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This guide is a home-care support tool. If your pet can no longer breathe, every second counts: start the moves and have someone call the clinic right away at 514 223-1197.
Is it coughing, or truly choking?
This is the first question, and it changes everything: doing thrusts on a pet that is coughing, having an asthma attack, or with a twisted stomach can hurt it. True choking is an object blocking the airway. The move that helps is to watch how it breathes.
The simplest test: watch the breath
Coughing and choking look alike, because both push air out hard. The difference is the breath IN: a coughing pet can still breathe in between coughs; a truly choking pet can no longer draw air in at all, and a complete blockage is often silent. Remember this: as long as it coughs, barks, meows, or makes any sound, air is still moving.
In dogs
Air still moving
- Coughing or loud gagging
- Heavy drooling, pawing at the mouth
- Restless, trying to dislodge something
No air: emergency
- Straining to breathe, but no sound
- Panic, frantic pawing at the mouth
- Gums and tongue turning blue
- Collapse, loss of consciousness
In cats
Air still moving
- Gagging, drooling, rubbing the mouth
- Trying to swallow, without success
- Loud coughing in fits
No air: emergency
- Open mouth, without any sound
- Pale or bluish gums
- Wobbling, unsteady gait
- Collapse
In cats, true choking is rare
Most 'my cat is choking' turns out to be something else: a coughing fit, an asthma attack, or a hairball. A cat that coughs but breathes fine between episodes almost never has an object stuck. But a cat clawing at its mouth, panicking, and making no sound at all really is choking: move to the rescue steps.
It looks like choking, but often it isn't
Several situations mimic choking without being it. Spotting them saves you from useless, even harmful, moves:
- Reverse sneezing: the dog freezes, stretches its neck, and makes loud snorting sounds as it breathes IN for a few seconds, then is perfectly normal again. It is harmless and passes on its own.
- Kennel cough: a dry, honking cough in fits that ends in a gag bringing up a little white foam. The dog breathes fine between fits and stays bright.
- Feline asthma: crouched low, neck stretched forward, coughing over and over with nothing coming up. It is not a hairball: it is an urgent thing to have seen.
- Laryngeal paralysis: an older large-breed dog (often a Labrador) breathing in a harsh, noisy way in heat or excitement, with a changed bark.
A cough that keeps coming back, with normal breathing between episodes? See our cough guide and call us: it is far more often a cough than a stuck object. Deal with incessant coughing. feline asthma · laryngeal paralysis.
The most dangerous look-alike
A large, deep-chested dog (Great Dane, German Shepherd, Setter, Standard Poodle) retching over and over with nothing coming up, often with a swelling belly, restlessness, and drooling, is not choking: it is likely twisting its stomach. That is a separate surgical emergency. Do not waste time checking its mouth: rush to the emergency centre.
Partial or complete blockage: what to do
Once you know it is truly choking, what to do hinges on one thing: is air still moving?
Partial blockage: air still moving
It coughs, makes a sound, breathes with effort but breathes: do not do thrusts, and do not dig in its mouth (you can push the object deeper and get bitten). Keep it calm, stop it from running around, and call us right away, ready to act if it worsens.
Complete blockage: no air at all
It makes no sound, panics, paws at its mouth, turns blue, or collapses: intervene immediately (next sections). If someone is with you, have them call the clinic and ready the car while you act.
The rescue moves do not replace the vet, they go with it: you act AND you head out, never one instead of the other.
Look in the mouth, without making it worse
The rule is two words: look, do not dig. Remove an object only if you can clearly see it and get a grip on it, in a single attempt.
Open the mouth, protecting yourself
One hand over the top of the muzzle, the other lowering the jaw, head tilted slightly back. Fold the lips over the teeth: they act as padding and protect your fingers. Open wide enough to actually see.
Clear your view
Gently draw the tongue forward with a cloth or gauze (it is slippery): this opens the passage and brings the back of the throat into view.
Remove only the visible, one attempt
If you can see and grip the object, remove it gently, never pushing it deeper. One attempt only: each try costs oxygen and injures the throat.
