Dealing with an emergency (while waiting for the vet)

When an emergency strikes, things can feel scary. First things first, get the vet on the way. But while waiting for the vet to arrive, here’s a few easy steps you can take to give your patient the best chance possible, and hopefully keep them a little more comfortable.

Keep calm

Most of our grazing animals, including chickens, are prey animals. That means they are hardwired to run from a predator. Even the most tame and loved of sheep, goats, alpacas, cattle and horses, will have this hardwiring, which can kick in even stronger when hurt and vulnerable.

If your animal has just hurt themselves, be sure to approach them, move or handle them, with the utmost of caution, both for them and yourself. A hurt animal will often lash out and struggle, hurting you and themselves further in the process.

Do your best to keep your patient as calm and relaxed as possible, while their body is under the extra pressure of pain or injury. In particularly vulnerable species such as alpacas or birds, even gentle handling may push them over the edge into heart failure. Try to avoid speaking loudly, or even singing. A low, deep, quiet voice, with drawn out vowels is scientifically shown to be the most calming for many animals. If completely unused to handling, avoid making any sound, using only quiet, gentle motions to get the job done.

Secure the patient

If well enough to stand and move (take your vet's advice on this), then move him to the yards very slowly. Many struggling animals will be struggling for air, so let them take their time as much as they need.

If the patient is down and allows you to walk up to it, try to gently wrap a long rope around his neck and lie the rope out some distance from the animal. Many owners will be able to walk up to an injured pet sheep or goat, for example, but when the vet arrives (who the animal does not recognize), the patient jumps up and runs away. This makes for unnecessary additional stress for the patient.

Note this advice is not usually given for a large animal such as a cow who is not used to being handled, or a hysterical horse with an unconfident handler. Read the room, check what your vet requires, but assess the animal and know your own limitations.

Protect from others

Different species react differently to a friend in pain. Sheep are intensely social and bond closely to others in the flock, often taking great comfort from their friends if they are in pain. Try to move sheep as a group and keep them near their friends. Cattle, on the other hand, are more hierarchical and will often try to move a member of the herd out of the group if they are acting strange, to avoid attracting potential predators.

Chickens are intensely hierarchical (hence the “hen pecking order”), and may bully or even kill an unwell member of the flock, depending on where the sick chook usually sat in the hen pecking order. Alpacas are a similar story and you may notice other males beating up, or even mounting a sick male to establish dominance.

Remember your animals are individuals and these generalisations may not always apply. The key take-home is to keep them safe. Monitor closely, and be ready to move them to a safe zone if their friends are suddenly ganging up. For any of these group-loving animals, this usually means still keeping them close to their friends, on the safe side of a fence. Running a temporary fence between the patient and the flock can be easily achieved without needing to handle anyone.

Blood loss

If you see bleeding, try to identify where the blood is coming from. Blood will continue to flow from a wound until it has had a chance to form a clot at the penetration site. This usually happens within 1-3 minutes in a healthy animal, with a small wound. If the wound is large, however, the blood pressure behind the clot may continue to dislodge it. In this case, the animal will continue to bleed.

If the wound has already clotted and blood flow has stopped, definitely don't touch it, as wiping may disrupt the clot and encourage bleeding again. If blood flow is continuous or severe, apply gentle pressure with a very clean cloth, or ideally gauze.

Lacerations may need suturing if the wound is large, wide, or in an unfortunate spot on the body that continuously stretches or traumatises, such as the knee or elbow. Just hold that firm pressure and wait for the vet to arrive. You may find it stops bleeding after a while. If so, you should leave the cloth/gauze in place until the vet arrives, as removing it may pull away the clot and cause a resurgence of bleeding.

Get that first aid kit ready for situations such as these! Include non-stick gauze, sofban (a soft, cotton-wool type wrap for padding) and elastic, self-adhesive bandaging (never bind this too tight, only enough to hold it in place). It’s also handy to include some cauterizing powder or silver nitrate sticks, to stop small bleeds in their tracks.

Covering any “bits”

In the case of prolapses such as vaginal, uterine or anything else INSIDE the body that ends up OUTSIDE of the body, you’ll want to cover the body tissue with a moist, very clean, non-abrasive towel. This internal tissue is very fragile. It will traumatise easily, causing infection and necrosis (death) of the tissue. Because organ linings are very thin, the animal will also lose a lot of moisture and heat through the prolapsed tissue.

Ideally the moist towel would be sterile, but realistically at home, aim for disinfected. Soap is very irritating to wounds. Instead, have some iodine on hand in your first aid kit, or a second best would be chlorhexidine. Both are readily available from pharmacies and vet clinics. Add a small amount of iodine to the bucket of warm water that will be used to clean your hands and soak your towel. Don’t use hot or cold water, only body-temperature warm.  Use just enough to create a “weak tea” appearance. (concentrated iodine is also irritating to wounds and can slow healing, so must be diluted).

A note on vaginal prolapses. If you think you’re dealing with a vaginal prolapse (a “bearing”), usually seen in ewes, you should always make sure she can empty her bladder urgently, while waiting for the vet. Head over to our article here, for further information.

Recovery position

Depending on the injury, you may find the “ruminant recovery position” is helpful. In the case of large wounds, broken bones, or a stressed animal who is thrashing about, this is certainly advised against. However if the animal is weak and struggling for oxygen due to some internal issue, is only semi-conscious, or a ruminant (cow, sheep, goat, alpaca) who has been lying on their side for some time and has bloated, then putting them in the ruminant recovery position can be crucial. Sitting them upright, with legs tucked under, neck up, but nose down, achieves a number of benefits. It allows them to burp, and can reduce bloat (which may build up simply from lying on their side for too long). It also allows both sides of the lungs to fully inflate, thereby increasing oxygen to the body. The elevated neck prevents accidental vomit from making it into the airways, and the dropped nose helps any saliva to exit the mouth rather than be accidentally inhaled.

Keep her warm

An animal in critical care can lose a lot of heat quickly and become deathly hypothermic. If small, you may bring her inside into a heated room. A normal temperature for most of our animals is around 37C-38C. Generally speaking, below 37C is cold and they need help, below 35C the animal will not be able to warm itself back up without actively being heated (heaters, warm IV fluids etc), and will head toward the light. Have a rectal thermometer in your first aid kit, google at your fingertips (for a normal range in the relevant species) and a crinkly, silver, aluminium foil blanket. A woolen blanket covered by the aluminium foil is a quick and easy way to support a larger animal in the field, as is a warm horse blanket.

Stay safe!

Remember to stay safe. You are no help to the patient if you get yourself accidentally kicked or bowled over. Stay away from flailing back legs, swinging heads and prancing, agitated cattle. If you’re unsure how to read your animals' behaviour, give a wide berth until help arrives.

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