How to Perform Mouth to Nose Breathing on Puppies
The most common situation in which you might need to give a puppy mouth to nose breathing is in the moments just after birth. Normally the mother dog will tear open the amniotic sac, clean the fluids from the puppy's nose and mouth, and lick it to stimulate breathing and circulation. On rare occasions, the dog may be unable to take care of the newborn or, despite the mother's best efforts, the puppy may need additional help. In other instances, a puppy may become injured or ill and temporarily lose the ability to breathe on its own.
Instructions
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Ensure that your puppy is not breathing on its own. Watch for its chest to rise and fall, or hold a mirror in front of its nose to see if there is condensation. Resuscitation breaths can injure the puppy if it is already breathing.
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2
Hold the puppy in the palms of your hands, with your palms beneath the puppy's stomach.
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Hold the puppy's head downward to drain fluids or foreign objects from its mouth, throat or lungs. If your puppy is larger, lay it on its side. Use your finger to sweep the puppy's mouth to check for any foreign objects that may be choking the animal.
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Place your mouth around the puppy's mouth and nose, allowing your mouth to form a seal. With the newborn or small puppy, hold the puppy to your face, while cradling the puppy's body in your hands. In the larger or older puppy, kneel beside the dog to administer the breaths.
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Give three puffs of air into the puppy's mouth and nose.
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Continue to administer breaths for 20 minutes. Wait 15 to 20 seconds between each set of three puffs. If breathing hasn't resumed within this amount of time, the puppy likely cannot be saved.
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Tips & Warnings
If your puppy's heart is not beating, you will also need to administer chest compressions using your thumb and forefinger. Chest compressions on a puppy are administered in the center of the chest at the area where the elbows bend. Chest compressions are delivered and stopped every 15 to 20 seconds to allow you to administer breaths to the puppy.
If your puppy is breathing on its own, but shallowly or infrequently, wrap it in a towel and vigorously massage the dog to stimulate breathing.
When administering breaths to a puppy, be careful not to breathe too hard. If the breaths are given with too much force, you can damage the puppy's lungs.
Close contact does come with some risks of catching a disease from the dog, the most serious of these being brucellosis. It causes chills and fever, but it can be treated with antibiotics.
