Business outfits first responders with specialized oxygen masks for pets

Kalispell resident Jessica Saxten’s first reaction to the Missoulian’s heartwarming photograph of the tiny gray kitten receiving oxygen from a Missoula firefighter was similar to many others’.

“That was a tear-jerking photo,” she said.

Photographer Tom Bauer’s picture of the tiny survivor – later named Smokey – receiving oxygen from Missoula firefighter Brett Cunniff after being pulled from a house fire last March captivated a wide Internet audience and earned Cunniff a few more than 15 minutes of fame.

But Saxten had another response, too. “Oh my gosh,” she thought.“We need to do a donation right now.”

Saxten is owner of the Invisible Fence Brand of Western Montana pet containment company, which works through its national Pet Oxygen Mask Donation Program to outfit fire trucks and first responders throughout the country with specialized oxygen mask kits for pets.

Invisible Fence Brand started “Project Breathe” several years ago and has donated more than 10,000 kits nationwide.

When Saxten saw Bauer’s photo of Smokey, it helped spur a renewed effort to make more donations.

“Truly, it was such a emotional picture and I just thought,‘Well that’s right in my backyard,’ ” she said.

The pet oxygen mask kits are manufactured by the Wag’N Enterprises and include a small, medium and large mask to fit over kittens’ whiskers and snouts.

“You can even put them on a bird,” Saxten said. “The regular oxygen mask will work, but if you get a really small kitten or really large dog, it’s just not fashioned for a pet. I am hoping to raise awareness that there is an option for pets, God forbid something happens to it.”

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Saxten, her husband Jack Saxten and brother Seth Williams own Invisible Fence. The Saxtens live in the Flathead Valley, while Williams works out of Missoula.

“We primarily deal with containment of cats and dogs. We do other solutions like pet access, pet doors. And indoor solutions, so the dogs will stay away from kitty litter,” Saxten said.

The Saxtens are all animal lovers, too, and integrate pet safety of all kind into their business plan.

Along with the oxygen mask kit donations, they hand out pet alert stickers for owners to display so firefighters know if there are pets in a house.

Invisible Fence’s website for the project estimates at least 50,000 pets are lost in house fires each year.

When Saxten makes a donation, she takes her 11-year-old chocolate Lab, Kimo, to demonstrate for departments how the masks work. Invisible Fence made numerous donations around that state so far, but it’s not always easy to track down departments to offer donations, Saxten said.

Saxten wants to get the word out to any first responders that Invisible Fence is ready to make more donations. They have several kits ready to be donated now.

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Saxten has helped out with the Missoula Fire Department already. The department’s two ladder trucks are equipped with the pet oxygen mask kits thanks to Project Breathe, said Ben Webb, Emergency Medical Services coordinator for the city of Missoula.

“One will go on every structure fire call and the oxygen kits for pets are located on one of the trucks. We have a larger size for dogs and a smaller size for cats or you could use it for smaller Chihuahua dogs or something like that,” Webb said.

The masks have been used a handful of times because it’s common to find pets in a house.

“I don’t know what the percentage is, but it seems like most homes have pets in them. A dog or a cat – several years ago we took an iguana out of a house fire,” he said.

In Smokey’s case, it was firefighter Cunniff who pulled Smokey from the fire and started the oxygen treatment with a human mask from the fire truck. He then handed the kitten to an ambulance crew that continued treating Smokey and eventually took her to Pruyn Veterinary Clinic where she made a full recovery.

The situation and time elements dictate which equipment gets used.

“Obviously, our priority is human life. If we’re really busy, we’ll just grab (pets) and take them out. We always have an ambulance (at structure fires) and we’ll take the animal to the ambulance medic crew and they will do what they can do,” Webb said.

Donations are crucial to outfit fire trucks and crews with the specialty animal equipment.

“I would doubt that it’s a line item in the budget,” Webb said of the kits, but if people wanted to make a donation of that sort of thing, he recommends talking with rural departments or emergency response vehicles.

“It may not be bad to see if they would be on board with carrying something like that, but that would up to their management and up to their administration,” Webb said.

It is Saxten’s goal to provide every fire department and rescue unit with a kit.

“We’d like people in the community to know there is an option. We’re trying to help pets,” she said