The first 5 minutes of any pet emergency
— a field guide

It was a Tuesday night. We'd just moved to Bengaluru. Leo — our Labrador — got bit. We didn't know by what. And we didn't know what to do. This guide is what I wish I'd had on my phone that night.

The 300 seconds after you realise something is wrong with your pet are the most important 300 seconds you'll ever spend as a pet parent. The difference between a stable ride to the vet and a call to the crematorium is almost always something that happens — or doesn't happen — in those first five minutes.

This isn't a replacement for a vet. It's the bridge between now and the vet. Bookmark it. Save it to your phone. Share it with your pet-sitter, your spouse, your building guard — the people who might be holding your dog when you're not there.

The principle: stabilize before you solve

Every first-aid doctrine for animals — and humans — starts with the same rule. Don't fix the problem. Stabilize the patient so the vet can fix the problem.

In the first 5 minutes, your job is three things, in this order:

1. Keep them breathing. Check their airway, their chest movement, their gum color.
2. Stop active damage. If they're bleeding, apply pressure. If they've eaten poison, remove access. If they're overheating, move them to cool.
3. Transport safely to a vet. Call ahead. Know your address. Drive calmly.

That's it. Everything below is a version of those three things, adapted to the specific crisis you're facing.

The five common emergencies — and the first 5 minutes

1. Poisoning

Your dog ate something. Maybe chocolate. Maybe raisins. Maybe a pan (betel leaf) that fell from the kitchen counter. Maybe rat poison from the society's pest control. This is the most common Indian pet ER visit, and the first five minutes decide whether it becomes a story or a tragedy.

What never to do: give milk or turmeric, wait to see if it passes, force water. The old Indian remedies for human poisoning don't translate to dogs — and in many cases they make things significantly worse.

2. Trauma · hit, fall, bite, open wound

The dog that got hit by a bike in the society. The puppy that fell from the sofa. The one that came back from a walk limping with a gash on its leg. What you do in the first five minutes either prevents shock or accelerates it.

3. Heatstroke

Bengaluru April. Delhi May. Chennai September. A walk at the wrong time, a closed car for 20 minutes, a brachycephalic breed (Pug, Bulldog, Shih Tzu) left outdoors. Heatstroke kills in India more than we admit — and the first five minutes are about cooling without shocking.

4. Snake bite

India has four "big four" snakes responsible for most bites: the Russell's viper, the cobra, the krait, and the saw-scaled viper. Monsoon brings them into homes. Ground-floor apartments, ground-floor vegetation, and hot-weather drought patterns all push snakes indoors. Dogs find them first.

5. Seizure or unresponsiveness

Your dog suddenly collapses. Twitching. Drool. Not responding. A seizure in a dog is not rare — it's one of the most common emergency presentations in Indian vet clinics, and the post-ictal phase (after the seizure ends) is almost as scary as the seizure itself.

Know their baseline before the emergency

Here's the most important thing this article will tell you: you cannot recognize "abnormal" until you know "normal" for your specific dog. Measure these when your pet is healthy, write them down, keep them in your phone.

• Heart rate: Small dog 100–140 bpm, medium 80–120, large 60–100.
• Breathing rate at rest: 10–30 per minute for dogs. Anything above 40 at rest is an emergency.
• Temperature (rectal): 38.3 – 39.2°C is normal. Above 39.5 is fever. Above 40.5 is heatstroke.
• Gum color: Pink and moist. Anything else — pale, blue, yellow, brick red — is a red flag.
• Capillary refill: Press a finger on the gum, release. The pink color should return in under 2 seconds.

Build your kit. Not later. Now.

Twelve items. Under ₹1,500 total. Every item is at Apollo Pharmacy, 1mg, or Amazon India:

• Sterile gauze pads (5×5 cm, 10 pieces) — ₹40
• Vetwrap self-adhering bandage — ₹180
• Betadine (povidone-iodine 5%) — ₹60
• Sterile saline 500ml — ₹35
• Hydrogen peroxide 3% (only for vet-approved vomiting) — ₹45
• Digital rectal thermometer — ₹150
• Tick tweezers or flea comb — ₹120
• Instant cold pack (heatstroke, sprains) — ₹90
• Styptic powder (Quick Stop) — ₹200
• Oral syringe 10ml — ₹30
• Muzzle or soft cloth (injured dogs may bite) — ₹150
• Emergency contact card: 2 vets, poison control, 2 family — free

Store all 12 in one box. Within reach. Replenish after every use. Check expiry every 6 months. The first aid kit is the single highest-leverage ₹1,500 you will spend as an Indian pet parent.

The one thing to do today

Save two vet numbers in your phone with speed-dial labels. Primary vet. Nearest 24×7. Teach your spouse, your parent, your dog-walker to use them. Five minutes of preparation today saves thirty minutes of panic on the night it matters.

That's what Petraah is for. That's what Mitra AI is for. That's what this guide is for. Not to replace the vet — to bridge the distance between now and them.

Leo is fine today. Not every dog is. Let's make sure more of them are.