Emergency help for cat diseases and injuries.
The life of a domestic cat is full of comfort, warmth and care on the part of the owner and seemingly cloudless, but at the same time the existence of a predator (albeit domestic) in close proximity to a person creates many situations associated with a risk to the health of the cat. It should be remembered that only a specialist can fight with most cat diseases. A veterinarian you trust will be able to help the animal in trouble and prevent the development of tragic consequences.
How to help a pet before the visit to the vet?
What can the owner of the animal to do before the visit to the veterinary specialist?
Perhaps all the diseases to which your cat is prone can be divided into infectious (including parasitic) diseases, various internal non-communicable diseases and, finally, diseases caused by external factors.
Prevention of infectious diseases is a regular vaccination. If the animal is still sick with a bacterial or viral infection, then perhaps the most correct thing that the owner can do is to ensure the animal’s safety and rest, measure the temperature, record the results and immediately contact the veterinary clinic. Self-treatment is totally unacceptable.
Internal non-communicable diseases are usually not easy to identify and treat, so the main thing for the owner is to monitor the objective indicators of cat health during regular diagnostic examinations and annual visits to the veterinarian.
Finally, sometimes the cat may be poisoned or injured. However, most of these cases can be prevented by taking care of the safety of your home in advance. Remove all small objects from the floor, get rid of dangerous plants, install mosquito nets on the windows and be careful when closing the doors.
It is necessary to immediately make a reservation –– it is much easier to prevent the disease than to cure it, so always be attentive to the objects and situations that are potentially dangerous for the cat.
What problems can you encounter?
Most often, cats suffer from thermal burns. To protect the pet from damage, you should think in advance how to limit its access to heating appliances. Enclose the central heating batteries with special screens and isolate the cat from boiling water, hot oil and hot surfaces of the cooker.
If the cat still burned, take the pet in his arms, calm him down and carefully inspect the area of the burn. Spray the affected skin with panthenol and try to dress up. Do not let the cat lick the burned area, avoid contact of the affected skin with dirty surfaces. After treating the burn, contact your veterinarian immediately. If the burn has a chemical nature, as a rule, it is necessary to remove the remnants of the substance from the wound surface very carefully and in no case should it be loosened.
The second problem is poisoning. Cats can come across inedible and even life-threatening chemicals (for example, household chemicals). Even if the pet does not eat the harmful substances themselves, it can stain their fur and swallow them later, while “washing”. Symptoms of poisoning are obvious: apathy, lethargy, decreased temperature, repeated vomiting, diarrhea. When such symptoms are found, the cat should be starved, leaving only water. Try to feed your pet with any sorbent (for example, activated carbon) and contact your veterinarian as soon as possible.
In addition, your pet may get hurt. If he got hurt while playing or hunting, do not panic. Take it in your arms and calm down, inspect the wound. If the wound is shallow and does not bleed much, treat it with a disinfecting solution (hydrogen peroxide, chlorhexidine), re-spin it if possible and consult your veterinarian. But remember that for the treatment of wounds should not use iodine, brilliant green and other alcohol-containing solutions – they can cause burn wounds and aggravate the situation. If you find heavy bleeding, apply a tight bandage (for this it is most convenient to use self-locking elastic bandages) and immediately take the cat to the veterinary clinic!
Most often, such injuries are the result of pinching limbs by the doors or inattention of the owners. However, sometimes they can be a consequence of a fall from a height. If the cat received a fracture, having fallen from a slight height, then in addition to treating the effects of the fracture, the veterinarian may suspect a hormonal disease leading to bone fragility, and offer to pass the necessary tests. When a cat falls from a significant height, even if at first glance everything is in order, you should definitely contact a veterinary clinic. Only in the clinic there will be an opportunity to comprehensively assess the condition of the animal and to prevent the consequences of the injury.
If you notice that the cat is lame, or is injured in front of you, do not try to put on a fixing band yourself – without proper anesthesia, you only harm. If the injury is accompanied by damage to the skin, treat the wound.
