Dog Health Basics: Prevention, Warning Signs and What Matters in an Emergency

In brief

There are five things you should know. First: many illnesses show up early as changes in behavior, before anything is visible on the body – which makes you an important early-warning system. Second: increased drinking is one of the most frequently overlooked early signs, and it lies behind several completely different diseases. Third: excess weight is one of the most common preventable health problems and at the same time the easiest one to influence. Fourth: whether any vaccination is legally required depends on where you live – some countries have no general vaccination requirement for dogs, not even for rabies, while in many other places, including most US states, rabies vaccination is mandatory. Fifth: in a handful of situations, minutes count, not days. That is why they come first.

This page is the overview of everything that belongs to your dog’s health – and at the same time the table of contents for more than twenty in-depth guides on the individual conditions. If you have a specific problem, use the topic overview further down to jump straight there.

Note: This guide is general information and does not replace a veterinary examination or advice.

1. When minutes count

These situations are not a case for “let’s see how it looks tomorrow.” They come first on purpose.

A distended belly with unproductive retching. The dog retches, nothing comes up, the belly looks tight, he is restless and drooling. Suspected bloat (gastric dilatation-volvulus) – go to the emergency clinic immediately; every minute counts.

A seizure lasting longer than five minutes, or several seizures in a row without the dog fully coming round in between.

Difficulty breathing, pale or bluish gums, collapse.

Suspected poisoning – slug and snail bait, antifreeze, medications, rat poison, larger amounts of chocolate, grapes or raisins.

Heatstroke: panting that won’t stop, staggering, dark red gums, vomiting after exposure to heat or exertion.

Persistent vomiting where even water won’t stay down.

A dog under ongoing treatment who suddenly stops eating – especially dogs being treated for Cushing’s, diabetes or kidney disease. Until proven otherwise, that is an emergency.

Severe, sudden pain, or a dog who won’t put any weight on a limb at all.

👉 Bloat (GDV) in dogs: the emergency where minutes matter

👉 Suspected poisoning in dogs · 👉 Heatstroke in dogs

1.1 Getting to the clinic

The list above tells you when it’s urgent. What usually goes wrong in practice is not the decision but the execution – so here are four points you can sort out in advance.

Know beforehand where to go. Not every practice offers emergency service, and the nearest emergency service is not necessarily the nearest practice. Take some time, when things are calm, to find out which clinic can be reached at night and on weekends, and how long it takes you to get there. An emergency is not a good time to start searching.

Call before you set off – or during the drive, if someone is with you. The clinic can prepare, and it will tell you whether you’ve come to the right place. Give them the suspected problem, the breed, the approximate weight and how long ago it started.

Transport safely. A dog in pain may bite, even one who has never done so. Large dogs can be carried on a blanket by two people. If a spinal injury is suspected, move the dog as little as possible and support the body as a whole.

Bring what helps: the packaging of the suspected poison, a photo of the vomit, the list of medications – and, if you have one, the vaccination record.

And one point that matters emotionally: better to go once too often than once too rarely. A clinic that gives the all-clear has done its job – nobody there thinks you overreacted.

2. Four signals that show up everywhere

Before we get to individual diseases, it’s worth looking at the signs that come first in many of them. If you know these four, you will catch many illnesses early.

Increased drinking. One of the most telling early signs – and at the same time one of the easiest to miss, because nobody keeps count. Behind it can lie, among other things, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, Cushing’s syndrome, uterine infection (pyometra) and certain tumors. Measure it instead of estimating: note the amount in the bowl over several calm days. That number on a piece of paper fundamentally changes the conversation at the vet’s.

Weight change without a reason. Up as well as down. Regular weighing is the simplest preventive care there is.

Lameness that appears after rest and wears off with movement. That is the typical early picture of osteoarthritis and cruciate ligament damage – and exactly the stage at which something can still be done.

Changed behavior. Less enjoyment of things that used to matter. New irritability. Restlessness at night. Withdrawal, or conspicuous clinginess.

The rule that holds it all together: anything new is a finding. Not every finding needs treatment – but every one deserves a look. The phrase “he’s just getting older” ends the search for a cause that is often treatable.

👉 How to really recognize pain: recognizing pain in dogs

2.1 Turning an observation into a number

The four signals above have one thing in common: in everyday life they get estimated, even though they can be measured. And estimates reliably mislead in both directions.

