World Red Cross Day

In honor of World Red Cross Day, we wish to thank the American Red Cross for their inclusion of pets in their preparedness plans, in their First Aid training courses, and in their disaster relief plans.

As we mentioned earlier last week, the Red Cross offers on site Pet First Aid courses as well as pet first aid apps you can download to your smartphone.

Their web site also offers practical tips on how to assemble a portable emergency kit for your pets as well as a downloadable checklist.

click here for the Red Cross' downloadable checklist (PDF)

This checklist will lead you, step-by-step, through ensuring you're as prepared as you can be for an emergency.

And with a cat like Faraday around the house, we figured we'd better be prepared.

Faraday: I resemble that remark. . . .

Well prepared.

Pet First Aid Awareness

The month of April is Pet First Aid Awareness month and we didn't want it to pass without acknowledging the importance of this.

Having a basic knowledge of first aid might mean the difference in life or death for your 4-legged family member.

Did you know that many Red Cross chapters in the U.S. offer Pet First Aid classes?  Animal Aiders offers the same for those of you in the U.K.  PetTech provides such a course for the folks Down Under, and St. John's Ambulance offers pet first aid courses in many areas of Canada.

There's an 
app for that!

Four companies in particular - the American Red Cross, PVE, PetTech and PetCPR.com - have commissioned apps for Android and iPhone that just might help you save a life.

The American Red Cross' app is called Pet First Aid, and will set you back a mere 99¢.

It's available for both Android and iPhone users.

 



PetCPR.com offers an app, also named Pet First Aid, for both Android and iPhone users.

It's $2.99 for Android users and $3.99 for iTunes peeps.

And the folks Down Under just entered the market this year with an app from Perth Vet Emergency.

Also titled Pet First Aid, this app can be downloaded for free with both platforms: iPhone and Android.

Finally, PetTech's PetSaver app. It's $1.99 in iTunes (although the company's main web site indicated the iTunes price may be going up). It's $4.99 in the Android market. And - good news for you Windows phone users out there! This app is also available for you.

It provides pet CPR, first aid and care information for both cats and  dogs.

Finally, if you're not certain it's an emergency, and you're under a budget, consider PetMD's Symptom Checker.

It's free - again for Android and iPhones.