How to Make a Pet First Aid Kit - Essential Items to Stop You Tearing Around the House Trying to Find Supplies

As you can probably tell by my title of this post, yes, I was running around the house trying to find supplies for my injured cat.

As my hubby and I were working outside, one of our cats was playing in the garden and then we heard a cat yowl and our cat came running to the door as we saw the tail end of another cat leave the yard under the fence.  First thing I thought, good job he has had all his shots!

Moo, as we call him, is very special as he was my "work in progress" cat since he was feral as a kitty.  (See his story here) He is totally the opposite now and very touchy feely and does everything to avoid conflict, so we felt he surprised another cat and the cat lashed out and created a wound on Moo's hip.

Luckily, he let us look at the wound and although I didn't see blood right away there was a gash.  We couldn't get to the Veterinarian and decided to at least do some first aid to prevent infection.  It was at this point I was running all over the house looking for supplies.

If You Have Pets, Don't Wait for an Emergency, Put Together or Purchase a Pet First Aid Kit


After gathering things and cleaning the wound, we decided it was time for a pet first aid kit.

So based on the things I needed that day, here is a basic list and you can add more to this kit as needed, but it is way easier to simply grab a bag and have everything you need in one spot.

Items You Will Need:

Little Scissors 
Tweezers 
toe nail clippers (for dogs and cats)
kwik stop for nail bleeds
bottle of eye wash - if dust or foreign stuff in their eye
gauze pads
roll of gauze - to wrap around your pet to keep gauze on wound
empty syringe 
pet muzzle
latex gloves
antiseptic safe for pets
old towel

Even if you only have a few of these items, it definitely saves running around the house.

Just keep them in a bag or a knapsack in a place you will remember.

Check out this video for additional ideas:

Moo Required an Empty Syringe, Scissors, Antiseptic and Gauze Pads

I had to run all over the house to find these things.  The drug stores will give you empty syringes, or your Vet office, luckily I had one.  They are truly handy for flushing a wound.  I used some hydrogen peroxide on the wound and then trimmed away the fur that was in the wound, then a gauze pad.

He is better now, but I decided it was time to create a first aid kit for pets, just like us humans, you never know when you will need these things.  We had a cabinet shelf with human first aid supplies, but not for our 3 cats.

You Can't Always Get to Your Veterinarian Right Away - First Aid is Essential

Sometimes you can't get to your Veterinarian right away, and if you can help comfortably inspect, sooth and comfort your pet with a bit of first aid, this will help.

If you are not a fan of getting all these supplies rounded up or would have to purchase each one, you can purchase a ready made first aid kit online with Amazon.  These hold everything you will need and can travel with you too.

It would have been much easier that day to simply grab a bag that had everything I needed, instead I ran around the house while my hubby held Moo with a dripping ugly wound.

Leaf Bag Chute - How to Make Quick Work of Leaves and Garden Debris - Saves Time

Usually in my yard, I am lucky enough that the leaves get blown out of our yard.  But not this year, and I don't know about you, but I always found those brown leaf bags awkward to fill.

You almost have to climb inside them to open them wide and then you need someone to hold them while you fill it.  Sounds good, unless you are doing this alone, then it is seriously awkward as half the leaves end up on the ground and it feels like you are working double time until it is half full and stabilized!

Leaf Bag Chute

It is such a simple and straight forward design but truly does the trick, especially if you do not have helping hands when it comes to raking time!

It helps to stabilize the bag and keep it open.  It folds flat when done so you can store it with your garden supplies and has plastic corrugation so that it repels wetness from wet grass, leaves and garden debris.

Although I don't have the same amount of leaves to deal with as my neighbours, I do use these garden bags for yard waste and weeds etc, and found using bags very awkward alone.  I used to get creative and pin them to the side of the shed, but this leaf chute, in my opinion is worth the investment.

Get the Bottom Corners of the Bag Filled

I always found the bag would try and fold itself again as I was standing there with a rake full of leaves, by using this leaf chute you can open the bag properly and the leaves can be more compacted to fill the corners.

