Hi everyone! Hope everyone is well and had a good day.

I was just wondering if anyone would like to share some first aid tips,
tricks, and ideas with the rest of us that you have learned throughout
the years of your experience. A friend of mine is babysitting another
friend's fuzzbutt and they got into a little argument and one bit the
other on his right front leg. Some blood was drawn but it was no huge
deal. Luckily, she is a nurse and had some gauze and self adhering wrap
and was able to bandage the poor baby before taking him straight to the
vet. So, if anyone has any tips, tricks, and ideas of what items are
safe for ferrets (and cats and dogs too!) it would be great to share
them with us! I'm sure many of you are in a similar situation that I'm
in - I live in a small town and the nearest emergency vet is an hour
away. I think we all need a few things up our sleeve just in case
something happens. I also think it's helpful to know what to use on a
pet that you have around your house - sometimes, first aid products
sold for pets are pretty much the same as ones made for humans - but
they usually cost a lot more!

For example, a person can go to a feed store and buy a roll of self
adhering wrap for around $2 while the same thing costs $5.39 on
Petco.com.

I think it would be great for everyone to share their knowledge -
especially about such an important topic.

I recently learned how to build a good, hard splint that would work
well for a ferret, kitten or cat:
1. Lay animal on it's side - with the affected leg facing up so that
the animal isn't laying on the leg.
2. Gently but firmly wrap the leg in rolled gauze to make a nice
padding. It should be about a 1/4th of an inch thick unless the animal
is on the smaller side. Just make sure the gauze is thick enough so
that the splint doesn't cause any discomfort.
3. Take 2 popsicle sticks and place them on opposite sides of the leg -
usually one on the front of the leg and one on the back works well.
Depending on the size of the animal, you may have to trim the sticks
or find something smaller.
4. Tape the sticks down with bandage tape (or scotch tape if you don't
have bandage tape handy).
5. Wrap self adhering wrap around the sticks and the gauze. If you
don't have the wrap available, you can use an ace bandage.
6. Animal should be taken to the vet ASAP. Monitor splint to make sure
animal (especially small animals) isn't chewing on the wrappings and
possibly swallowing them.
7. If animal has any type of open wound, make sure to properly bandage
it, disinfect it, and try to stop the bleeding.
8. Splints work best for sprains and pulled muscles. Do not use if the
leg is obviously broken or has an open break (where bone protrudes
through the skin). It's not always best to use splints on back legs as
the back legs have a unique curve and structure to them - by setting
them in a splint, you could do more harm than good.

As for my kitty update, Sprite (the one who was limping) is now acting
fine. We went to the vet yesterday we found out that Sprite had a 104
degree temp -- 3 degrees higher than normal for a kitty. He gave her
a shot of pain medication and some antibiotics. She slept most of
yesterday and didn't move a lot. Today, she's a little spitfire! She
walks on all of her legs fine and runs and jumps. I assume the pain
meds have worn off, they were given yesterday at 1:30 pm and I've never
heard of pain meds lasting this long. So I'm not worried about her
feeling too good because of the pain meds and overextending herself.
Both kitties seem to be doing fine - they eat, drink, play, and toilet.

Thanks to everyone again for your advice - especially when Pixie
wouldn't eat. Thanks everyone!

[Posted in FML 6646]