Electric shock in dogs and cats: what to do before you touch them

An animal still biting a cable or in contact with a live surface conducts electricity. Touching it with bare hands means closing the circuit through your own body. The absolute priority, before any first aid, is to stop the flow of current. Only afterwards, with the scene made safe, do you turn to the animal.

1. 1

   Switch off the supply

   Throw the main breaker at the consumer unit or pull the plug if you can reach it without touching the animal or the cable. This is the safest and fastest route.

2. 2

   If you cannot cut the power, insulate yourself

   Stand on a dry, non conductive material such as a wooden board or a rubber mat, and move the cable or the animal away with a dry, insulating object like a wooden broom handle. Never with metal or damp objects.

3. 3

   Do not touch with your hands until you are sure

   Confirm that you have truly broken the contact with the current before laying hands on the animal. A moment of extra caution avoids a second casualty.

4. 4

   Move the animal out of the risk zone

   Once you are certain there is no more current, move it to a dry, safe spot where you can assess it calmly.

With the current off, the goal is to work out the animal's state and decide how fast to transport. The current leaves marks on the mouth but also acts on the heart and lungs, which cannot be seen with the eye.

• Check consciousness: does it respond, move, hold its head. An unconscious animal that is not breathing needs immediate resuscitation only if you know how to do it, while someone else calls the clinic.
• Look in the mouth: current burns concentrate on the lips, tongue and corners of the mouth, with greyish or blackened areas that can worsen over the following days.
• Watch the breathing: fast, laboured, noisy breathing, or the head and neck stretched forward, is a sign of lung distress not to ignore.
• Check the gums: pale or bluish gums indicate poor oxygen and are a criterion for urgency.
• Look for signs of a fall or seizures, because the muscular jolt of the shock can knock the animal over or trigger contractions.

If the animal is conscious and breathing well, keep it calm and limit exertion while you arrange transport. Stress and agitation raise oxygen demand at exactly the moment the lungs may already be struggling. Put nothing on the mouth burns: they will be assessed and treated at the clinic.

Every electric shock deserves a call to the clinic, because the decision depends on how it happened and how the animal is doing. Some situations leave no margin and must be handled as an immediate emergency.

1. Go at once if the animal is unconscious, breathing badly, has blue or pale gums, has had seizures or cannot get up.
2. Go at once if cough, laboured or noisy breathing appears in the following hours, even if it seemed fine right after the accident.
3. Call the clinic and arrange a check if the mouth burns are obvious, because they can worsen and make eating difficult.
4. Observe carefully at home, but only after speaking to the vet, if the shock was mild, the animal is alert and breathing normally, still watching the breathing for a day or two.

Prevention, in this emergency, is almost the whole answer. Protecting cables with rigid trunking or cord covers, keeping chargers out of reach when not in use, unplugging idle appliances and supervising puppies and kittens in the early weeks removes the great majority of accidents. A puppy that chews everything is not being naughty, it is exploring, and the home should be made safe accordingly.