Nothing visible, or it resists? Stop
Do not sweep blindly and do not force anything: move to the rescue moves in the next section, or hit the road.
What you feel deep down is not always an object
Deep in the throat, a firm, smooth structure (the larynx, the 'Adam's apple,' and the small bones that suspend it) feels exactly like a lodged bone. Pulling on it can cause serious injury. Never pull on something you cannot see and clearly recognize as an object.
Careful: bites and tools
A choking animal bites, even the gentlest one: with two people, one holds the mouth open, the other removes. Tweezers or long-nose pliers only on a clearly visible, still object, and never in a conscious cat (one sudden move and the tool pierces the tissue). When in doubt, do not dig.
A string in a cat: NEVER pull
If you see thread, string, ribbon, tinsel, or an elastic in your cat's mouth or under its tongue (sometimes attached to a needle), do not pull on it, and do not cut the loop yourself. The other end may run all the way into the intestine, and pulling can saw through it. Go straight to the vet, even if your cat seems fine.
If it cannot breathe: the rescue moves
These moves are for a complete blockage, when air no longer moves. The goal: create a burst of air to eject the object, firmly and without hesitating.
A conscious cat: do not restrain it by force
A conscious, panicking cat struggles, hurts itself, and bites you. If it is still breathing at all, put it in its carrier and drive: that is the best thing to do. The moves below apply only to a cat that has collapsed and truly is not breathing.
By the size of your pet
Small dog and cat
Hold it with its back against your chest, head up. With your fingertips (not a fist) in the soft hollow just behind the last rib, give 5 quick thrusts inward and upward. If the object stays: hold it head-down by the hips and give a few gentle shakes.
Medium and large dog
Stand behind it, your arms around its belly under the ribs. Make a fist in the soft hollow just behind the last rib, your other hand over it, and give 5 quick thrusts inward and upward. Too heavy to lift? Raise its hind legs 'wheelbarrow' style to add gravity.
5 thrusts, firmly
Quick and firm, inward and upward (see the placement by size above). A too-timid move clears nothing: scale the force to size, from fingertips for a tiny pet to a full fist for a large dog.
5 back blows between the shoulder blades
If the object has not come out, give 5 sharp blows between the shoulder blades with the flat of your hand.
Recheck the mouth
Look to see if the object has come out and is visible; remove it. Otherwise, do not sweep blindly.
Repeat on the way
Repeat the cycle (thrusts, blows, check) while someone drives to the vet. Phone ahead so we are ready.
If it loses consciousness
If your pet loses consciousness, the rules change: this is finally the moment when you can check the mouth without risk of a bite. But everything happens fast.
Lay it down and check the mouth
On its side, head and neck aligned. Open the mouth, draw the tongue forward, remove the object if visible (a finger sweep now becomes acceptable). Do not spend more than 10 to 15 seconds.
Give air through the nose
Mouth held shut, blow gently into the nose until you see the chest rise (on a cat or small dog, cover the nose and mouth together). The chest does not move? Air is not passing: go back to thrusts and the mouth.
Start CPR if needed
If breathing or the heart stops, on a firm surface: compress the chest about one-third of its width, fast (100 to 120 per minute), 30 compressions to 2 breaths, without stopping more than a few seconds. These numbers are a guide, not a course.
Get moving
Someone drives while you keep going, phone on speaker with the clinic. Never keep going alone at the wheel.
A smooth ball lodged in an unconscious dog
This is the worst canine scenario: a slippery ball jams at the back of the throat, and fingers and pliers alike slide off it. For this exact case, veterinary emergency specialists describe an extraction from OUTSIDE the neck (called XXT), reserved for the unconscious dog: you push the ball toward the mouth by pressing on either side of the windpipe, behind the ball. It is not a move to improvise, but knowing it exists helps you understand what the emergency team may try. It is not yet validated by a study: all the more reason to leave it to trained hands.
