My husband and I take care of a semi feral cat colony. We also have a cat and a lovebird at home, and occasionally foster. Last week I finally spent some cash to properly equip our first pet emergency kit, because once again we had to treat an injury on a weekend, and we can't afford to take every stray to the emergency clinic (too far, too expensive). While doing that, I spent some time re-reading up on basic pet first aid... On the internet. 😬 Sometimes it makes me cringe how much I trust the internet. 🙄 So Im asking the rl folks instead, because you never know what you don't know.

EDIT: The colony is spayed and neutered. At our expense. No Im not in the US. No Im not asking for medical advice. Im asking for FIRST AID errors, aka: before you get a pet to the vet. Thanks in advance!

EDIT 2: SO MANY THANKS to all who helped with tips, warnings, and also with advice about not watering birds, lol. Know that you are appreciated! In my experience, vets rarely sit down and answer practical questions (say, about how the fuck to administer the prescribed meds to a feral), it's always the techs who will take time to teach and talk me through things, so yous all rock! Here's some distinguished members of the colony as a thanks. Much love from across the pond!

tl;dr: You guys have probably seen some horror cases. Gimme your worse. I want to get scared and learn along the way. What's the biggest first aid blunders pet owners make that could be avoided?