Saving a Drowning Pitbull (CPR Steps!)

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Dog lover saves drowning pit bull with CPR

She wasn’t going to let a drowning dog die.

A dog lover saved an aging pit bull who was pulled from Brooklyn’s Prospect Park Lake Thursday — by administering “mouth-to-snout" resuscitation on the soggy pooch.

“She was soaking wet. She smelled like a wet dog, and was dirty from being pulled from the water and onto the dirt. Her nose was wet and cold, " Lower East Side resident Holly DeRito told The Post Friday.

“All I was doing was thinking that if this was my dog, imagine how bad I would feel. I just needed to get some life into her, because my dogs are my life, they’re my family."

DeRito, 46, said the ordeal began when she was at the green space with her Chihuahuas, Angelina and Ludwig, and people began screaming in panic.

“I heard somebody say, ‘Call 911!’ and saw someone pulling this dog out of the water and saying, ‘She’s not breathing!’ " she recalled. “The owners were hysterical and saying, ‘No, no, no, please, no!’ “

DeRito sprang into action after the man who rescued the canine — a 12-year-old female named Bella — used a Heimlich maneuver to pump out its lungs.

“She was completely limp, completely unresponsive, " DeRito said. “He did compressions and I started breathing into her nose — cupping the mouth shut and breathing into the nostrils."

The dog’s tongue “was turning blue" and “I was starting to think she wasn’t going to make it, " said DeRito, who runs a nonprofit dog-fostering operation called Waggytail Rescue.

As the rescuers frantically performed canine CPR, someone called 911 but was told, “This isn’t emergency. Call 311, " DeRito said.

“I knew it was up to us to save her, " she said.

“I started putting my hand to her mouth and listen to see if she was breathing, and finally she took a little breath and coughed a little bit and started breathing."

Essential First Aid: CPR

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation is the most important first aid technique that every pet owner should be comfortable with. Chances are that you will never have to use it, but it will save your pet’s life if a ball is lodged in his airway

There are some very basic steps:

1. Assess responsiveness
2. Establish a patent airway
3. Perform rescue breathing
4. Cardiac massage – establishing circulation

STEP 1: RESPONSIVENESS

The first step is making sure that your pet is truly unresponsive.

1. CHECK his breathing by placing your hand in front of his mouth and nose.
   
2. CHECK for his heartbeat by placing your ear against the left side of his chest – this is the area where his left elbow touches his chest, immediately behind his left armpit.

STEP 2: AIRWAY

The second step in CPR is obtaining a patent airway.

1. PULL the tongue out of your pet’s mouth, but be careful to not get bitten.
2. STRAIGHTEN the neck by moving the head to be in line with the neck. DO NOT HYPEREXTEND IN CASES OF NECK TRAUMA.
3. PERFORM two rescue breaths, by closing the mouth and performing mouth to nose ventilations. IF they continue, then proceed to STEP 3, BREATHING.
4. If there are no breaths, then look into the mouth.
5. VISIBLY inspect the mouth and look down the throat for a foreign body. If you see something, reach into the airway and remove it.
6. IF the airway is still not open, attempt HEIMLICH (shown in following steps).
7. TURN your pet upside down, with back against your chest.
8. WITH both arms, give sharp thrusts to the abdomen.
9. AFTER 5 thrusts, stop and check to see if the object is visible in the airway. If so remove it and give 2 mouth-to-nose rescue breaths. If the breaths do not go in, repeat HEIMLICH.

STEP 3: BREATHING

After achieving a patent airway, perform RESCUE BREATHING.

1. CLOSE your pet’s mouth and breathe directly into his nose until his chest expands. If the chest does not expand then go back to STEP 2 – AIRWAY.
2. VENTILATE at 8 breaths per minute. 2 BREATHS every 15 seconds.
3. PROCEED to STEP 4 – CIRCULATION

STEP 4: CIRCULATION

1. ENSURE there are no major points of bleeding. Control as necessary.
2. GENTLY lay your pet on his right side.
3. LOCATE the heart, which is found on the lower half of the chest on the left side, behind the elbow of the front left leg. Place one hand below the heart to support the chest; place the other hand over the heart.
4. COMPRESS the chest 30 times followed by 2 rescue breaths. 4 compressions every 2 seconds. Compress the chest 1/2 inch for small pets and 1 1/2 inches for large pets.
5. EVERY 30 times follow up with 2 rescue breaths.

Continue heart massage compressions and the rescue breathing until you hear a heartbeat and feel regular breathing.

Once your pet is breathing and his heart is beating, call your veterinarian immediately.

P.S. It was awesome to read about that story where bystanders performed CPR and saved a dog’s life. I have had to perform CPR in veterinary practice- you really should practice this because in an emergency there is no time. Fortunately it is not complicated, and I believe most pet parents can do this.

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