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Cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR is used in patients who have stopped breathing and their heart has stopped beating which is known as cardiopulmonary arrest. Without the heart pumping oxygenated blood throughout the body, the brain and other tissues can suffer damage within just a couple of minutes. Now two of the most important components of CPR are giving rescue breaths and applying external chest compressions in an effort to pump the heart until it can start beating again on its own. Without intervention, a patient who has suffered cardiopulmonary arrest will almost certainly pass away. Now success rates for CPR are fairly well studied in people, but not as well studied in veterinary medicine. Generally, dogs and cats that need CPR will only survive about ten percent of the time. This means that CPR will most often be unsuccessful. However, the sooner you can initiate CPR efforts, you might be able to increase the chances of a good outcome. Now CPR should only be performed in pets that have suffered cardiopulmonary arrest so it's important that you're able to recognize the signs. There are three conditions which must be met. First, your pet will lose consciousness meaning he'll no longer be responsive to you. Second, your pet will stop breathing or stop breathing normally. Now this can be tricky as some pets will just stop breathing completely while others will continue to take agonal or gasping breaths. The third condition is loss of a pulse. Now this one can also be tough as you don't want to spend more than ten to 15 seconds looking for a pulse. If you cannot find your pet's pulse quickly and the first two conditions are met, CPR efforts should be started right away. There's actually very little risk of causing harm if CPR is performed in a patient who doesn't need it. The far greater risk is in delaying CPR efforts for a pet who might need it. There are no clear guidelines for how long CPR efforts should be continued before stopping. Logically the longer your pet goes without good blood flow, the higher the chances of a poor outcome. Some guidelines recommend 20 minutes of CPR and then stopping if it's not successful. While there are reports of people and pets surviving prolonged CPR efforts, in general, dogs and cats that survive CPR were revived within about ten minutes or less.
In this lesson, we'll be introducing you to pet CPR for your dog or cat, including knowing when to begin providing CPR efforts (as three conditions must be met), along with outcome rates, and how you'll know when it's time to stop.
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (also known as CPR) is used in patients who have stopped breathing and whose hearts have also stopped beating. When this happens, that person or pet will now be in cardiopulmonary arrest.
Pro Tip #1: When the heart fails to pump oxygenated blood throughout the body, the brain and other important tissues can suffer damage after just a couple of minutes. Therefore, it's really important for you to understand the time component that is involved with providing CPR.
CPR consists of two main components:
The goal of CPR is to pump the heart manually, which will circulate that oxygenated blood, until the heart begins to beat on its own. Without this vital intervention, a patient or a pet who suffers from cardiopulmonary arrest will almost certainly die.
Success rates of CPR performed on people have been fairly well studied, but this isn't necessarily so when it comes to success rates in veterinary medicine. However, generally, dogs and cats who require CPR will survive around 10 percent of the time.
Pro Tip #2: Yes, that statistic is a bit gloomy, but it's important for you to know that CPR is much more likely to fail than succeed. However, the sooner you can initiate CPR efforts, the more likely that your pet will have a good outcome. It's also important to know that without those CPR efforts, that good outcome practically falls to zero percent, which is why medical professionals teach that at that point, the patient is already dead; therefore, it's better to do something than nothing.
CPR should only be performed on pets who have actually suffered cardiopulmonary arrest. It's important that you're able to recognize the signs, or the three conditions that must be met.
1. Your pet will lose consciousness, meaning he will no longer be able to respond to you.2. Your pet will stop breathing or stop breathing normally.
Pro Tip #3: Determining this can be tricky. Some pets will stop showing any signs of normal breathing, while others will continue what we call agonal or gasping breathing. This is not considered normal breathing, and it's important that you understand the difference.
3. Your pet will have no pulse rate. This also can be difficult to assess for, particularly in an emergency. However, remember how vital the time component is. You should only spend 10 to 15 seconds looking for a pulse before moving on to CPR.
If you cannot find a pulse for your pet quickly and the first two conditions are met, begin CPR efforts immediately. There is little risk that you'll cause harm if you perform CPR on a patient or pet who doesn't need it.
Warning: There is a far greater risk of delaying CPR efforts for a pet who really needs it.
There aren't really any clear guidelines for how long CPR efforts should continue before you decide to stop. Logically speaking, the longer your pet goes without proper blood flow, the higher his chances of a poor outcome.
Some guidelines recommend performing CPR for at least 20 minutes, then stopping at that point if you are not successful. Having said that, there have been plenty of reports involving people and pets who have survived prolonged CPR efforts. One instance in which this is sometimes the case, is for near drowning incidents in cold or icy waters.
However, in general, dogs and cats that typically survive CPR efforts were revived after around 10 minutes or less on average.