of any kind. You will also want the emergency phone number for the regular veterinarian on the outside of the case, along with the number to the poison control center and an emergency veterinarian clinic if your vet doesn’t have any afterhours services.
Inside the kit should be some regularly updated paperwork on each cat in the house, including any vaccinations records, notes on allergies or conditions, and the proof of their rabies vaccine. This is to provide the owner with easy to read materials should some sort of emergency situation develop and a file folder full of medical records is unavailable.
The kit should then have the necessary supplies to treat some of the most common injuries, but it must also have a small handbook illustrating basic first aid techniques for cats. This would include how to dress a wound, safely restrain an injured animal, and many other emergency treatments.
Because the owner is only performing fundamental treatments it is understood that the kit is going to contain materials geared at helping and comforting the animal while on the way to emergency treatment. The kit must include:
A pillowcase, towel, or method for confining and restraining an injured cat,
A rectal thermometer (the cat’s temperature should not fall below 100? F, or rise above 103? F;
Tweezers, needle-nosed pliers, and scissors;
Gauze and bandages;
Pet-safe antiseptic sprays or lotions;
An ice pack;
Gloves;
Various tapes, swabs, and pads for cleaning and dressing a wound;
Syringes or eye droppers;
A small penlight or flashlight;
Splints of some kind (popsicle sticks are a good choice);
Antibacterial soap, hydrogen peroxide, a sterile saline flush such as human eye wash, and isopropyl alcohol; and
Extra towels.
