Pet first aid: what should be in your home kit
A simple list of 12 items that will help save your pet in the first minutes — from fainting and wounds to poisoning.
Most critical situations with pets are resolved in the first 5–15 minutes. If you don’t have a basic kit on hand, you’ll waste those minutes driving to a store while the animal suffers. This article is a short checklist of what should be at home right now.
TipBuild the kit today, not “when you need it.” In Tashkent everything below is sold at any regular human pharmacy.
Minimum kit
- Sterile gauze pads — to stop bleeding. 10–20 in a sealed pack.
- Elastic bandage 5 cm and 10 cm — wound dressing, splints for fractures.
- Chlorhexidine 0.05% — non-stinging antiseptic, safe on mucous membranes. Don’t use iodine or “zelyonka” on animals.
- Hydrogen peroxide 3% — emetic for poisoning (only when the vet tells you over the phone).
- Activated charcoal powder — 1 gram per 1 kg of body weight for poisoning.
- 5 ml and 10 ml syringes, no needles — for dosing water or medicine.
- Glucometer (a human one works) — diabetic and old animals can drop into hypo-crisis.
- Digital thermometer — normal range: dog 37.5–39°C, cat 38–39.5°C.
- Muzzle or soft cloth wrap — even a calm animal in pain can bite its owner.
- Saline heat pad — for shock and hypothermia (never electric, it can burn).
- Nitrile gloves — protection from parasites and blood.
- Vet clinic phone number on the fridge — a familiar voice calms panic.
Three situations where a kit saves a life
1. Bleeding from a wound
Press with gauze, wrap a bandage — not too tight. If blood soaks through in 2 minutes, add a layer without removing the old one. Drive to the vet.
2. Poisoning
If the pet ate chocolate, raisins, onion, xylitol (gum), or pills — call the vet first. Without their go-ahead, do NOT induce vomiting: with alkali or petroleum poisoning the vomit burns the esophagus a second time.
DangerousNever give paracetamol, ibuprofen, or aspirin “the way we take them.” These are lethal for cats and toxic for dogs.
3. Heatstroke
Signs: tongue lolling, fast breathing, hot nose. Wet the fur with cool but NOT ice-cold water, move to shade, offer cool water to drink. Drive to the clinic — internal organs overheat within 15 minutes.
Don’t treat serious cases yourself. This kit is the bridge between “something happened” and “you’re at the vet”, not a replacement for the vet.