New oxygen masks can save pets` lives

March 22--SOMERSWORTH -- With nearly a half-million pets killed in house fires every year, an area veterinarian and first responders are teaming up to try to improve survival rates.

When a member of his staff approached him about getting the specialized oxygen masks designed for pets, American Ambulance General Manager Paul Robidas said he reached out to Dr. Robert Wyand, owner of the Great Falls Veterinary Hospital in Somersworth, for advice.

"We're pulling animals out of these houses," Robidas said. "And the crews are fairly helpless because they don't have the equipment to use on a pet."

Wyand offered to purchase and donate the equipment and provide the training to operate it.

According to the Veterinary News Network website, a lack of specialized masks contributes to the half-million annual pet deaths that occur in residential fires.

Part of the problem is that the smoke alarms that can help save human lives often scare pets and send them into hiding, where they can be trapped by the fire. Also, pets may be home alone and have no way to escape a fire.

Thanks to Wyand, American Ambulance -- which provides emergency response for many communities in the Tri-City and Seacoast areas -- will be able to outfit the two vehicles that services the Somersworth area with Wag'N Pet Oxygen Mask kits. The kits come with three different mask sizes which the manufacturer says can be used on dogs, cats, ferrets, rabbits, and more.

Sarah Lamb, an Emergency Medical Technician for American Ambulance, said crews have sometimes tried to use masks designed for humans on animals, but the masks generally don't make a tight enough seal.

"We can do blow-by oxygen with animals where we hold it in front of their face," Lamb said. "But these new masks will be so much better."

Lamb said the pet mask creates a tight seal with the animals face or muzzle and enables the attendant to give a pet who has breathed in too much smoke a high concentration of oxygen. That oxygen can be the difference between life or death for a pet who has been trapped in a fire.

Lt. John Cody, shift lieutenant for American Ambulance, said that with the new equipment the survival of a pet can hinge on how quickly a fire is reported. He said the toxic gasses in a fire rise, and because most pets are low to the ground they tend to breath the cleanest air available.

Wyand said that even pets who survive a fire might not avoid all of its effects.

"The after-effects are coughing and respiratory distress," Wyand said. "If they take in fumes and get a burn down the trachea or the lungs, they are going to be doing some coughing and gagging,"

He said those reactions can be delayed for days and recommends that pet owners watch for symptoms.

Wyand said he doesn't know if there are statistics on pet survival rates but is convinced that early intervention makes as big a difference with animals as it does with humans.

Wyand plans to have American Ambulance staff visit his hospital when he has cats and dogs under anesthesia to teach them how to use the masks and learn the differences between resuscitating cats and dogs.

Dozens of communities in New Hampshire have these pet-specific oxygen masks including Rochester and Dover fire departments.

Project Paws Alive (www.projectpawsalive.org), a nonprofit based in Georgia, was created in part because the founders heard saw a local news story about a house fire in which family pets were saved thanks to the use of pet oxygen masks that had been donated to the local fire house. The organization provides information about the masks and other animal protection gear.

The Wag'N Pet Oxygen Mask kits cost $100 apiece and can be reused.

Copyright 2015 - Foster's Daily Democrat, Dover, N.H.