Water intake. Fill the bowl in the morning with a measured amount, measure what’s left in the evening, and note any refills. Averaged over three calm days and divided by body weight, this gives a number the practice can work with. Important: choose normal days – not the hot day and not the day of the long hike.

Weight. Once a month, always on the same scale, ideally on the same day of the week. Small dogs can be weighed on a bathroom scale: step on with and without your dog and take the difference.

Resting respiratory rate. While your dog is sleeping peacefully, count the breaths in fifteen seconds and multiply by four. A value clearly above thirty at complete rest is a finding – in dogs with heart disease it is one of the most important numbers for monitoring progress, and one of the few values owners can reliably record at home.

Food amount. Weighed rather than scooped with a cup. The difference between heaped and level adds up to more over weeks than most people suspect.

What links these four numbers: together they take a few minutes a month, and they fundamentally change the conversation at the vet’s – “he drinks a lot” becomes a value that points in a direction.

3. The at-home check

The preventive care calendar in the next chapter asks you to take a look at several points. How to do that is rarely explained anywhere – so here is the routine, which takes about three minutes a week.

3.1 From front to back

Eyes: clear, equal in size, no discharge, no cloudiness. An eye that is being squinted shut is not something to keep watching until tomorrow.

Ears: look inside and take a quick sniff. Redness, dark discharge or a sweetish smell are findings. The smell is often noticeable before anything else.

Mouth: lift the lip, look at the gums and teeth, especially at the back on top. Pale pink and smooth is normal; a red margin, tartar or marked bad breath is not.

Skin and coat: while petting, run a flat hand over the whole body. Lumps, crusts, bald patches, pain reactions, ticks.

Paws: pads, the area between the toes, nails. This is where whatever gets in along the way collects.

Hindquarters: the base of the tail and the area under the tail – matting, redness, odor.

3.2 What you see in motion

Once a month, deliberately watch your dog walk, from the side and from behind. Look for an even rhythm, the length of the strides and whether one leg is bearing less weight. And watch how he gets up from lying down – that is where beginning osteoarthritis shows first.

A short phone video, recorded every few months in the same place, tells you more than any memory. Nobody notices changes over months in everyday life; comparing two videos, you see them immediately.

3.3 Why this is a training topic

Everything above assumes that your dog allows it. A dog who willingly offers paws, ears and mouth is easier to examine at home and at the practice – and that helps determine how early something is found.

That is why this kind of handling belongs in basic training, not in the preparation for an appointment. It is built up like everything else: small steps, something good afterwards every time, and stopping before the dog pulls away.

4. The preventive care calendar

Preventive health care is not a catalog of individual measures but a habit. This is what it looks like in everyday life.

Daily, in passing: How is he eating, how is he drinking, how is he moving, how is he sleeping?

Weekly, ten seconds per spot: Look into the ears and take a quick sniff. Lift the lips to check teeth and gums. While petting, feel over the skin and coat – lumps, crusts, bald patches, pain reactions.

Monthly: Put him on the scale, check the nails, keep track of parasite prevention.

Yearly: A wellness exam covering heart, lungs, teeth, weight and vaccination status. The AAHA nutrition guidelines recommend assessing nutrition and body condition regularly, ideally at every exam visit (Cline et al. 2021).

More often from the senior years on – and then with bloodwork and a urinalysis. The AAHA Senior Care Guidelines recommend a medical workup with bloodwork and urinalysis once or twice a year, that is, every 6 to 12 months (Dhaliwal et al. 2023); how often and how extensively your dog is actually checked depends on age, breed, health status and known risk factors. A healthy eight-year-old small dog has to be assessed differently from an eight-year-old large dog with pre-existing conditions – that is for the practice to decide, not the calendar.

The urine is the part that is most often left out, and it can show something early: the ability to concentrate urine can be impaired early in kidney disease, and so it provides important clues about kidney function – clues that bloodwork alone does not give.

When the senior years begin depends heavily on size – large breeds often get there sooner than you’d think. AAHA defines the senior stage not by a fixed age but as the last 25 percent of the estimated lifespan (Dhaliwal et al. 2023).

And: bring your observations with you. Written down, with dates. Short phone videos of the gait, of getting up or of a seizure say more than any description.

