Petipedia has three one-page sheets that a clinic, a shelter or a rescue may print and hand to clients, adopters and foster homes. One lists the signs that mean a dog or cat needs a vet now, one lists the foods and plants to never feed, and one walks through pet CPR. Each is a US Letter PDF with its sources printed at the bottom, and all three are free.
The sheet is called "When your dog or cat needs a vet now". It lists twelve signs that mean the owner should go straight to a vet or an emergency clinic: struggling to breathe, or gums that have turned blue, gray or white; collapse; a long seizure, or several in one day; heavy bleeding; a dog with a swollen belly that keeps trying to vomit; a male cat straining to pass urine; a possible poisoning; overheating; an eye injury; a car accident or a fall; severe pain; and a pet that cannot pass urine or stool.
Under the signs are the two poison helplines that answer day and night, with their phone numbers. The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center says a consultation fee may apply, and Pet Poison Helpline says its fee is $89 per incident, so the sheet prints both. Next to them is a box where the owner writes in their own vet and the nearest 24-hour clinic. The last lines say what to do on the way: call the clinic ahead, cool an overheated pet, and keep your face away from the mouth of an animal that is hurt.
Open the emergency sheet (PDF).
It is the short form of two pages that sort the signs by how long the owner has: Dogs: is this an emergency? and Cats: is this an emergency?
The sheet is called "Never feed these to your dog or cat". It has eight foods and three boxes of plants, each marked with the animal it is dangerous for. The foods are chocolate and caffeine, xylitol, grapes and raisins, onions, garlic and chives, macadamia nuts, alcohol, raw bread dough and bones from the table. The plants are lilies and daylilies, sago palm, and a group made up of tulip bulbs, azaleas, oleander, lily of the valley and autumn crocus.
All eight foods are on the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center's list of people foods to avoid feeding pets. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says xylitol can make a dog's blood sugar drop within 10 to 60 minutes of eating it. It also says every part of a true lily or a daylily is toxic to a cat, down to the pollen and the water in the vase.
A box for Halloween covers the candy bowl, wrappers, glow sticks, candles and costumes. The last box tells the owner to call the vet or a poison helpline if the pet has eaten any of it, and to have the package or a photo of the plant in hand.
Open the never-feed list (PDF).
Can dogs eat that? is the longer version, with the amounts where a source gives one.
The sheet is called "Pet CPR: if your dog or cat stops breathing". It opens with the rule that CPR is only for a pet that is not breathing and has no heartbeat the owner can feel. Then it gives seven steps in order: check first, get someone to call the clinic and drive, lay the pet down, place the hands for the shape of the chest, push hard and fast, give two breaths, and keep going until the pet breathes or reaches the vet.
The numbers on it are the ones the American Red Cross teaches: 100 to 120 pushes a minute, in rounds of 30 pushes and 2 breaths, with a check for breathing and a heartbeat every 2 minutes. Cornell University's Baker Institute for Animal Health prints the same rate and the same round of 30 and 2 on its own CPR chart. The sheet ends by saying that it does not replace a course, and it names the Red Cross's online first aid course for cats and dogs.
The emergency pages for dogs and cats carry the short version under the heading "If the heart has stopped".
The emergency sheet and the CPR sheet each have a box for the phone number of the nearest 24-hour clinic. A clinic can write its own number there before it hands the sheet out.
Each sheet names its sources in the line at the bottom, with the date they were checked. Between them the three sheets draw on the American Veterinary Medical Association, the American Animal Hospital Association, Cornell University, the Merck Veterinary Manual, the American Red Cross, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center, Pet Poison Helpline and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The American Veterinary Medical Association states the limit of all three sheets in one line.
Petipedia is a free pet encyclopedia. Its guides are written from primary sources, and each one lists them with links. The sheets carry no advertising.
Write to hello@petipedia.io. Tell us which subject your clients or adopters ask about most, or what is wrong on a sheet.
If something here is out of date, tell us at hello@petipedia.io and we fix it the same day.
Sources read on 2 October 2026; every number is as the source gives it.