About.com Rating

The Bottom Line

Staying calm and being prepared can make the difference in an emergency situation, and this in-depth application will help on both counts. At the low price of $3.99 (at the time of this writing, April 2012), this package is a bargain for pet lovers. I would recommend not waiting for an emergency though; this is good reading and video-watching any time you find yourself with extra time on your hands.

Note: This review is of the iPhone version of the Jive Media First Aid App. An Android version is also available on the vendor's site.

Pros

• Convenient and "always with you"
• Videos are quick to view and nicely illustrate the points
• The Pet Info section is a handy way to keep track of your pet's records and info
• Technical terms are hyperlinked to more info, diagrams, etc within the app for clarity
• Pleasing graphical interface and diagrams

Cons

• Needs a search function
• A central index of all videos in the app would be nice
• Compliant pets used for the medication videos; "difficult cases" (emergency) tips would be helpful

Description

• Clicking on the dark gray bar at the top of each page to "expand" will allow faster access to symptoms and first aid tips.
• Covers a variety of situations including, but not limited to, bleeding, drowning, choking, poisoning, and heatstroke.
• I could not find anything on seizures (i.e. epilepsy or diabetic causes) which are fairly common.
• Detailed lists for making your own first aid and disaster preparedness kits.

• The "pet info" section was nicely detailed, with many fields to fill in and keep track of your pet's health record.

Review of Jive Media iPhone app for Pet First Aid

Pet first aid classes and books are a great way to familiarize yourself with common emergencies and treatments, ideally before an emergency happens. Educating yourself on possibilities (animals can be so unpredictable) also helps to prevent emergencies in the first place.

The truth is, emergencies happen at any place, at any time. And, chances are, you won't have that helpful pet first aid book at the scene of the emergency. There is a good chance you will have your cell phone though, so you can call for help. If you have an iPhone and the Pet First Aid application by Jive Media, you can call for help and immediately look up emergency and CPR information; potentially saving your pet's life.

This app is easy to move around in and intuitive for the most part. Once I figured out that I need to click the dark gray bar at the top of the page to "expand" the menu, I could access the symptoms and treatment information more quickly. My first method of viewing was to page through the introduction and other pages to get to the must-find-it-now information.

Unless I missed it, there is no way to search for a condition or emergency tip. This would be a valuable addition to this app. For example, "bleeding" is listed under "Emergency Situations" and "wounds," both of which make sense. Each section contains different information, however, and tips could be missed if only one section was viewed. I also wanted to search for "seizures," since I couldn't find it under the main categories.

I especially liked the videos. They are to-the-point and useful for visualizing the information quickly. Since you don't need to download each video to watch (they are inside the app), viewing is smooth and quick.

While I couldn't find a couple things (seizures, scorpion stings), the large amount of information that is there is very complete and nicely cross-referenced.

Vendor's Site

Disclosure: The company provided free access to this service for review purposes. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.

Please note: this article has been provided for informational purposes only. If your pet is showing any signs of illness, please consult a veterinarian as quickly as possible.