So, kind of found a 'Hole in our Preps', this weekend, relative to Family-Pet First Aid, and thought I'd share the 'patch'.
We're Very-well prepped for a Wide-variety of Emergency Medical Care / 'First Aid' - for us 'Bipedals' Even including 'Advanced' Dental Emergencies / Repairs / Cleaning, etc.. But, for our Pets, well.. Reasonably-well prepped for any 'Large-Trauma' incidents, ie: non-fatal GSW / injured Leg(s) / Lacerations / Wounds from a 'fight' with another animal, etc, but..
..The 'hole' I found was more along the lines of Information / Documentation, for the 'Little stuff that Could become Big / Life-threatening. I guess it could be labeled as a 'normalcy bias blind-spot'.. (thinking: 'Oh, for something like that, we'll just Call the vet / ask'.. Yah - a lot of good that "solution" will do with No Cel-service / Vets avail TO answer the call, DerpJer..
..And, further, for the Others in our Fam / MAG... I mean - I may Know 'what to Do' for several-types of trauma / injuries, etc for our Dogs, but.. That knowledge doesn't do anyone Else in the Fam, et al, Any good, if I'm not around / reachable by cel. Thus, the 'hole' was having whatever info I Did have DL'd, in a Referenceable / Searchable - and 'digestible' - format for the Others in our Fam / MAG, etc for Our Dogs.
The 'hole' was revealed, when I discovered that I did Not have much of anything 'DL'd for the Particular problem that came up yesterday: Some kind of allergic reaction to (???) in one of our Dogs, that started as a few hives on his flanks - but within a couple hours turned into a Totally-ballooned face / body-wide hives presentation, and I was even concerned (initially) that it might have been devolving towards anaphylaxis...
..But, once I ruled that out (vitals / examination / his behavior, etc) I had to search-up - Online - the correct Dosing (for his weight) of 'Benadryl', and then get that going into him. Turns out - Whatever the reaction 'was To' - the Diphenhydramine pretty much 'cured it', but.. That result took a good few Hours / close observation to 'pronounce him OK', so.. Emphasized to Me that - yep - that's an 'Info Hole to Patch, ASAP'. SO....
Found this as an Excellent Online resource: https://www.merckvetmanual.com/ Totally Searchable, and has a Lot of the info presented in 'Two Levels' - the 'Everyday Pet-Owner-Language' level, and the 'Professional-Care Provider / Vet' level, with more technical / deeper biological / interconnecting-info, etc.
..AND, for those with a 'smartphone', it's available as an App (I DL'd / installed it on my iPhone - works Great.. Just use "Merck Vet Manual" as the search term, in your favorite 'App Store', etc..
I Also found an OCR'd PDF of it, online, here: https://vetbooks.ir/the-merck-veterinary-manual-11th-edition/ (And Yeah, that's .ir as-in Iran..
Now, I was a Bit 'apprehensive' about clicking Anything on that site (though, there's a TON of Really helpful / legit Vet-Books, DL'able, therein at the 'Home' level: https://vetbooks.ir/ ..but, I reasoned: a) We're not at "official War" with them, yet.. And, b) I mean, 'Docs are Docs / Vets are Vets, the World-over', so.. I went ahead and DL'd the Full PDF (a 3,300 Pager - I'd 'Upload, Here', but it's Over 200 mB!) and vetted it, and It's 'legit' (comparing it to Online 'previews' of the Most Current Edition (11th) so I trust recommending it.
Nonetheless, for those who don't feel 'comfy' DL'ing from That .ir Site, I've put it up, Here, for any who wish to DL the Full PDF: https://we.tl/t-ZkgDPtdF0G ..but Note that this Link will be good for 7 days, only, then will Expire.. So, giddy-up, if ya want it.
That said, the Online-version (and the 'App') Are really helpful / util, as-is, etc, but.. Personally, I like having things Offline as-well, for, well.. 'MadMax Werld' reasons.
