Diagnosing Illness In Your Dog Health - By Mandy Fain

As a dog owner, there are a variety of sicknesses that you will have to worry about dealing with during their lifetime. There are a lot of different things you will have to worry about, from viral infections to metabolic infections to other things. Diagnosing illness in your dog correctly can be the difference between life and death for your pet, and there are a variety of ways physicians go about diagnosing illness in your dog.

Blood tests are the way that veterinarians usually diagnose health problems in your dog. Distemper, hepatitis, herpes, and heartworm are all health issues that your dog can be afflicted with that can be diagnosed through the use of blood tests. Whether you are looking for a parasite or evidence of a parasite, it is possible to detect dog illnesses through inspection of a dog’s blood content.

Examining the urine of a potentially sick dog is also an effective way to diagnose illness in your dog. There are a whole host of diseases that can be diagnosed through checking out the dog’s urine and many times this is a procedure that can be completed right on the same site as your veterinarian. Presence or absence of certain sugars, proteins, and waste can be the indicator of infections in certain parts of the body including the kidneys; many times a catheter must be used to extract the urine directly from your pet’s bladder as they want a fresh sample, untouched by anything else.

In addition to urine analysis, fecal analysis is another reliable way of detecting illnesses and parasites in your dog’s system. Hook worms, tape worms, and other things are able to be detected through close inspection of your pet’s waste matter. In addition, any problems that affect the proper digestion of your pet’s food are able to be detected through inspection of fecal matter.

Urine and fecal analysis are the most commonly used methods of diagnosing illness in pets, both cats and dogs. They are needed to properly and accurately diagnose illness in dogs, and they are not cheap by any means. However, there are few other reliable ways to diagnose illness in dogs with any certainty. Otherwise, medications will be given out on what a veterinarian may believe to be true and their beliefs will not always be the case. Prescribing unnecessary medications can hurt your dog, so to eliminate this problem you should be sure to order the proper tests.

Learn more about diagnose dog sickness symptoms on our site. You'll also find other information such as common dog illness problems and dog health symptoms AboutDogHealth.org is a comprehensive resource to help dog owners identify their dog's illness symptoms and treatment options.

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