Daily Chronicle | Donations breathe life into pets

Inside a cage at the DeKalb County Animal Shelter last week, a tired-looking black labradoodle with a small burn mark on his nose wagged his tail when he saw his owner, Jonathan Johnson.

Proto almost didn?t survive a fire May 24 in Johnson?s downtown Sycamore apartment; two cats and a turtle died. But Proto and other cats were revived with pet oxygen masks, which were donated to the Sycamore Fire Department.

?I?m just glad that the fire department had them,? Johnson said. ?Those masks are probably what saved [the animals].?

The masks were donated by Terry Delcore, a DeKalb resident and cat owner who saw an ad on TV for pet oxygen masks and was inspired to donate the kits to local fire departments in the past couple of years. Kits include small, medium and large oxygen masks designed especially for pets.

?It makes me feel good to know that something I donated really works,? she said.

The Sycamore Fire Department has pet oxygen masks on each engine and ambulance, said Assistant Chief Marc Doty. They?re not used often, but they play an important role when they are needed.

When Sycamore Fire Lt. Paul Rubeck entered the apartment above the Sycamore Moose Lodge in the 300 block of West State Street, he found plenty of smoke and Proto in a pet cage. Johnson and his fiancee, Peipei Lu, were not home.

Rubeck couldn?t see the dog until he was about four inches from his face. Proto wasn?t breathing, so Rubeck carried the dog out of the apartment and laid him on a cool spot on the ground.

?That was about the end of him,? Rubeck said.

But after Rubeck put the pet oxygen mask over Proto?s mouth and nose and pressed on the dog?s chest for about five minutes, Proto began to breathe and gasp for air.

Two other dogs, Auto and Chewy, and two cats, Lego and Diesel, made it safely out of the apartment. The animals were turned over to DeKalb County Animal Control and treated at a local veterinary clinic. Firefighters used the masks on two other cats, but the attempts were not successful.

With the temperature in the apartment and the amount of smoke, Rubeck said the animals that survived wouldn?t have lasted much longer.

?I really didn?t know if that dog was going to make it,? Rubeck said. ?That oxygen mask saved him. It really did.?

Delcore has donated the pet oxygen masks to DeKalb, Cortland, Genoa-Kingston, Malta and Sycamore fire departments. Each department also was given a pet first-aid kit. Additionally, Delcore said she?s given masks to DeKalb police.

?I?m an animal lover all the way around,? Delcore said.

The pet masks are necessary because it?s not healthy for firefighters to use mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on an animal. DeKalb Interim Fire Chief Eric Hicks said the mask is more of a cone shape, so it fits better over the snout of a pet.

Delcore said she wanted to ensure local fire departments had enough masks in case of an emergency. She?s happy to see them used to save any animal?s life.

?They?re basically helpless because the animals are inhaling smoke just as humans are,? she said. ?... It?s something that was needed and no one thinks about.?

Hicks said DeKalb fire has had to use the kits twice in 2012, including a May fire in Tilton Park in which several pets were at a house that caught fire.

Unlike humans, pets usually cannot easily escape from a burning structure and can become overcome by the smoke, Hicks said.

Bruce Kozlowski, chief of the Genoa-Kingston Fire Protection District, said the same oxygen used for humans is used for pets. The district has not had to use the masks thus far.

?We like having them,? he said. ?With as many pets that we have in our area, if we have had to use them, it?s good to have.?

Although he?s grateful for Delcore?s donation and the pets that were saved, Johnson and Lu are missing those that didn?t make it.

?It?s really hard not to have them all,? he said. ?The animals are our kids.?

? Daily Chronicle managing editor Kate Schott contributed to this report.

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