In many of our articles, we recommend that you ask the vet when confronted with a tricky problem. But it isn’t always easy to determine whether the problem you’re experiencing warrants an appointment or a simple diet change. Paying for a vet can be expensive – especially when it’s unnecessary, so here’s some handy advice that should help you determine a real concern from a worry that you can probably correct yourself.

First things first, you should have a good idea of what’s normal behavior for your dog before you ask the vet for help. Your vet will probably want to ask some questions so you should know for example, your dog’s age, how it breathes after playing, how fast it eats, how often it naps, and how much water it drinks. Knowing things like this helps you determine when your dog’s behavior is out of character and should get some concerning attention.

Next, you should keep an out for obvious signs of illness:

· Bloody diarrhea, mucus filled diarrhea, or diarrhea that continues longer than a day.

· Day long vomiting.

· Loss of apetite.

· Temperature that’s out of the range of 100 - 102.5 degrees F.

· A wound that won’t stop bleeding even when you apply pressure.

· Wide open cuts and wounds.

· An injured eye.

· A snake bite (it doesn’t matter what kind of snake).

· A wild animal bite (bat, rat, fox, wolf, coyote, etc.)

· Gasping for air, coughing, excessive panting, or excessive sneezing.

· The sound of gurgling while breathing or a runny nose.

· Access to poisonous materials (antifreeze, rat poison, or insect repellents).

When you report these symptoms to your vet, don’t worry about giving her too many details. The more descriptive you can be, the better your vet can determine the problem and find a solution. At the very least, she can determine if an appointment is warranted.

Just be sure that once your vet sees your dog and prescribes medication or recommends a certain therapy, you make sure that you faithfully administer it. Quite often, dog owners fail to complete a recommended regimen once their dogs show signs of improved health. But failing to complete a regimen is what causes relapses (or worse, a more severe infection)!