The Veterinarians' Guide to Your Dog's Symptoms

We have had 7 Danes, my son has two labs, my daughter one yorkie and we have one pit.. needless to say this is the most used book in my house.. if something happens before we can call a vet.. we all use this.. in fact I bought a copy for my daughter...

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?

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!

Before diagnosing my eleven year old chihuahua with a fatal illness I used this book to troubleshoot the possible problems my dog was having. I also used this book as guide to articulate the different "signs" and "symptoms" of my dogs behavior so that my vet could help her. I recommend this book for every dog owner- treat it as a reference guide & always keep it handy for reference...who knows when you'll need to perform mouth-to mouth (YES) to your dog, or treat your dog for shock. My dog-wouldn't be here with me right now if I hadn't read this book. Sincerest thanks to the authors.