When Santa Monica firefighters were called to a burning apartment, they found the lifeless body of a tiny __dog overcome by the heat and smoke on the floor of a bedroom. They pulled out the dog, named Nalu, but he wasn't breathing and didn't have a pulse.
For 20 minutes, firefighter Andrew Klein performed CPR including "mouth to snout" resuscitation on the 10-year-old bichon frise/Shih Tzu, while his owner knelt by thinking the little __dog had died. Firefighters also gave the dog oxygen through a specially designed mask for pets. And then a small miracle happened: he eventually regained consciousness, according to a Facebook post from the Santa Monica Fire Department.
“It was pretty amazing because I’ve been on a number of animal rescues like this that did not come out the same way that Nalu’s story did," Klein told KTLA. "It was definitely a win for the whole team and the department that we got him back.”
Nalu was taken to the vet where he spent 24 hours in an oxygen chamber and is now doing well.
"I stood there in shock, and then I followed them and was in shock," Nalu's owner, Crystal Lamirande, said. "I’m a nurse and now I know how family members feel when they watch us do CPR on their family members. It’s awful.”
Photographer Billy Fernando was on the scene and captured photos and videos of the rescue. His video shows firefighters patting Nalu and rubbing his side as they give him oxygen saying, "C'mon bud" and "Atta boy" as he starts to come around.
"This brave firemen (sic) named Andrew Klein from Santa Monica Fire Department went in for the rescue and gave the pet a CPR and took care of him back to life," he wrote on Facebook and Instagram. "Faith in humanity restored."
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Mary Jo DiLonardo writes about everything from health to parenting — and anything that helps explain why her dog does what he does.
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