Saw a video of a squirrel getting rescued via CPR and it made me wonder… If CPR on humans has a specific “cadence” to it that is said to be best, would CPR be more efficient on an animal if the cadence was much faster (to match their normally quicker heartrate)? Thanks!
In: Biology
Indeed it is. There have been some research into this on dogs and cats which are the animals most often receiving first aid. And they have found that the optimal cadence is much faster then on humans. In addition the heart is not in the exact same place and the ribs are different so you end up performing the CPR routine completely different on different animals. However doing anything is better then doing nothing so you should not be afraid of doing the CPR wrong. It is also worth noting that CPR does not cure someone from a stopped heart but instead keeps them alive until they can be healed. There are some cases where the body can heal a stopped heart on its own after a few seconds or even a minute or two but in general you should continue with the CPR until professionals tell you to stop.
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