PCPR- Lesson 3- Positioning

Animal Body Position for CPR

• Upper left: Average Dogs- place hands over the highest point on chest
• Upper middle: Keel Chested Dogs- place hands low on the check near the sternum.
• Upper right: Barrel Chested Dogs- Lay animal on back and place hands on center of sternum
• Lower right: Puppies, kittens, cats, small dogs- wrap hands around animal’s check and compress by squeezing hands together

Positioning dogs and cats for CPR is quite different than people. Note in the diagram, that dogs and cats are positioned differently for compressions based on their size and shape of their chest. Compressions in average-to-large sized dogs should be done with the hands placed over the widest portion of the animal’s chest, compressions in keel chested dogs should have the hands placed directly over the heart close to the sternum, barrel chested dogs should be placed on their backs; hands are placed in the middle of the sternum for chest compressions and in cats and small dogs wrap hands around the chest and compress by squeezing thumb and fingers together.