How To Create a Pet First Aid Kit At Home

When you’re a pet owner, it’s always a good idea to prepare for potential injuries or accidents. Even though you certainly hope nothing like this will ever happen to your pet, it’s better to be ready just in case. One great way to do this is to make a pet first aid kit.

In the article below, you’ll find information about how to put together a pet first aid kit. Follow this quick and easy guide to put together a useful first aid kit you can utilize if anything happens to injure your pet. If you have any questions, call Parkway Veterinary Emergency Clinic in Lakeland at (863) 665-3199.

Absorbent Items

You can’t put an adhesive bandage on a pet, but you can use absorbent items to clean up small amounts of blood as needed. Add gauze strips or pads and adhesive tape to your first aid kit so you can bandage up your pet’s injuries as needed.

Cotton balls are also important to add to a pet first aid kit. You can use them to clean up injuries and can also use them to apply ointments and medications to the injuries if needed.

Tweezers and Scissors

Tweezers are useful for removing ticks from a pet, and they can also be used to get splinters and other sharp objects out from under your pet’s skin. There may be other situations in which you need to use tweezers for your pet as well, so keep a clean pair in the pet first aid kit.

Scissors with a blunt end can be used to cut gauze or adhesive tape as needed. You should not be using the scissors on your pet, but you may need them for treatment and management options. Choosing blunt end scissors can prevent you from accidentally cutting your pet.

Antibiotic Ointment and Hydrogen Peroxide

Antibiotic ointment is safe to put on pets as long as you can prevent them from licking it off until it has dried a bit. Keep a bottle specifically for your pet in the first aid kit, separate from the bottle you may use for the humans in your household.

Hydrogen peroxide can be used to induce vomiting in animals who have ingested something toxic. This should never be done unless your vet or poison control tells you to do so, however. Even so, it’s important to keep some hydrogen peroxide on hand just in case this situation arises.

Pet-Safe Soap

If your pet is injured, you’ll need to clean the injury before you can apply any treatments. Therefore, it’s important to keep some pet-safe soap on hand for these times. This soap should be gentler than the soap you might use for washing or bathing your pet, and it should be fragrance-free.

Dawn dish soap is a great choice for this purpose, but other liquid dish soaps can be used as well. Just make sure to choose one that isn’t very harsh and does not have any unnecessary added ingredients. This way, you won’t risk further aggravating the injury your pet has received.

Styptic Powder

Styptic powder is a type of powder usually made from a mineral known as alum. This powder can help blood clot and can reduce or stop bleeding from an injury altogether. The presence of styptic powder can cause blood vessels to contract. Therefore, it’s a very useful item to have on hand when you’ve got a pet.

Most of the time, styptic powder is used to help blood clot when you have accidentally cut your dog’s toenail down to the quick. However, it can be used for other injuries as well. Just make sure the injury isn’t very deep before you apply styptic powder.

Vet Information

Last but not least, keep your vet’s contact information in the first aid kit for your pet. Write down the name of your vet as well as the phone number, and be sure to add information about the emergency vet you will use in case of emergencies as well.

By making sure to add this information to your pet’s first aid kit, you can make it easy to find in case something goes wrong with your pet. You don’t want to be scrambling to search a phone number in the middle of a crisis with your pet.

Now that you’ve learned how to put together a first aid kid for your pet, you can start assembling everything you need right away. Having a first aid kit within easy access ensures you can respond quickly to pet injuries and accidents, and a quick response can help you help your pet recover well.

If your pet’s injury or accident is a serious one or if you can’t tell the extent of the damage, don’t try to treat the problem at home. Instead, take your pet to the emergency vet or to your regular vet if possible. If you need urgent pet care, call us at (863) 665-3199.