The problem has always been, keeping the opening open.  Very frustrating to have a rake full of leaves or hands full of garden weeds and debris and have the bag fold over on itself.

Lay the Bag on Its Side if you Don't Have a Leaf Chute

One way I managed to fill bags without any aids or help was to lay an open bag on its side and pin down with a rock and simply slide weeds and debris into it until about 1/4 full, then stand it up.  But I do believe this leaf chute is a better option especially for leaves where you are not down on you knees in the garden but upright with a rake.

Giant Leaf 

 Scoop

As I searched for easier ways to scoop up leaves, I came across many styles of leaf scoops such as the one above.  You simply wear them like mitts and grab a pile of leave or garden debris to place in the bag.

So What if I Don't Have a Leaf Chute or a Scoop?

Here is what I do.  Rake the leaves into a pile.  Lay your open paper garden waste bag on its side with a rock to weigh it down and then take a snow shovel scoop and then shuffle the leaves sideways into the bag until about 1/4 full.  At this point it should stand on its own and you can continue with your filling.

I personally have found those lightweight snow scoop style shovels to be an awesome way to fill leaf bags.  A snow shovel scoop also gets wet leaves off the patio, which was always a pain with the rake.

Another option is to fill a container such as in the picture and then with help transfer to a garden waste bag if you prefer.

But at the end of the day, if you have a lot to deal with in your yard, investing in a couple of tools to make life easier is worth it.

How to Make a Trivet Out of Wine Corks - Wine Cork Trivet DIY

I always thought it was such a waste to simply throw out those wine corks once you opened a bottle of wine, but that doesn't have to be the case.

I have found all kinds of projects that can be done with these versatile corks once that bottle of wine has been enjoyed!

What you will Need:

Wood frame - any size - consider a wooden artist panel turned over or check online
lots of wine corks
wood glue
sharp knife to cut corks to fit


Step 1 - Find a Wood Frame.  I found mine in the Dollar Store.  It was in the arts and crafts section as a wooden canvas for painting on.  Simply turn it over and its a frame for a trivet.  You can also get them online as kits.

Wine Cork Frame and Supplies for Trivet

Step 2 - Once you have your wood frame prepped (sanded, stained and varnished) it is time to fill it with corks.

Step 3 - You can make patterns such as the one above, but since all my corks were different sizes, I decided to simply go around in a line until I hit the center. (This is mine below)

As you can see above, this is my wine cork trivet, and I simply started in the top left corner and using many different corks followed it around the outside and then worked my way inside.

Step 4 - Using wood glue, spread about an inch wide of glue for the line you are about to do.  Don't spread glue all over the surface unless you are super fast at this craft.  I preferred to take my time and do a line at a time and press hard.

Make sure they fit in tight.  Cut them if needed to fit in small spaces.  You don't want any spaces left anywhere.

Step 5 - Stack heavy books on top and leave for a couple of days.

Now You are Done!

I gave this cork trivet to a wine lover for a bridal shower gift.

If you love the idea of this you can get the basic kits online, you can even purchase wine corks online.  I asked a few restaurants if they could save them for me, and they did.  But if you prefer to get it all in one place, ordering online is a great start.

Natural Wine Corks from Around the USA

This is an affordable way to gain a collection of wine corks so you can get started right away.

I love to go hunting for my supplies, so I started with the wooden canvas frame from the dollar store, and I stained it with coffee for a rich color, and then varnished it.

I found all the corks in local restaurants, and try to have the printed words facing upwards so this can also be a conversation piece.

Wine Cork Craft Ideas

I found this awesome craft page full of ideas that would be perfect for gifts using recycled wine corks, check it out  Wine Cork Craft Ideas There are so many more ideas for using everything from a single cork to a huge supply of them.

So, remember, don't throw them out.  If you go to your friends for dinner, ask if they can keep the cork for you.  Wine has swept the nation and so has the amount of corks, so reuse them, don't throw them away!