To be a pet owner means to be responsible for its health, welfare and life. In many families dogs are considered as family members and things like  pet death is a real tragedy to them.

Do you know that each year thousands pets die from smoke asphyxiation? In most cases it is because of house fires. The cause of pet death is the inhalation of poisonous fumes erupting from the fire.

Our little puppies are very afraid of fire and while we escape from the burning house, they cowardly  hide in such places where it’s hard for firefighters to find and bring them out. Even when they are brought out there is little hope that they will survive. They are often unconscious and only fresh oxygen immediately supplied to these animals can revive them.

In the past firefighters had to do mouth-to-muzzle resussitation or use human masks on injured pets to prevent pet death, but those masks don’t deliver enough oxygen to animals, which is essential for treating smoke inhalation. The need for special masks for pets became inevitable.

Now thanks to 12-year-old Monica Plumb of Powhatan many firetrucks in her country are insured by these equipments. By appearing on TV and radio programs  and using her website (petmask.com) she is doing fund raising and every day more pets in the world are likely to live.

The cup-shaped plastic masks coming in three sizes fit cozily on snouts and revive animals suffering from smoke inhalation. This mask can take care of simply any air breathing animal — from a tiny bird or reptile to chihuahua dogs or Saint Bernards. The three-size (small, medium and large) pet oxygen mask set from Monika will cost you $55. One set can help revive pet ferrets,  dogs, cats, and many other pets, including birds.

Though the usage of this mask is very simple, firefighters pass some training on how to put it on pet’s muzzle. Pet masks in the past were used by veterinarians, but now to reduce pet death all firetrucks should be supplied with this device.

Follow Monika’s example.

Photo © msnbc.msn

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