# 62. Should My Pet See the Veterinarian about This?

I think because of my 20+ years experience fostering & having a large variety of pets in my life for my whole life I get asked questions about when a pet should see the Veterinarian. I believe all types of pets should have a yearly checkup with a Veterinarian (low cost clinic Veterinarians are great, but they only do a quick once over) who knows your pet & has a documented history of your pet. Puppies & senior pets should be seen more frequently. Puppies usually need worming & a vaccination series & rabies at the appropriate age if not already done. I don’t believe in over-vaccinating, check out my post #31 on Titer testing versus vaccinations.

Now the real reason I wanted to blog about this was what constitutes a need to see your veterinarian in between yearly checkup appointments. Meaning is this an urgent matter or a matter that needs Veterinarian intervention. As pet owners of all types of pets, we regularly interact with our pets & we may see changes & it is important to monitor our pets on a regular basis, so we will see any changes. Pets can’t verbally tell us something is wrong, but they do tell us in other ways. Now let me say I am not a Veterinarian, nor do I work in an Animal clinic. I am an animal lover who has pets & fostered over 150 pets over 20+ years.

One of the reasons I feel very strongly about feeding pets on a regular schedule is because you can monitor what they eat, how much they eat & even the speed that they eat. I know this is not the same for caged pets like birds who eat throughout the day, but I do feed mine on a regular schedule & I monitor their dishes to see if there are changes to the amount eaten. Pets should be fed a measured amount of food & in the case of dogs & especially in multi cat/dog households, they should fed out of separate dishes & food presented for 5-10 mins then bowl removed till its meal time again. An adult cat & dog (over 6-8 months)should eat 2 times a day. Some animals that are not used to this may take a few days to realize the food goes away if I don’t eat in 10 mins. It is important to feed this way, because any change in eating habits can be the first sign something is wrong. A healthy animal won’t starve itself, nor do they stop eating for very long out of spite, anger or other emotional reason… If a dog or cat goes more than 48 hours without eating by their choice, call their Veterinarian & minimally ask them what to do. If an exotic pet goes 24 hours without eating see a Vet. Exotic pets eat often & have high metabolisms & can get deathly ill very quickly & often require intervention from a trained Exotic specialist Veterinarian.

Some other things you should monitor with your pet are any change in their stools, is the pet acting normal, energy level the same, scratching more, whining, odor from mouth or ears, licking excessively, pain to touch an area. A dog should have his teeth brushed at least weekly & this gives you a change to check your dog gum color, which should be pink & not red or white. (my Post #11 is on your dogs oral health). Red or white gums can be signs of infection or anemia in a pet. If you are unsure ask your Veterinarian at your pets next appointment what is normal & what should you be looking for. As pet owners we need to ask questions & educate ourselves as much as we can, we are our pet’s healthcare advocate.

Make a mental note of your pets habits so when there is any change you will be able to monitor them & make sure it isn’t something that lingers or is not normal. Such as: your dog slows down a lot quicker on a walk or seems to favor a certain paw or maybe even fully limps on a paw after a 45 min walk. Knowing what is normal for our pets will help us to know when something is lingering or continuing & a Vet visit may be needed. If your pet starts having accidents in the house & this is not normal.

Monitoring your pets potty habits can be another good way to see changes, urine or fecal output change, loose stools, staining with bowel movements, more smelly or a foul unusual odor from urine or fecal can be a sign something is wrong & may need Veterinarian intervention. Taking a current sample to the Vet with you can be helpful (urine or fecal) for the Vet in diagnostics. I try & go out with my dogs @ least twice a day into our fenced yard at times when I know they usually go potty. They love to go out many times a day, but I don’t always join them for their quick potty breaks. I think those who have to walk their dogs have a great opportunity to know their dogs urine & bowel habits.

If your pet is injured & is cut & bleeding & you can’t stop it or the injury may require stitches, do not risk waiting to take your pet to the Vet, you don’t want to risk infection setting in.

I had a dog (Sam)who had seizures, & after the first one I took him to the Veterinarian for a checkup. They made notes of everything, & told me it could have been a one time thing & they don’t want to start meds & maybe over medicate. I was told to contact them if it ever happened again. Sam had many over the years, & I won’t get into that now, Ill save the details for another post. I said this to say if your pet has a seizure call the Vet & let them know all the details you can. Length, severity, any post reactions, places pet had been, any chance of a chemical consumption etc…

I am a believer in treating my pets & myself naturally whenever possible, but I also believe if it is not helping, or getting worse, I do not waste time & call the Veterinarian. Waiting in some cases could be detrimental to your pet. I do not believe any of us want our pets to suffer unnecessarily. You can ask the Vet questions & they can tell you if this sounds like an urgent issue or if you’re ok to wait it out another day or two. They may even give you some suggestions of what to do. I have about 10 natural books & I look to them for a variety of things.

I always recommend you keep the phone # & address for the closest emergency Veterinarian near where you have access to it. A magnet on your refrigerator or programmed into your phone. In an emergency it is hard to think straight. I recently gave a # for an ER Vet(magnet on my refrigerator) to someone I know for their pet. Sadly they waited too long & he was suffering & they had to say goodbye that night. It actually is what triggered me to write this post now.

In conclusion, watch your pets to know what is normal for your pet. If your pet is not acting normal for more than a couple days, call your pet’s Veterinarian & either ask questions &/or make an appointment. If you go in & it is nothing that’s great to hear, it is far better to be safe than sorry.

I hope this post & my other 61 posts have helped you or made you smile. I would really appreciate it if you would share my blog with friends on your social media sites. If you can click the “like” at the bottom of posts.Visit often, lots of content to check out. Please subscribe (thanks to all my current subscribers), Comments help me to know I am giving you good info that is helping you to help your pets thrive. If you subscribe you will just get a notice that I published a new post, not spam. All the above things help my blog to be seen by others. You can find a list of all my blog post titles under the show tab on my home page. If you want to contact me directly my email is echoinggreatpetcare@gmail.com Thank you, Debbie