Cat drowning:

Ah, your curious little cat. While you adore your feline you may notice she’s quite agile. Whether it’s playing with yarn in the house or its willingness to climb up a tree, one thing’s for certain: she may be all over the place.

When it comes to lakes or swimming pools, cat drowning is unfortunately a sad fact of life. While the majority of cats are timid around water, in certain instances a cat will simply fall into a pool of water.

The first rule of thumb in cat drowning is to rescue the cat. Start by wrapping the cat in a towel and keep the cat sheltered until help arrives. However, if your cat is unconscious, the water may be trapped in the lungs. It’s important to try to get water out of the lungs, one way is to ensure the tongue is not in the way. Next, the technician (assuming by now you’ve called to get additional rescue help), will attempt to seek a heartbeat and will start CPR. In the best case scenario of cat drowning, the heart will indeed beat and the cat will breathe. However, if the heart beats and cat does not come up for air, it’s important to give the cat artificial breathing. The cat must be taken immediately to the veterinarian. There may be hidden ailments which may not surface until hours after the initial cat drowning incident.

Plus, there could be the possibility of shock. The cat may have pale or white gums and may be taking quick breaths. The pulse may be weak or on the contrary, it may be very intense. The cat may appear to be very cold and weak.

In another instance of cat drowning, the cat may have been enticed by the small of fishing. To the hungry cat, the smell of fish may seem delicious and sadly your cat may inhale a fishhook and it may get lodged in the lip or in its paw. This could occur either in water or out of water. It’s important to rush to the veterinarian immediately in this instance of cat drowning with fishhook injuries. The cat may become to scared to be handled and there could even be more than one fishhook.

In this instance, it’s important to have first aid immediately available with incidents such as cat drowning and fishhook incidents. Try wrapping the cat up in a blanket and leave the area of lip exposed where the fishhook is stuck. If the sharp end of the hook is visible, cut it with tweezers and extract it from where it has penetrated the cat. The wound should be completely cleaned and the cat should immediately be taken to the vet. The vet will also want to do x-rays to try to see if your cat swallowed other fishhooks.

When it comes to cat drowning or incidents such as this, when in doubt do not touch. For instance if a fish line is pulled from the mouth of the cat it could result in very serious wounds.