Fwiw, but it sure Helped Us, and now a Very-Important 'Info-Gap / Hole' is patched in Our Family Preps.
jd
We're Very-well prepped for a Wide-variety of Emergency Medical Care / 'First Aid' - for us 'Bipedals' Even including 'Advanced' Dental Emergencies / Repairs / Cleaning, etc.. But, for our Pets, well.. Reasonably-well prepped for any 'Large-Trauma' incidents, ie: non-fatal GSW / injured Leg(s) / Lacerations / Wounds from a 'fight' with another animal, etc, but..
..The 'hole' I found was more along the lines of Information / Documentation, for the 'Little stuff that Could become Big / Life-threatening. I guess it could be labeled as a 'normalcy bias blind-spot'.. (thinking: 'Oh, for something like that, we'll just Call the vet / ask'.. Yah - a lot of good that "solution" will do with No Cel-service / Vets avail TO answer the call, DerpJer..
..And, further, for the Others in our Fam / MAG... I mean - I may Know 'what to Do' for several-types of trauma / injuries, etc for our Dogs, but.. That knowledge doesn't do anyone Else in the Fam, et al, Any good, if I'm not around / reachable by cel. Thus, the 'hole' was having whatever info I Did have DL'd, in a Referenceable / Searchable - and 'digestible' - format for the Others in our Fam / MAG, etc for Our Dogs.
The 'hole' was revealed, when I discovered that I did Not have much of anything 'DL'd for the Particular problem that came up yesterday: Some kind of allergic reaction to (???) in one of our Dogs, that started as a few hives on his flanks - but within a couple hours turned into a Totally-ballooned face / body-wide hives presentation, and I was even concerned (initially) that it might have been devolving towards anaphylaxis...
..But, once I ruled that out (vitals / examination / his behavior, etc) I had to search-up - Online - the correct Dosing (for his weight) of 'Benadryl', and then get that going into him. Turns out - Whatever the reaction 'was To' - the Diphenhydramine pretty much 'cured it', but.. That result took a good few Hours / close observation to 'pronounce him OK', so.. Emphasized to Me that - yep - that's an 'Info Hole to Patch, ASAP'. SO....
Found this as an Excellent Online resource: https://www.merckvetmanual.com/ Totally Searchable, and has a Lot of the info presented in 'Two Levels' - the 'Everyday Pet-Owner-Language' level, and the 'Professional-Care Provider / Vet' level, with more technical / deeper biological / interconnecting-info, etc.
..AND, for those with a 'smartphone', it's available as an App (I DL'd / installed it on my iPhone - works Great.. Just use "Merck Vet Manual" as the search term, in your favorite 'App Store', etc..
I Also found an OCR'd PDF of it, online, here: https://vetbooks.ir/the-merck-veterinary-manual-11th-edition/ (And Yeah, that's .ir as-in Iran..
Now, I was a Bit 'apprehensive' about clicking Anything on that site (though, there's a TON of Really helpful / legit Vet-Books, DL'able, therein at the 'Home' level: https://vetbooks.ir/ ..but, I reasoned: a) We're not at "official War" with them, yet.. And, b) I mean, 'Docs are Docs / Vets are Vets, the World-over', so.. I went ahead and DL'd the Full PDF (a 3,300 Pager - I'd 'Upload, Here', but it's Over 200 mB!) and vetted it, and It's 'legit' (comparing it to Online 'previews' of the Most Current Edition (11th) so I trust recommending it.
Nonetheless, for those who don't feel 'comfy' DL'ing from That .ir Site, I've put it up, Here, for any who wish to DL the Full PDF: https://we.tl/t-ZkgDPtdF0G ..but Note that this Link will be good for 7 days, only, then will Expire.. So, giddy-up, if ya want it.
That said, the Online-version (and the 'App') Are really helpful / util, as-is, etc, but.. Personally, I like having things Offline as-well, for, well.. 'MadMax Werld' reasons.
Fwiw, but it sure Helped Us, and now a Very-Important 'Info-Gap / Hole' is patched in Our Family Preps.
jd