← Natural animal health H34-05 · Module 5 of 7 · Pages: 21 · Worksheets: 7

First aid: wounds, birthing, bloat

What to do in the first hour with a wound, bloat, colic, a difficult birth and other emergencies until the vet arrives, and what never to do on your own

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First aid: wounds, birthing, bloat

In short

  • Your safety first: a large animal in pain kicks, tramples and crushes. Gloves for wounds, births and abortions.
  • Bloat is an emergency. Swollen left flank, groaning and laboured breathing: vet at once, keep the animal on its feet.
  • Stop bleeding with pressure for 5–10 minutes, rinse the wound well. A deep or puncture wound or one at a joint: vet.
  • Birth: 30 minutes of hard straining with no progress (mare: 20–30 minutes after the waters break): call.
  • Newborn: breathing, warmth and colostrum in the first hour. Warm a chilled one first, then feed it.
  • No medicines or "recipes" on your own; the trocar, stomach tube and correcting a malpresentation are for the vet.

What's inside

Chapters

  1. Safety first
  2. Quick assessment
  3. Wounds
  4. Bloat
  5. Colic in horses and donkeys
  6. Birth
  7. Other emergencies
  8. Common mistakes
  9. Printable checklist

Worksheets

  • Emergency card
  • Normal values and birth timings
  • Birth record
  • Injury and treatment record with withdrawal periods
  • Risk and birthing calendar
  • Colostrum calculator
  • Contacts and when to call the vet at once

Fields and checkboxes can be filled in with Adobe Acrobat Reader (desktop and mobile), and the calculator adds up by itself. Filling in may not work in some browsers. A print version comes with the screen PDF.

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