Dog Illnesses Symptoms and Preventions

There are a large variety of dog illnesses, symptoms and possible causes and you need to be able to quickly spot the changes in your dog to help tackle the illness as soon as possible.

The first step in learning how to do this is to examine your dog’s usual healthy behaviour. Is your dog affectionate or distant around humans? Do they own the house or curl up under furniture and hide? Are they usually energetic or do they get excited over certain things or at certain times of the day? Do they tend to sleep a lot or paw around the house for hours on end?

Remember, only you know your dog completely. The vet isn’t going to know what your dog’s behaviour is like within a normal comfortable home environment. The closest he gets to see your dog’s behaviour is under stressful conditions at the veterinary clinic once a year. You need to be able to provide as much information as possible on how your dog’s mood and behaviour has changed in order for your vet to give a complete diagnostic and understand the severity of the condition or the pain.

Examine your dog’s eyes and nose. Most dogs have bright excited eyes that scream out personality, get to know your dog’s eyes and what they are saying to you. When a dog becomes ill, his eyes become listless and uninterested, or promote the message “Pity me” when they are feeling pain or are uncomfortable. Another easy way to test is to lightly touch the nose. When investigating dog illnesses, symptoms like a dry or warm nose can be an indicator that something is not right especially if there is also a discharge from the nasal passage.

Make a good note of your dog’s natural smell, wet dog smell is fine as they all can create a bit of havoc in the garden at times and come back a bit bedraggled and wet. If your dog has a particular or unusual foul smell it can be an indicator of digestive problems such as worms and will need to get it looked at as soon as possible.

One of the key preventative techniques is vaccination. Vaccines for virus’s such as Parvovirus are potentially life saving against fatal and extremely damaging illnesses. Make sure your dog goes for regular check ups with a vet and is up to date on all their vaccinations. Dog Illnesses can be easily preventable with regular care and attention and even noticing the symptoms and changes in your dog as early as possible can dramatically help your dog maintain good health and recover quickly.

Other ways to prevent your dog from contracting an illness is general good practice guidelines when out and about. These include keeping your dog away from strays and faeces, and keeping on top of pests such as fleas, as these can transport many diseases and infections between animals and can also carry worms.

So take good care of your family friend!