Ask the Dog Doctor’s Veterinarian
One of the best bits of advice veterinarians can give to their clients is that they keep the most careful track of the health of their pets, especially those that have passed middle age, through periodic physical checkups. Your veterinarian can make some tests that may be instrumental in prolong-in your pet’s life by many years.
In many areas, heartworms have become a problem requiring yearly tests. This is a good opportunity for booster inoculations, the heart-worm test, as well as a physical examination. In most cases, you as the concerned owner will recognize the telltale signs indicating a problem before the veterinarian even with his or her thorough examination. All too often an owner brings in a pet with a problem observable only at home, such as drinking or sleeping excessively. The dog is presented with no information given from the owner, Who wants an examination to be done.
All too often one member of a family brings in the family dog forgot the problem and fails to mention several others to the vet. This results in another member phoning to ask other questions or to supply other information, which at times indicates a problem more serious than that for which the dog was brought in.
The veterinarian can determine the presence of some diseases by temperature readings and other signs. He or she can detect external parasites, intestinal parasites, heartworms, skin disease, ear canker, kidney disease, teeth, overweight and underweight conditions, eye defects, and deafness. All these defects need correcting, if possible. Any of these conditions can shorten a dog’s life. When you take your pet to the veterinarian for a periodic health examination, take along a small sample of stool and a urine specimen. To catch the urine from a dog, take it for a walk on a short lead and, for a male, hold a cup under his penis when he lifts his leg; for a female, push a small shallow dish under her when she squats.
Let us consider how a periodic health examination can prolong the life of your dog. Suppose you know of nothing wrong. All your notice is that Rover hasn’t the pep he used to have. You take in samples of his urine and feces and ask your veterinarian to examine him. But don’t expect the whole examination to be worthwhile unless you have brought the urine and stool, because so many facts may be learned from them.
The veterinarian also may draw a blood sample. Then screening tests are performed on these three samples most often in a laboratory on the premises by the veterinarian or his or her technician/assistant. The urine is checked for protein, blood, bile pigments, and many other factors. The blood will indicate the presence of blood parasites as well as relative numbers of the many types of cells that represent. The stool can indicate parasites. The veterinarian might also suggest other tests which, depending on his or her facilities, may have to be run in an outside laboratory. X-rays, cardiograms, and hosts of other procedures may be used as necessary. ‘Then from the information you have supplied coupled with a physical examination and the laboratory findings, the veterinarian can be assured of a problem or suspect a problem or find the dog to be normal.
Even if a pet appears to be in excellent condition, any concerned owner of a middle-aged dog should have a series of tests performed in anticipation of problems in the future. When a problem occurs as the result of aging, another series of tests will, in comparison with the results of earlier tests when a dog was normal, be helpful in diagnosis. Most tests have a spread so that any value in that spread is normal. If your dog runs a very low normal and then, due to disease, shows a very high normal or even slightly above normal, it may be of great importance.
The number of diseases that can be uncovered in dogs is legion. Fortunately, the majority of them can either be eliminated or relieved by proper care and medication. A proper examination, which reveals many diseases in their early stages when treatment is most effective, is one of the surest ways to ensure the health and longevity of your pet.
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