We covered a story last week about a Texas firefighter who rescued and saved the life of a Chihuahua by performing CPR<\/a>. This certainly wasn’t the first time a dog’s life has been saved by CPR and probably won’t be the last. More recently, though, another life-saving CPR story appeared in the news. This time involving a pet lizard.<\/p>\n

62-year-old Sherrie Dolezal of Salem, Oregon came home from work one day to discover her pet bearded dragon (which is a lizard, by the way) was unconscious. Dolezal had removed some rocks, driftwood and other items from the bearded dragon’s aquarium just one day earlier and forgot to place some of them back. This prevented the bearded dragon from being able to climb out of the water, at which point it drowned in the pool.<\/p>\n

The fast-thinking reptile owner took the bearded dragon out of the water and began performing chest compressions and mouth ventilations. In an interview with the Statesman Journal<\/em>, Dolezal says she couldn’t remember how many compressions and ventilations she performed but that it eventually worked. \u00a0The blue-faced bearded dragon regained its color and began breathing on its own, thanks to the CPR performed by its owner.<\/p>\n

The self-proclaimed “reptile rescuer” lives in a quaint subdivision of Salem, Oregon with 21 lizards, a Russian tortoise and 3 dogs. Dolezal is fond of her reptiles and often rescues them from owners who no longer want them. Rather than letting them loose, she recommends owners contact her first.<\/p>\n

“I rescue bearded dragons I call myself the Reptile Rescuer. So many people get them and think they\u2019re cute when they\u2019re babies, and then they just ignore them or let them loose to die. People don\u2019t know what to do with them when they get big. I want people to know I\u2019ll take them in and find homes for them or keep them, and I\u2019ll even give them mouth-to-mouth if that\u2019s what it takes<\/em>.” Dolezal told the Statesman Journal.<\/p>\n

We heard about dogs and cats being saved by CPR, but it’s pretty rare to hear of lizards being saved. This just goes to show that CPR — whether it’s on a human or animal — involves the same principle of promoting blood circulation to and around the heart. This circulation combined with forced ventilations is often enough to reset the heart’s normal rhythm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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