1799.109.
(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(1) California residents receive comfort and unconditional love on a daily basis from their household pets, particularly dogs and cats.
(2) California residents benefit from the special support, comfort, guidance, companionship, and therapy provided by dogs and cats.
(3) Pets provide critical support to many California residents with disabilities.
(4) Pets provide assistance and aid in the official duties of military
personnel, peace officers, law enforcement agencies, fire departments, and search-and-rescue agencies.
(5) Personnel of some fire districts and other first responder agencies currently provide stabilizing, life-saving emergency care to dogs and cats, which violates the Veterinary Medicine Practice Act.
(6) In enacting this section, it is the intent of the Legislature to authorize emergency medical service providers to provide, on a voluntary basis, basic first aid for dogs and cats in accordance with policies and procedures designed and implemented by the employers of those emergency medical services providers.
(b) Notwithstanding the Veterinary Medicine Practice Act, as set forth in Chapter 11 (commencing with
Section 4800) of Division 2 of the Business and Professions Code, an emergency medical services provider may provide basic first aid to dogs and cats to the extent the provider is authorized by the employer to provide the care. Requirements governing the circumstances under which emergency medical services providers may provide basic first aid to dogs and cats may be specified in the employer’s policies governing the provision of care.
(c) An emergency medical services provider and his or her employer are not liable for civil damages, and an emergency medical services provider is not subject to criminal prosecution or professional disciplinary action, for an act or omission resulting from the provision of basic first aid to dogs and cats pursuant to this section, unless the act or omission constitutes willful or wanton
misconduct.
(d) Notwithstanding any other law, this section does not impose a duty or obligation upon an emergency medical services provider to provide care to a dog or cat.
(e) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1) “Cat” means a small domesticated feline animal that is kept as a pet. “Cat” does not include nondomesticated wild animals.
(2) “Dog” means a domesticated canine animal owned for companionship, service, therapeutic, or assistance purposes.
(3) “Emergency medical services provider” means a person who is certified or licensed to provide emergency medical services.
(4) “Employer” means an entity or organization that employs or enlists the services of an emergency medical services provider.
(5) (A) “Basic first aid to dogs and cats” means providing immediate medical care to a dog or cat by an emergency medical services provider, in an emergency situation to which the emergency medical services provider is responding, through means that include all of the following: the following means:
(i) Administering oxygen.
(ii)Opening and manually maintaining an airway.
(ii) Managing ventilation by mask.
(iii) Manually clearing the upper airway, not including tracheal intubation or surgical procedures.
(iii)
(iv) Giving mouth-to-snout or mouth-to-barrier ventilation.
(iv)Managing ventilation by mask.
(v) Controlling hemorrhage with direct pressure.
(vi)Immobilizing fractures.
(vii)Bandaging.
(vi) Bandaging for the purpose of stopping bleeding.
(B) “Basic first aid to dogs and cats” is intended to enable the dog or cat to be transported as soon as practical to a veterinarian for treatment. “Basic first aid to
dogs and cats” does not include care provided in response to an emergency call made solely for the purpose of tending to an injured dog or cat, unless a person’s life could be placed in danger attempting to save the life of the dog or cat.