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The Exam RoomBy The VeterinaryPracticeNow Desk2 min readAugust 31, 2026
The first aid advice you give on the phone just got an evidence base
RECOVER released evidence-based first aid guidelines for the window between recognizing an emergency and reaching care.
A panicked owner calls: their dog just ate a bottle of ibuprofen, or collapsed from heatstroke, or is choking. What you tell them in that moment now has an evidence base.
The repeated thing across emergency calls
RECOVER just released the 2026 RECOVER First Aid Guidelines, evidence and consensus based guidelines for what to do in the prehospital period, according to Veterinary Practice News. The guidelines address "heatstroke, choking, burns, noncaustic toxin ingestion, hypoglycemia, and severe extremity bleeding," the publication reports. They include recognition algorithms and instructional figures that "veterinary teams can use when teaching first aid to pet owners, first responders, shelters, groomers, boarding facilities," trainers, and other caregivers, according to the guidelines.
Veterinary Practice News reports the guidelines were "developed using systematic literature searches, evidence synthesis, assessment of evidence quality, expert consensus, and an international commenting period." The development work "addressed 16 PICO questions and resulted in 50 treatment recommendations," according to the publication.
Jamie Burkitt, DVM, DACVECC, is "guidelines co-chair of the RECOVER Initiative and professor of clinical small animal emergency and critical care at the Weill School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis," according to Veterinary Practice News. She told the publication that "animal emergencies often begin before a patient reaches a veterinary hospital." She said "these guidelines give veterinary teams a rigorous, practical framework to help people recognize urgent problems, provide appropriate first aid, and get dogs and cats to veterinary care with the best chances for a good outcome."
What the pattern predicts
The recommendations are written for lay caregivers but designed to be translated by DVMs. The guidelines give veterinary teams a framework for what to tell clients to do before they arrive.
For the associate, you have evidence-based guidance for phone triage. For the owner-DVM, the algorithms and instructional figures can be integrated into client education. For the relief vet, you have a reference for emergency phone advice that's graded and systematic.
The prehospital window finally has graded evidence.
Daniel J. Fletcher, PhD, DVM, DACVECC, is "president of the RECOVER Initiative," according to Veterinary Practice News. He told the publication the guidelines "extend that mission beyond the hospital by giving veterinary teams and animal caregivers evidence-informed guidance they can use when minutes matter, while keeping animals moving toward the veterinary care they need."
What would prove us wrong
Veterinary Practice News reports "the guidelines are available through the Wiley Online Library." If the recommendations turn out to be too complex for lay caregivers to execute under stress, or if practices don't adopt them, the gap between evidence and what actually gets said on emergency calls stays open. The thing to watch: whether the algorithms actually get used, or whether they sit in the library.
The thing to watch next
RECOVER developed these guidelines using the same rigorous process the organization used for its other guidelines, according to Veterinary Practice News. If the model works for first aid, the question is what gets the treatment next.
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