👉 What changes with age: caring for a senior dog

👉 When orientation fades: cognitive dysfunction syndrome (CDS) in dogs

👉 What matters when choosing a practice: what makes a good veterinarian

4.1 What matters at each life stage

The calendar above applies to every dog. The priorities, however, shift considerably with age – and if you know that, you don’t search everywhere with the same intensity.

Puppy and adolescent. The focus is on the vaccination schedule with its critical gap, parasite prevention on a fixed schedule, the change of teeth between the fourth and seventh month, and the question of physical load during growth. Add to that the handling from chapter 3, which can be built in a few days at this age and costs weeks later on.

The adult dog. Here it’s mainly about weight, teeth and the yearly check-up. This is the least eventful phase of life, and precisely for that reason the one in which preventive care is most likely to fall asleep. What develops during this time – excess weight, tartar, declining fitness – only shows later.

The senior. Closer monitoring with bloodwork and urine – at what interval depends on the individual dog – plus keeping an eye on weight and muscle, joints, sight and hearing, and asking about pain whenever something changes in behavior. When this phase begins depends heavily on size – large breeds often get there sooner than you’d think.

The core question shifts as well. For the young dog it is: is everything in place that he needs? For the adult: does it stay that way? For the old dog: what has changed, and can it be treated?

5. The topic overview

Here you’ll find the in-depth guides for each area.

Heart and circulation

• 👉 Mitral valve disease (MMVD) in dogs – the most common heart disease, and why coughing comes from the heart less often than you’d think
• 👉 Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in dogs – the heart disease of the large breeds

Airways

• 👉 Dog coughing: the causes sorted out – from kennel cough to lungworm

Musculoskeletal system

• 👉 Osteoarthritis in dogs – more common and earlier than most people assume
• 👉 Cruciate ligament rupture in dogs – why it is usually not an accident and why the second knee needs to be considered too

Skin, ears and coat

• 👉 Itching in dogs – finding causes instead of guessing, and why hair and saliva tests are no good
• 👉 Ear infections in dogs – why they keep coming back
• 👉 Anal glands in dogs – what helps and what harms

Teeth

• 👉 Dental health in dogs – the disease almost every dog has and almost nobody sees

Stomach and intestines

• 👉 Diarrhea and vomiting in dogs – when waiting is enough and when it isn’t
• 👉 Bloat (GDV) in dogs – the emergency where minutes count
• 👉 Pancreatitis in dogs – the organ nobody thinks of until last

Hormones and metabolism

• 👉 Hypothyroidism in dogs – when the lab value is misleading
• 👉 Cushing’s disease in dogs – why the suspicion comes before the test
• 👉 Diabetes in dogs – insulin, everyday life and the special case of intact females

Kidneys

• 👉 Chronic kidney disease in dogs – why the blood values rise only late

Nervous system

• 👉 Epilepsy in dogs – recognizing a seizure and responding correctly

Parasites

• 👉 Deworming or fecal testing? – why “four times a year” no longer holds up
• 👉 Giardia in dogs – when to treat and when not to
• 👉 Tick prevention for dogs

Prevention and treatment

• 👉 Dog vaccinations – the current state of knowledge without the myths
• 👉 Anesthesia in dogs – how high the risk really is

5.1 How to use this overview

More than twenty guides is a lot, and the obvious reaction is to skim them all. Three approaches make more sense.

If something is acute: chapter 1 decides whether it’s urgent. Then the guide on the condition in question – not the other way round. If you read first and decide afterwards, you lose exactly the time that matters in the few time-critical situations.

If you’ve noticed something that isn’t urgent: chapters 2 and 3, then the matching topic guide. And in almost every case: measure first, then read. A water-intake figure or a weight curve tells you more than any advice article.

If nothing is going on: that is the best time. That’s when it pays to read the guides on the conditions your dog is at increased risk for because of breed, age and build – and to make the preparations from chapters 11 and 12, for which there is no time left in an emergency.

And one note that applies to this entire page: it does not replace an examination. What it offers is orientation – so that you look sooner, ask more specific questions and are better able to make sense of what you’re told.

6. Vaccinations: the current state in brief

A lot of outdated knowledge persists here, so here is the short version.

Whether any vaccination is legally required depends on where you live. Some countries have no general vaccination requirement for dogs, while in many places, including most US states, rabies vaccination is mandatory by law. The medical recommendations come from vaccination guidelines – internationally from the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA), for North America from the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA), plus national guidelines such as Germany’s StIKo Vet guideline (Squires et al. 2024; Ellis et al. 2024; StIKo Vet 2025). They distinguish two groups.

