DOG HEALTH

Part of being a respon­si­ble pup­py or dog own­er is know­ing when to call the vet. So many peo­ple let things go and have a “wait and see” atti­tude when their pet has some­thing wrong. Some­times, “wait and see” is fine, oth­er times it can be the dif­fer­ence between life and death. With many things, the soon­er caught, the more effec­tive and even less expen­sive treat­ment can be. Younger dogs, old­er dogs or dogs with a con­di­tion that can affect how it responds to ill­ness can suc­cumb faster than a young, healthy dog. Age and over­all health play a fac­tor in how a dog will respond to an ill­ness, acci­dent, etc.

Your vet should be you first ally when con­cern­ing the health of your dog. Try to use a vet will­ing to work with you and who seems gen­er­al­ly con­cerned about your pets. Just like with human doc­tors, there are vets who are very ded­i­cat­ed to their pro­fes­sion and oth­ers who are not. Hav­ing a good rela­tion­ship with your vet is a key ele­ment in the health and main­te­nance of your dog. If for some rea­son I have to leave a clin­ic my pets are seen at (like when my fam­i­ly moved), I will think noth­ing of inter­view­ing var­i­ous clin­ics to ensure my pets will find some­one as car­ing as the peo­ple we had to leave.

With the Inter­net as pop­u­lar as it is, many peo­ple go there for infor­ma­tion before the vet. Though the per­son may get advice, it may be total­ly incor­rect. Many con­di­tions have sim­i­lar symp­toms. What if some­one says their dog had the same symp­toms and was fine in a cou­ple days but your dog’s symp­toms are of some­thing poten­tial­ly dead­ly? Even vets on line can­not see your dog to exam­ine, runs tests, etc. These are vital in prop­er diag­no­sis. Rely­ing sole­ly on infor­ma­tion from mes­sage board posts, etc., is not the best way to find out what is wrong with your dog.

There are quite a few instances when you should call your vet. He may tell you to mon­i­tor the sit­u­a­tion for a few days, give you an appoint­ment or refer you to an emer­gency clin­ic. Let us look at some:

* Always call your vet should you think or know a car has hit your pet. Even if you do not think the wheels touched him, get him in! If your vet is not open, find the clos­est emer­gency vet clinic.
* Always call your vet should you sus­pect your dog has eat­en a tox­in. Things like antifreeze can kill in tiny amounts. Onions, choco­late, alco­hol and many plants are tox­ic in vary­ing amounts. Tylenol (aceta­minophen) and Ibupro­fen can be dead­ly, as can oth­er human medicines.
* Always call your vet if you sus­pect your dog has had a seizure.
* Always call your vet should you sus­pect your dog has swal­lowed a for­eign body.
* Always call the vet if you pet has been in a fight — espe­cial­ly if you sus­pect a wild ani­mal or you do not know what ani­mal your pet tan­gled with. Even if you see no bite, call. Rabies is always a con­cern as is infec­tion from bites
* Sud­den weight gain or loss should be alert­ed to your vet.
* Sud­den shifts in tem­pera­ment – like going from nor­mal­ly very sweet to aggres­sive – can be a sign of prob­lems, even medical.
* Should you find any lumps or bumps when exam­in­ing your dog (you should exam­ine your dog week­ly when your groom) call the vet.
* If your dog has been off food, water or act­ing lethar­gic for twen­ty-four hours or more, call the vet. A young pup­py or senior dog should be called in soon­er. Though one missed meal may not be an emer­gency – look for oth­er signs of illness.
* Should your dog be vom­it­ing or have abdom­i­nal ten­der­ness or swelling, call the vet.
* Should you notice lame­ness and limp­ing ‑whether or not there was an injury. If you notice lame­ness when get­ting up, stiff­ness in mov­ing, etc., call.
* Ask your vet about the signs of bloat. Large and giant breeds are more prone, but it can hap­pen to any dog. Indi­ca­tors of bloat are abdom­i­nal swelling and dis­com­fort. If allowed to go on even for a few hours can be deadly.
* Diar­rhea for more than twen­ty-four hours or diar­rhea with blood should be an alert to call the vet.
* Rash­es, falling out fur, exces­sive shed­ding or chew­ing at spots on the body should be brought to your vet’s attention.
* Should the eyes look hazy or your dog seem to have trou­ble see­ing or there is an abnor­mal dis­charge from the eye, call the vet.
* Bad breath and yel­low teeth indi­cate den­tal issues – though not an emer­gency should be addressed. How­ev­er, if the breath smells sweet, there could be oth­er prob­lems. Pale gums can be signs of a seri­ous problem.
* Bad odors, dis­charge and crud in the ear could sig­nal a problem.
* Any­thing that seems out of the ordi­nary for your dog should be cause for concern.
* Know your dog and all his nor­mal habits. In my book, it is bet­ter to get the ani­mal in and spend the mon­ey to find out noth­ing is seri­ous­ly wrong than to let some­time go for days and turn into some­thing very seri­ous. Fast act­ing is often the key in fast recoveries.