First Aid for Your Maltese

First aid is what you do on the way to the vet, not instead of going. A five pound dog has no reserves: it bleeds out faster, overheats faster, and crashes faster than a big dog, so for a Maltese the first rule is to start moving towards help while you do everything else. Keep your vet's number and the nearest emergency clinic's number on the fridge and in your phone before you ever need them.

A hurt dog may bite

Even yours. If the dog is in pain and you need to handle it, wrap it firmly in a towel with the head out, or loop a soft strip of cloth round the muzzle and tie it behind the ears. Never muzzle a dog that is vomiting, choking or struggling to breathe. Take the muzzle off the moment you can.

Bleeding

Press a clean cloth or gauze pad firmly over the wound and keep pressing. If it soaks through, add more on top rather than lifting it off. Most bleeding in a small dog stops with a few minutes of steady pressure. Do not use a tourniquet; on a leg this size it does more harm than good. Bright red blood that pumps, or any bleeding that does not slow in five minutes, is a vet visit now, with the pressure kept on in the car. A torn nail bleeds alarmingly; styptic powder or cornstarch pressed into it stops it.

Choking

A dog that is pawing at its mouth, gagging and struggling for breath may have something lodged. Open the mouth and look; if you can see the object and reach it easily, remove it with your fingers or tweezers. Do not pull on a thread or string, which may be attached to a needle inside. If you cannot see it, hold the dog with its back against your chest, head down, and give a few sharp pushes inward and upward just below the ribs, then check the mouth again. Then the vet, whether or not it worked.

Heatstroke

Louisiana summers kill small dogs, and a car in the sun does it in minutes. Heavy panting, thick drool, bright red gums, staggering or collapse mean the dog is overheating. Get it into shade or air conditioning, wet it down with cool, not iced, water, especially the belly and paws, put it in front of a fan, offer small sips of water, and go to the vet while you do it. Stop cooling once the dog is panting normally; overcooling is its own danger. A Maltese should never be left in a parked car in warm weather, for any length of time, with any window open.

Low blood sugar

The emergency most specific to this breed, and the one you can fix at home. A puppy that goes wobbly, glassy, limp or starts twitching after a missed meal, a long play, a fright or a chill needs sugar now: honey, corn syrup or a high calorie puppy paste rubbed onto the gums, a little at a time, and warmth. It should recover within minutes; feed it, then ring the vet. The feeding page explains how to prevent it.

Falls and being dropped

A Maltese puppy that falls from a sofa, a bed, or a child's arms can break a leg or worse. If the dog cries out, holds a leg up, will not put weight on it, or seems dazed, keep it still and warm, lay it on a folded towel in a box or carrier so it cannot move about, and go to the vet. Do not feel along the leg to see if it is broken, and do not give any pain relief from the medicine cabinet; the human kind is poison to dogs.

Poisoning

If the dog has eaten something from the list of poisons, or anything you are not sure about, ring the vet or an animal poison line at once with the packaging in your hand. Do not make the dog vomit unless you are told to; some substances do more damage coming back up. Do not wait for symptoms.

Seizures

Do not restrain the dog and keep your hands away from its mouth. Move furniture away, dim the lights, keep the room quiet, and time it. Most seizures stop within a couple of minutes; afterwards the dog will be confused and wobbly. Rub honey on the gums in case low blood sugar is the cause, keep the dog warm, and ring the vet. A seizure that goes on for more than a few minutes, or several in a row, is an emergency.

Stings and bites

Scrape a visible stinger out sideways with a card rather than squeezing it. A cold compress helps the swelling. Watch for the serious reaction: swelling of the face or throat, difficulty breathing, vomiting or collapse, any of which means the vet immediately. Fire ants are a particular hazard here for a dog this close to the ground; check the paws and belly after any time on the grass.

Snakebite

Keep the dog as still as possible, carry it, and go straight to a vet with antivenom, ringing ahead. Do not cut the bite, do not try to suck it, do not apply a tourniquet or ice. Every one of those old remedies makes the outcome worse.

Eyes

Something in the eye can be flushed with plain saline or clean water dripped from a soaked cotton ball; do not rub, and do not try to pick anything off the eye itself. An eye that is held shut, swollen, cloudy or bleeding is a vet visit the same day. Maltese eyes are large and prominent and a scratch untreated becomes an ulcer.

Shock

After any serious injury, a dog may go quiet, with pale gums, shallow breathing and a glassy stare. Keep it warm and flat, head level, and go.

Moving an injured dog

Slide a towel under the dog and lift it in the towel, flat, into a box or carrier. If you suspect a back injury, keep the dog as flat and still as you can and let someone else drive.

The kit

Gauze pads and a roll of self-sticking bandage, blunt-ended scissors, tweezers, a digital thermometer, saline eye wash, styptic powder, honey or corn syrup, a towel, a small carrier, and the two phone numbers. A normal temperature is roughly 101 to 102.5 degrees Fahrenheit; much above or below that, with any other sign of illness, is reason enough to go.