Veterinarians' Guide to Your Dog's Symptoms

by: MICHAEL S. DVM GARVEY, ANNE E. DVM HOHENHAUS, JOHN E. DVM PINCKNEY

Topics include: reverse sneezing, brachycephalic breeds, first aid steps, possible vomiting, emergency clinic, immediate veterinary care, canine diseases, heartworm disease, possible surgery, injured dog, heat period, affected dog

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Book Description The experts reveal how to interpret and understand your dog's symptoms and what steps to take to ensure its health. This comprehensive and practical book is designed to assist dog owners in understanding their pets' bodies and health based on signs and symptoms of disease, and in determining the most common medical problems that might cause particular symptoms. Adopting the "decision chart" format from popular symptom guides for human ailments, such as the American Medical Association's Guide to Your Family's Symptoms and Take Care of Yourself, five leading veterinarians have designed a user-friendly chart system that will guide a pet owner from noting the symptom and observing the dog's behavior to understanding the associated signs of an illness, the possible conditions, and the best steps to take. Filled with more than two hundred charts in an easy-to-follow two-color format and medical drawings, The Veterinarians' Guide to Your Dog's Symptoms is the indispensable reference for dog owners. It not only considers the problems of sick and injured pets, but also addresses the needs of healthy animals. It has all the information a dog owner needs: ¸ What a healthy dog should look like ¸ Flow charts to the 150 most common symptoms ¸ Training and behavior issues, such as housebreaking and aggression ¸ Emergency first aid, including how to apply bandages and create a makeshift muzzle ¸ A glossary of veterinary diagnostic tests and medical terms With this unique combination of medical information and advice, plus an innovative chart system, The Veterinarians' Guide to Your Dog's Symptoms will enable pet owners to help their dogs live long, healthy, and happy lives.

Editorial Reviews -- From Library Journal Most people would agree that it is difficult to recognize the signs of illness in our petsAa problem compounded by their inability to communicate with us in our own language. The authors of these concise and affordable books are all veterinarians (save one) who believe that the easiest way to detect disease early in pets is to educate the owner about the animals' normal bodily functions and behavior. In each book, Part 1 covers the healthy body, with overviews of the senses and the cardiovascular, digestive, nervous, respiratory, and other systemsAall presented in lay readers' terms. There are also sections on proper veterinary care, vaccinations, nutrition, grooming, and the importance of spaying/neutering procedures. In Part 2, the authors give insight into common accidents and medical emergencies (such as diarrhea, seizures, poisoning, and heat prostration), contagious and infectious diseases, and first aid care. A valuable and extensive index of signs and symbols is included along with appendixes covering household products that are poisonous, congenital defects and disorders, and medical terms and diseases mentioned in the text. Both titles are recommended for public libraries, although concerned pet owners will also want to keep a copy at home.AEdell Marie Schaefer, Brookfield P.L., WI Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc. Review "Like a good friend, this is the perfect take-it-with-you medical book. Like no other, it gives you the heads-up you need before things go from bad to worse. . . . Best vet-bet I've seen in years. You need this book." --Mordecai Siegal, The Davis Book of Dogs "The Veterinarians' Guide to Your Dog's Symptoms is the perfect companion . . . and belongs in every pet owner's library. Recognizing the symptoms of illness is the first step toward getting appropriate and competent health care for your dog." --Bash Dibra, internationally acclaimed animal behaviorist, trainer, and author

Quick answers to urgent questions -- Other veterinary guides to canine health are more comprehensive, but this one is perfect for those times when you need to know something right away. The chapters are organized broadly by symptom; within each chapter, charts enable you to quickly determine 1) the possible cause(s) of your dog's problem and 2) if this is a condition that needs immediate or eventual vet care. The information is organized to help you narrow the field of possible conditions by evaluating associated symptoms. A previous reviewer has apparently tried to decrease the overall rating of this book by submitting their negative review repeatedly, an unfair practice in itself, but I think the reveiw itself is off base as well. Many conditions are described as non-urgent, and for those, useful home remedies are suggested. (The remedies I've tried work.) This book doesn't offer in-depth information on canine illnesses or disorders, but it is very helpful as a first-aid, first-place-to-look resource. It's possible that there are better guides out there--I haven't read them all. But this is the best one I've seen for quickly answering the questions, What do my dog's symptoms mean? and Do I need to see the vet?

Reviews:

One of the Must Haves!! -- This book is a great reference for any owner and is so easy to use. It has saved me a couple trips to the emergency animal centers in the middle of the night. It is written simply to help you know what you can handle and what is a true emergency to take to the vet. If your looking for a more indepth explanation to different diseases and illnesses this isn't an encycolpedia of information, but if you want something that you can easily look up a symptom or multiple symptoms in chart form with a simple solution this is it! It is also wonderful that it tells you what breeds of dogs are prone to what problems to give you a better picture of what could be happening to your dog. Just last week my dog was sneezing very labored and constant and after 10 minutes he wouldn't stop and you could clearly see he was starting to panic but I could see nothing was in his nose but he kept on. After 15 minutes we knew something was wrong he was pacing, and wouldn't calm down and since it was 11:00pm we would have to drive a 1/2 hour to the emergency animal hospital so we had decide something quick. My husbend remembered this book and he looked it up and he had what was called reverse sneezing and it said to give him wet food. We did and he stopped sneezing almost immediately. Just this morning my friend called me to say her dog was lame and had a fever and asked me to look it up and see what this book had said about it. I can't tell you enough how wonderful a book this is!

Dog Symptoms -- This is a book every dog owner should have. It begins with a discussion of the healthy dog, including healthy behavior. Next normal "preventative maintenance" is discussed followed by chapters on injuries then diseases. The heart of the book identifies 180 typical symptoms and the significance of each. Recommendations for "what to do" accompany the symptoms, but, more often than not, the recommendation is to take the dog to a veterinarian. The importance of this book is that reference to it should enable the dog owner to provide more complete descriptions of what symptoms exist. Simply put, the more one is aware of the various symptoms and how they interrelate the more one will be able to describe them to a veterinarian. Or, another way, if you don't know what to look for you won't see anything. UNLESS YOUR DOG CAN TALK YOU WILL HAVE TO DESCRIBE THE PROBLEM(S) FOR HIM/HER. It is axiomatic that the more relevant information you can provide a veterinarian, the better will be the diagnosis. Also included is a large section that discusses congenital problems one might expect in specific breeds. Forewarned is forearmed. The book is well written and easy to use. Charts make locating specific symptoms very easy. Veterinary/medical terminology is kept to a bare minimum.