April is Pet Safety Month. This just happens to coincide with the ASPCA’s birthday and we are celebrating in a big way, sharing tips and tricks that could save your pet’s life.
Accidents are the number one cause of death in dogs and cats between the age of three and senior. Knowing what to do and doing it immediately can be the difference between your pet making it or not.
Each day in the month of April, Brooklyn Bark will be sharing a life-saving tip for pet owners. We’ll be blogging our major tips such as today’s recommendation to set up a page in your smartphone with emergency numbers and info. Thru the rest of each week, we’ll be sharing equally important but shorter tips via Social Media.
Many of these tips will come from Brooklyn Bark’s award-winning CPR/first certification class, which we give in-house and is taken by all our employees and many of our clients and friends. This class was featured about a month ago on national TV. https://youtu.be/L0e0O3xLkAM .
Other tips will come from safety training Brooklyn Bark gives all our Care Associates before they are allowed leash-in-hand. And other tips are from suggestions shared by colleagues, often veterinarians or vet techs who when they see something say something.
So collect all 30 Safety Tips in April. We will be posting them on our Facebook page, Tweeting them and Instagramming them. Follow us at @brooklynbark to be sure you get them all. Please share and retweet, do what you can to let other pet owners know that they, too, can save their pup or kitty’s life in an emergency.
PET SAFETY MONTH - Tip #1
In an emergency, speed is of the essence. You didn’t need me to tell you that. So now, while everything is quiet and calm, take a minute to make a page on your smartphone devoted to your pet. Enter your pet’s name, breed, date of birth and any special information that might be important in emergency such as that your pet is diabetic or what meds they take.
Also, enter your family vet and his/her contact information and select one or more emergency vets. Emergency vets cover 24/7/365 but are most vital during the hours your family vet is closed. And when do emergencies tend to happen? When your family vet is closed because that is when you are home and interacting with your pets.
In Brooklyn, we have three excellent emergency vets. Make your selection from the list below. now when you can think quietly. Talk to your family vet, friends who have had experience, pick the closest or use whatever criteria you choose. Do it now and put the info in your smartphone and make it easy to access.
VERG North:
196 4th Avenue, Brooklyn 11217
718-522-9400
VERG South
2220 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn 11234
718-667-6700
BLUE PEARL
32 4th Avenue, Brooklyn 11217
718-596-0099
You should also have the phone number of Poison Control on this page: 888- 426-4435
We will be talking about poisoning later but if your animal gets into something toxic, do not waste time transporting to your vet. Call Poison Control (a service of the ASPCA) and let them talk you through.
You should have all your information on one page in your smartphone for a variety of reasons. First, so you don’t have to *think* in an emergency. Everything is laid out for you.
Second, you can hand your phone to a friend with this page open and they can contact your vet, emergency vet or poison control while you tend to your pet.
Third, they can call the vet as you are coming. Actually, someone should call the vet when a true emergency is on the way. Two things happen if you do that.
First, if it’s a serious emergency, the staff will triage you right in. No time wasted at the front desk explaining and giving payment info.
Second, the vet will be prepared for the type of emergency with the correct equipment necessary. A pup coming in who is hemorrhaging from a dog fight bite will be met with a different crash cart than one having seizures.
So set up your smartphone to save your pup, kitty or other pet’s life in case of emergency. Don’t procrastinate. And then follow Brooklyn Bark on the social media of your choice each day in April to collect a new tip each day during Pet Safety Month and then share.
May you never need them. But be prepared because you never know.
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