How to Tell if your Dog is Sick

How to Tell if your Dog is Sick

If your dog contracts pneumonia you will know that it is sick. But unless you know more than that, there is little that you can do for the dog. On the other hand, when you know something about the types of diseases and their causes and your pet becomes ill, you can handle the situation more intelligently. You may be able to recognize the symptoms well enough to diagnose the condition and often treat it yourself. If you do not recognize the symptoms, or if it is a serious disease that you cannot treat, you will realize the importance of having the pet properly cared for by a veterinarian. You will also be much better able to give the veterinarian the specific, accurate information he or she needs to treat the dog quickly and effectively.

Knowledge of the causes of the diseases to which our dogs are subject and of the ways they contract them is even more important from the standpoint of prevention. Many diseases can be avoided by observing a few simple precautions. Some of these maladies, once contracted, are difficult or impossible to cure. To the pet owner and veterinary medicine, the prevention of disease in dogs is as important as it is in humans. A dog that is kept well is a good pet, a lively, active companion.

A simple understanding of the basic facts about the disease is sufficient for pet owners. You don’t need to learn and remember a series of medical names or technical terms. You should know the broad general classifications into which all diseases are divided, be familiar with the common characteristics of each, and have a general knowledge of the way each affects dogs. This is hardly too much to expect of any person who is concerned with his or her dog’s welfare.

To most pet owners all dog diseases are more or less alike the result, they think, of some vague thing called “germs.” Actually, of course, there are several distinct types of diseases, and they are reclassified according to their causes. Some are caused by bacteria, some by viruses, and others by fungi, or parasites, or deficiencies. To understand the diseases themselves it is necessary to know something about these causative agents.

Ways to know how to tell if your dog is Sick

• The eyes of a sick dog would be swelled along with discharges.
• Running nose with a crusting surface.
• Ears may often be seen shaking, discharging debris, being scratched or twitched, and may even emit odor.
• The ill dog generally coughs, sneezes creates a gagging sound, and even vomits.
• Suffer from short breaths, irregular patterns of breathing, and such. The duration of the panting the dog is longer than usual.
• The change in the color of the bowels, irregular pattern of defecation, bloody stools, or presence of parasites in the feces.
• Change in the amount of food and water intake
• Change in weight.
• Change in the frequency of urination. Changes in the color, amount, and incidence of staining in the urine.

A very important symptom of the dog being sick is its significant behavioral change.

See more: How to Untrain your Dog