The American Red Cross has designated April as Pet First Aid Awareness Week.  Would you know what to do if your dog is injured on a walk, or you find your cat has eaten something it shouldn’t have and has gotten sick?  Most pet owners have our vet numbers in our phone, but what if your vet office is closed or you are out of town with your pet?  I became certified in Pet First Aid and CPR shortly after I opened my Fetch! Pet Care franchise.   I’ve already written a blog post  about what you need in your pet first aid kit.  You should also know the emergency vet clinic closest to you.  In my territory there are 3 emergency vet locations, in Cobb County and Cherokee County as well as in Roswell.  Georgia Veterinary Specialists is in Sandy Springs off of Abernathy Rd.  Many in-home problems with pets have to do with poisoning, so you should also have a poisoning control number handy as well. 

     The American Red Cross offers pet first aid classes, although I couldn’t find any scheduled anytime soon in the Atlanta office.  Pet tech is a company that also holds classes and you can find classes that are being offered on their website.  The classes are usually about 4 to 5 hours and the certification lasts for 2 years.  Most of my sitters have taken the class as well.  

    Another important item in being prepared to take care of your pets is to put stickers on your doors to notify emergency workers how many pets are in the house.  The ASPCA will send you these stickers as well as a magnet with their poison control number on it. You can find where your pet’s secret hideout is by watching where it goes when you test your smoke alarms.  Each time you test it, check to make sure it’s going to the same place.  This is where you can go to rescue it if the need ever arises. Also you could tell emergency workers this in case of fire or something where you couldn’t get them yourselves. 

 Fetch! Pet Care of NW Atlanta provides pet sitting, dog walking and cat care services for Roswell, East Cobb, Woodstock and Kennesaw, GA.  You can see the happy pets by following us on Pinterest at http://pinterest.com/fetchnwatlanta/