Can you deal with pet seizures?

Pets, like people, have a much greater chance of surviving a life-threatening emergency if the proper first aid is administered right away.

Being prepared for a pet emergency will increase your chances of responding calmly and quickly and could save your pet's life.

For example, what if you're away at work and your house catches on fire?

"It's a good idea to pick up several stickers from your veterinarian or local fire department to place on your windows in case of a fire, letting the firefighters know to rescue your dog or cat as well," says veterinarian Keven Gulikers, an internal medicine specialist in Mesa, Ariz.

Learning basic pet first aid is one more way to help ensure that your pet will be a part of your family for many years to come. So just how do you perform first aid on a pet?

Here are tips to help you get started:

• Traumatic injuries: Always approach an injured pet carefully, as animals in pain may reflexively bite or scratch. Keep your pet restrained and warm by wrapping a large towel around her. For dogs, use a muzzle if available or make a muzzle out of nylons, a large sock or a leash to prevent bites. Speak in a gentle voice to help calm her down. Move more severely injured animals carefully using a blanket or board as a makeshift stretcher.

• Bleeding: Have someone help restrain your pet and/or apply a muzzle. Apply direct, firm pressure to bleeding wounds. A bandage may not apply enough pressure to stop the bleeding, especially if a blood vessel was injured, but might help decrease the amount of blood lost.

• Poisoning: Do not induce vomiting unless your veterinarian recommends it. If you know what toxin your pet ingested, bring the toxin along with the container with you to the pet hospital to help the veterinarian determine treatment. If your animal ingested a human medication, always bring in the pill vial that contains the name of the medication and the strength. Keep the number of your local veterinary emergency clinic and human poison center near your phone. While many human poison centers are happy to answer questions about pets, one of the best resources is the ASPCA Animal Poison Control (www.aspca.org/apcc).

• Seizures: Although not painful to the pet, seizures are scary to observe. If you see your pet lose consciousness and begin to convulse, the only reason to touch the pet is if there is danger of falling or the animal is banging its head against a wall. Pets cannot swallow their tongue, so don't put your hand in a clamping mouth! Once the pet is in a safe place, begin to time the seizure. Most last one to three minutes. Before taking the pet to the vet, do a search to determine if the pet might have eaten anything unusual. If so, bring the material and the pet the next business day. If the seizures continue for more than 10 minutes (cumulatively), make a beeline to the emergency hospital.