IMPORTANT UPDATE!
The RECOVER Initiative has published the updated 2024 guidelines.
Veterinary CPR Guidelines by Experts, for Everyone
Less than 6% of dogs and less than 20% of cats that experience cardiopulmonary arrest (CPA) survive to hospital discharge, while survival in people is over 20%. Until the advent of evidence-based guidelines and standardized training in human medicine, survival in people was similar to animals. In 2011, the Reassessment Campaign on Veterinary Resuscitation (RECOVER) initiative, a collaborative project supported by the Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society (VECCS) and the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care (ACVECC), developed the first evidence-based consensus guidelines on CPR in dogs and cats.
The original RECOVER Domain papers and Guidelines were published in 2012 and since that time nearly 100,000 people have completed online RECOVER CPR training. Over 15,000 of these individuals have become RECOVER Certified BLS Rescuers® and over 13,000 have become RECOVER Certified ALS Rescuers® by completing in-person Rescuer Certification based on the 2012 Guidelines.
The RECOVER Initiative has updated treatment recommendations for CPR in dogs and cats over recent years. RECOVER will provide updates in Q2 2024 on treatment recommendations for Basic Life Support, Advanced Life Support, and CPR-centered Monitoring in dogs and cats using the rigorous GRADE methodology for evidence evaluation.
Links to open-access papers detailing these treatment recommendations will be available below, along with the updated 2024 RECOVER CPR Guidelines and the Methods paper for our updated methodology.
2024 RECOVER CPR Guidelines
The Guidelines paper is a consensus guidelines paper that contains treatment recommendations from the BLS, ALS, and Monitoring Domains. The Guidelines paper contains images and algorithms designed to help veterinary professionals learn to perform high-quality, evidence-based CPR techniques in dogs and cats. The CPR Algorithm for Dogs and Cats is also available in poster format for use as a cognitive aid in the clinical setting.
2024 Basic Life Support
The Basic Life Support domain paper contains detailed background information and a consensus on the science regarding each clinical question addressed within the BLS subject area. Treatment recommendations are listed for each clinical question as well as accompanying justification and ideas for future study directions. Some clinical questions pertinent to BLS are addressed in the Monitoring domain paper.
2024 Advanced Life Support
The Advanced Life Support domain paper contains detailed background information and a consensus on the science regarding each clinical question addressed within the ALS subject area. Treatment recommendations are listed for each clinical question as well as accompanying justification and ideas for future study directions. Many clinical questions pertinent to ALS are addressed in the Monitoring domain paper.
2024 Monitoring
The Monitoring domain paper contains detailed background information and a consensus on the science regarding each clinical question addressed within the area of monitoring in the CPR and Post-Cardiopulmonary Arrest periods. Treatment recommendations are listed for each clinical question as well as accompanying justification and ideas for future study directions.
2024 RECOVER Initiative Methods Paper
The Methods paper serves to describe the years-long processes that made the 2024 RECOVER CPR Guidelines and domain papers a reality. The methods were based on the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation) approach to evidence evaluation and consensus guideline development. The RECOVER Initiative continues to use methods described in this paper to create more evidence-based treatment recommendations for life-threatening events in veterinary species.
Prevention & Preparedness
The Prevention & Preparedness domain paper contains detailed information regarding each clinical question addressed within the area of prevention & preparedness for CPR in the 2012 RECOVER publication. Evidence has been evaluated for an update in this domain area; treatment recommendation development is underway with publication expected in 2025.
Coming in 2025
Post-Cardiopulmonary Arrest Care
The Post-Cardiopulmonary Arrest domain paper contains detailed information regarding each clinical question addressed within the area of PCA care in the 2012 RECOVER publication. Evidence has been evaluated for an update in this domain area; treatment recommendation development is underway with publication expected in 2025.
Coming in 2025
Guidelines Committee
Learn about the specialists involved in creating the Guidelines
