O2 for Fufu?

[BlueLight]

I hope to upgrade my C182 to a Columbia 400 in 2006. However, the benefits of flying in the lower FLs along w/ the 400's perfomance would work only when the wife leaves our beloved 7lb Havanese (that's a dog) home.

We love to travel together including dog, but we gotta keep the lil' Fufu oxygenated. We should agree and assume that flying at FL180 with a peeked hypoxic dog won't be good for the marriage (or the dog).

So, for you pet loving and pet traveling types, have you ever heard of any pet sized canula's or other solutions (aside from keeping it under 12500)?

 

[doug_or]

Well you don't have to worry about 12,500' at all as long as YOU've got O2. You're allowed to take humans in the back up to 15,000, so a few thou above that doesn't seem like a big deal. As long as you don't kill the damn thing, going up to 18 should just keep the damn thing quiet.

signed
a guy who doesn't own a dog

 

[Flying Illini]

I just did a quick google search for "dog on oxygen" but didn't come up with anything useful. If I were you I would go to my vet and bring it up. Ask how they put dogs on o2 when they are in surgery. He/she may be able to direct you to someone with some know-how or he may help you modify some cannulas or a mask for your dog (sometimes dogs breath through their mouth so a cannula may not work). Either way, it will take your dog a while to adjust to wearing and breathing with an aid.

Signed, a multiple dog owner.

ps. What a great problem to have! Enjoy the 400, looks like a blast!

 

[Lead Sled]

I remember seeing an O2 mask for a dog in a magazine article. As I remember, it was a home-made affair. I wish I could remember more details.

 

[Cardinal]

Another dog owner, dog lover here that devotes most of my day to keeping her happy and occupied. With that said:

Let Fufu pass out.

Animal life is quite sustainable at 18,000, I was hiking for hours above 14,000 this summer and didn't keel over. With a bit of acclimitization people climb 29000 ft. Mt. Everest without oxygen regularly. Heck when i was 2 my parents (on oxygen themselves) threw me in an unpressurized CASA 212, and climbed into the flight levels and let me pass out - no readily apparent brain damage.

Keeping the climb/descent rates slow would be my only other observation.

 

[cforst513]

...no readily apparent brain damage...

in whose opinion? :beer:

http://network.bestfriends.org/News/PostDetail.aspx?np=206 you could probably rig a way to keep that to Fufu's head so you don't have to hold it. or you can tranquilize the dog and just let it lay there with the mask over its nose. but i imagine that Fufu likes to look out the window and stuff. like it was mentioned earlier, go ask a vet and then get creative. i live in florida for most of the year, if you ever want to let me borrow your new plane....

 

[A Squared]

Animal life is quite sustainable at 18,000, I was hiking for hours above 14,000 this summer and didn't keel over. With a bit of acclimitization people climb 29000 ft. Mt. Everest without oxygen regularly.

Just for the record, life is not sustainable on the upper reaches of Everest. Anything above 8000 meters (about 26,000') is referred to as the "death zone", if you're there without O2, you're slowly dying. The folks that climb Everst without O2 have a very limited time above 8000 meters.

 

[9GClub]

You could buy a harness and a long rope and keep Fufu at 10,000.

Might need some goggles though.

 

[Gorilla]

The answer is simple, not a face mask or cannula. Since Fufu is a tiny 7lb dog, get a doggie carrier, one of the nylon jobs, and set it up so it leaks minimally. Have an O2 line enter at one end, and exhaust at the other - bingo, instant O2 tent. You may need to seal portions with rubber cement, but the overall O2 % will be quite high.

 

[9GClub]

. . . the overall O2 % will be quite high.

Try not to smoke.