The owners of any dog should always be monitoring their dog’s health, because our four legged friends can pick something up from another animal, and without the dog illness symptoms to check for, it may go unnoticed. It would be nice if they were able to speak to us about it, but no such luck, so keep an eye out for any trouble.

Symptoms dog illness can be any of the following:

How fast their heart rate is
What their respitory system rate is
Is their temperature higher than normal

You can get your canine’s heart rate by putting your hand over their heart or on the inside of their back leg and measure their pulse, which is between 60 – 160 beats a minute.

A canine’s temperature is best determined by using a digital thermometer. If you want to check their respitory rate, then moisten one of your fingers and place it by their nose. You can then feel when they exhale. The average respitory rate is between 10 – 30 breaths per minute. You can also put your hand on their chest and count the number of times the chest is inflated per minute.

The first thing to keep an eye on is their weight as it is one of the dog illness symptoms. Are they gaining weight even though they are not eating as much ? Or have they lost weight and are still eating the same amount of food ?

Another tell tale factor of dog illness signs symptons is their appetite. Have they lost some or all of their appetite (maybe it is very hot outside). If your dog has been put on some new medication recently that could be the reason for their increased or decreased appetite, but if they do not eat for two days please call your vet because that could be one of the dog illnesses symptoms.

Normally our canines will vomit occasionally because they ingested someting they should not have, so you can sometimes see them eating grass so they can purge what is troubling them. This case is not typically one of the dog illnesses symptoms. You should however take your dog to a vet if they vomit frequently, as this is probably one of the dog illness signs and symptoms.

If your dog is having more accidents than normal than it might be a symptoms dog illness because they are probably drinking more water than usual. If it is not real warm outside then they might have dog illness signs symptoms of kidney disease or diabetes. If this is the case then call your vet to find out if there is anything wrong.

Looking to find out if your dog is sick, then visit Dogs-Are-Family.com to find the best advice on symptoms dog illness for the dog in your family.

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Diarrhea, very simply, can be defined as too much water in the feces. Too much water can end up in the feces several ways. These include:

If the intestines are over full with food, they can no longer absorb them. The common factors that create this problem are over eating, stress and rapid changes in your dogs diet. In the case of over eating, the stomach and intestines may not produce enough enzymes in order to properly breakdown the food. With changes in your dogs diet, the stomach and intestines do not have sufficient time to produce enzymes that can adjust to the new food introduced. Finally, stress can create diarrhea as the stomach becomes upset, creating a fluctuation in the amount and type of enzymes produced. In all three of these situations, the intestines hold onto the food particles which then hold onto water in the intestines, which can not be absorbed.

If a dog has an infection or has eaten food from the trash, excess water can be present in the intestines which results in diarrhea. This situation can also be caused by intestinal parasites, E. coli and Salmonella.

For many dogs, diarrhea is caused by over eating, stress, eating from the trash and intestinal parasites and in many cases does not cause severe illness. However, diarrhea can be the result of a serious systemic illness and in this case should be taken to a veterinarian immediately.

The visit to the Veterinarian

Many dogs with simple diarrhea may not need a trip to the veterinarian. If a dog has mild diarrhea that is not making it uncomfortable, has no other symptoms, and does not otherwise feel bad, it is OK to wait 24-36 hours to see a veterinarian. Many cases of simple diarrhea will resolve on its own. If a dog has diarrhea and seems uncomfortable, if the diarrhea appears bloody or like tar, if the dog has other symptoms, or seems sick, then it is wise to see the veterinarian right away. Even if the diarrhea does not go away any faster after the veterinary visit, the veterinarian can evaluate the dog and make sure nothing more serious is going on and can give medication to make the dog more comfortable.

The veterinarian will require a sample of your dogs stool. This can either be done by you simply collecting a fresh sample from home no older than 30-40 minutes before your vet visit. If this is not possible, your veterinarian can collect the sample in the office. After the sample is collected, it will undergo many different tests including:

Fecal Flotation – This test searches for intestinal parasites

A direct fecal smear to check for red blood cells, white blood cells and abnormal or unusual bacteria.

A fecal smear with abnormal bacteria (the ones that look like tennis racquets)

When diarrhea, vomiting, blood stools and a very sick dog has been experiencing symptoms for several days, the veterinarian will want to perform x-rays and blood tests in order to check for other systemic illnesses that could be causing the diarrhea.

Heather Fox is an experience veterinarian and passionate teacher on Clivir.com where you can find more of her lessons about Dog Atopic Dermatitis Causes and Dog Parvovirus Treatment.

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