The best time to learn is beforehand
A page cannot put the move in your hands: a pet first-aid course, taken calmly ahead of time, can. The Canadian Red Cross offers an online course, 'First Aid, Care for Dogs and Cats,' and St. John Ambulance a French-language course. Ask us and we will gladly point you to one.
Afterward: always have your pet seen
Even if the object is out and your pet seems perfectly recovered, have it examined. Always, and the same day.
An effect on the lungs
The desperate effort to breathe can draw fluid into the lungs, even once the object is out. It often shows up in the hours that follow, when the pet looked fine.
The throat can swell
The object and the rescue moves irritate the throat, which can swell and narrow a few hours later, well after the object is gone.
Thrusts leave a mark
Even done well, thrusts can bruise ribs or organs. The exam, sometimes an X-ray, is exactly there to check.
'It seems fine now. Do I still need to come in?'
Yes, the same day. After any choking episode, even a short one and even if your pet seems fully recovered, have it examined. Seeing it early is what catches fluid in the lungs, throat swelling, or aspiration pneumonia in time.
The object went down instead of coming out?
If it swallowed the object (especially a bone, a needle, or a string), that is a different problem: never make it vomit on your own, whatever you have read online. A sharp fragment can lodge or tear on the way back up, and in cats no home method is safe. Call us right away, describing what it swallowed. If it was a toxic product or food it swallowed instead, see our guide to toxic foods and poisons.
An emergency, without waiting
Fast or labored breathing at rest, pink froth at the nose or mouth, pale, grey, or bluish gums, a cough that appears, deep tiredness, a painful or swollen belly, black stool, vomiting (especially with blood): rush to the emergency centre.
Preventing choking
Most choking is preventable. A few habits change everything.
- The ball: wider than the mouth and textured, never smooth and solid or sized for a smaller dog. Skip the tennis ball thrown to a Labrador, and golf or lacrosse balls: a smooth ball just small enough to slip behind the tongue is the number-one hazard.
- A ball with holes should have two, or none: a single hole can create suction that pulls in and traps the tongue.
- The end of a chew is the critical moment: the last inch of a bully stick or a softened rawhide is exactly the right size to block the throat. Supervise, and trade the stub for a treat.
- Never cooked bones or smoked 'bone treats': they splinter into fragments that injure or block.
- Sticks and corn cobs: throw a toy rather than a stick, and treat a swallowed cob (BBQ season) as an emergency, even if the dog seems fine.
- Fast eater: cut food into small pieces, try a slow-feeder bowl, and separate pets that compete over meals.
- Teach 'drop it' as a cheerful trade for a treat, and never chase your pet to grab an object away: that is exactly what makes it swallow.
In cats, it is mostly about string
The real feline danger is not the ball but anything string-like: thread and needle, yarn, ribbon, gift string, holiday tinsel, dental floss, hair elastics. Lock away the sewing kit, and keep wand and string toys out of reach after every supervised play session.
Puppies and kittens: the most at risk
They explore everything with their mouths and cannot yet tell food from the rest. Survey each room at their height (coins, elastics, socks, small toys) and discard any torn toy or one whose squeaker can come loose.
Your questions, our answers
What owners ask us most often about choking.
What if I get it wrong, or cannot manage in time?
Can I blow into its mouth to help it breathe?
My cat swallowed a string I can still see. Can I pull on it?
My dog swallowed a chicken bone but is not choking. Should I worry?
It coughs like something is stuck, but breathes fine between fits. Is it choking?
The object is out and it seems fine. Do I really need to come in?
Related guides
Recognize, clear, get seen
First, the right question: is it coughing or truly choking? If air no longer moves, look in the mouth without sweeping blindly, then do your thrusts and back blows firmly, on the way to the vet. In cats, never pull on a string and never restrain a conscious animal by force. And even if the object is out and everything seems back to normal, have your pet examined the same day: complications can appear later.
Unsure, or a pet that nearly choked?
After a choking episode, even a brief one, a same-day exam can prevent complications. Our team is here to assess your pet.