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Resuscitation.

S

Sooz

Wise Old Thumper
A bit of an odd one and I have only been in the position where it would have been an option once but is it possible to 'manually' resuscitate a rabbit which has either stopped breathing or has stopped breathing and has no pulse, in a first aid scenario?

( i.e. without the aid of veterinary drugs such as adrenalin or electric heart massage type techniques.)
 
Well Im a human nurse, i cant see its much different, the answer is no, if the heart stopped then you cant bring them beck through chest compressions alone, you can only maintain life until further aid is available.
 
nursecroft said:
Well Im a human nurse, i cant see its much different, the answer is no, if the heart stopped then you cant bring them beck through chest compressions alone, you can only maintain life until further aid is available.
Click to expand...

But you could keep them 'going' until someone with the right drugs, equiptment arrived....in theory?

What if just breathing had stopped?
 
would imagine as in humans you can keep them "going" including breathing for them if covered nose and breathed into mouth or over nose and kept mouth closed, but wud need to be done as if it was a human baby ie very gently, also i think this is a hard one as it depends on why the rabbit has come to this point is it fair to keep trying? also think as with humans there is a very very very very slim chance of it working and ribs can and do get broken and it may be best not to on a rabbit? dont know tho as have never been in that position.
 
Yes you can maintain life until help arrives definetely if they are having a respiratory arrest, you would still need intervention from a vet, you are more likely to suceed if they have only stopped breathing. The quicker the vet gets to you the better but yes it would def give the bun a fighting chance :)
 
Bunlover this is totally hypothetical, it just struck me today that I had never even considered trying to resuscitate Cassius and yet had it been a person it would have been an instinctive response.

I dont know if it would have been right to bring him back or not....I just wondered if it was a possibility, as we had no time to get him to the vets the way he went.

I wondered if I could have brought him some borrowed time.
 
aww sooz i wouldnt torment yourself with the what ifs, its hard to keep a bunny going long enough for help to be any good. However a broken rib is better than a dead bunny, bunnylover is right you'd have to use the same priniciple as resuscitating a baby, 2 fingers for compressions. If you wanted to learn the basics im sure your vet would oblige?
 
I would like to think that this was something we could look into and see if it was possible. Particularly as bunnies are prone to shock and as this can kill them, would it be poss to resuscitate...?
 
If they just stopped breathing eg choked then yep but I think if the hearts stopped then it probably wouldn't do much good even once you reached the vets.

Tamsin
 
I think its always worth a try, like tamsin said you're more likely to succeed if its just a respiratory arrest. Def worth talking to yuor vet about :)
 
Don't mean to sound bad but at the end of the day if you are trying to rescusitate the bunny you have nothing to lose by trying.I have heard of cats and dogs getting rescusitated and seen it on the telly getting done.Please excuse my spelling!!:wave:
 
skeleton said:
Don't mean to sound bad but at the end of the day if you are trying to rescusitate the bunny you have nothing to lose by trying.I have heard of cats and dogs getting rescusitated and seen it on the telly getting done.Please excuse my spelling!!:wave:
Click to expand...

Thats what I thought and a broken rib is better than a dead bunny....as long as it dosnt perforate anything vital.

I'll ask Anneke and Anita for their opinions when I next see them.

Thanks for your input :)
 
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