DONALD P. THOMPSON, DVM, FAAVA
EMILY K. BOND, DVM
VERMONT INTEGRATIVE VETERINARY
ASSOCIATES
2089 Laporte Road, Morrisville,
VT 05661
802-888-4201
- Before you begin to assist
a mother with the delivery of her cria, be sure to have a sterile 20 or 18
gauge needle handy.
- If you deliver the cria and it is
not breathing, insert the needle immediately at the position shown above; the correct
insertion site on the newborn cria is on the midpoint of a line connecting
the bottom of the nostrils.
- You must forcibly tap the bone
with the tip of the needle — if you do not feel bone with the needle,
redirect your insertion angle or continue deeper. Bone will be approximately ½ to
¾ inch deep to the skin surface.
- Act as though you are trying
to wake the cria with your tapping — you are!!
- If you tap for 5 minutes and the
cria does not breathe and you see no visible heartbeat on the chest, the
respiratory centers of the cria's brainstem are damaged beyond reasonable help.