Core vaccines – against diseases every dog should be protected against at all times. Distemper and parvovirus are core in all major guidelines; whether canine hepatitis (adenovirus), leptospirosis and rabies are core depends on the guideline and the region. The WSAVA lists distemper, adenovirus and parvovirus as core worldwide and rabies and leptospirosis as core where they are endemic (Squires et al. 2024); the 2024 AAHA update lists leptospirosis and rabies as core for all dogs (Ellis et al. 2024); the German StIKo Vet guideline lists distemper, parvovirus and leptospirosis (StIKo Vet 2025).

Non-core vaccines – given according to an individual risk assessment. In the German guideline this page was originally based on, these include parainfluenza and canine hepatitis as well as – and this is where most advice articles get it wrong – rabies. Since Germany has been free of terrestrial rabies, that guideline no longer lists it as a core vaccine; where rabies circulates or vaccination is required by law, it remains core. Important for putting this in context: non-core does not mean unimportant. It means the decision depends on individual risk rather than being the same for every dog.

With canine hepatitis, a clarification is worthwhile, because it regularly causes confusion: in some regions, consistent vaccination has made the disease so rare that some guidelines no longer list it as an unconditional core vaccine. Nevertheless, almost every dog gets it – nearly all licensed distemper and parvovirus vaccines contain a hepatitis component. So on the vaccination record it is practically always there, while in the classification of such a guideline it is listed as non-core. Both are true.

Even where rabies is not core, two reasons speak for the rabies vaccination: it is generally required for travel across borders, and a first vaccination only becomes valid after a waiting period (21 days in the EU) – that needs to be planned for. And under the rabies-control rules of many countries, vaccinated dogs are treated considerably more favorably if they come into contact with an animal suspected of having rabies.

Kennel cough protection makes sense for dogs with regular contact with other dogs – training classes, boarding kennels, shelters. Important for your expectations: it reduces the severity of the symptoms but does not reliably prevent infection (Squires et al. 2024).

Puppies follow their own schedule, because the protection passed on by the mother wanes and the timing has to be matched to that. Precisely this creates a critical gap that owners should know about.

👉 In detail, with the schedule and the vaccination gap: dog vaccinations

7. Parasite prevention in brief

Ticks transmit, depending on the region, Borrelia, Anaplasma, Babesia and tick-borne encephalitis viruses. In Europe, the ornate dog tick (Dermacentor reticulatus), the main vector of canine babesiosis there, is active in winter too – there is no such thing as a summer-only tick season.

Fleas can trigger allergies and transmit tapeworms. With flea allergy dermatitis, a few bites are enough for weeks of itching – and a dog who licks himself intensively removes the fleas in the process. “I haven’t seen any” is therefore no proof that there are none.

Worms – here the recommendation has changed. The European parasite guideline body ESCCAP no longer applies one fixed schedule to every dog but sorts dogs into risk groups: depending on lifestyle, treatment ranges from once or twice a year to monthly, and regular fecal testing at the same frequency, with treatment when something is found, is an alternative (ESCCAP). Only where a dog’s individual risk can’t be clearly assessed does ESCCAP advise deworming or fecal testing at least four times a year. What no longer holds up is “four times a year, because that’s what you do” – without looking at the individual dog.

On choosing products: with herding dogs and their mixes, one point needs to be clarified before the first dose.

👉 The MDR1 defect in dogs

8. Nutrition and weight

Excess weight is associated with a higher risk of joint disease and endocrine and metabolic disorders; according to the AAHA nutrition guidelines, preventing it supports quality of life and may contribute to a longer lifespan (Cline et al. 2021). In UK primary-care data, obesity was among the twenty most frequently recorded disorders (O’Neill et al. 2014). At the same time, it is the factor you control most directly.

The feeding amount on the package is a starting point, not a target. What counts is body condition: ribs you can feel but not see, a visible waist from above, a tucked-up belly line from the side.

The most common feeding mistakes: too many treats (the AAHA guidelines put treats and other extras at no more than ten percent of daily calories (Cline et al. 2021) – in training that adds up quickly), table scraps (often too fatty, some simply toxic) and switching food too quickly.

Undisputed: fresh water at all times, fixed feeding times, and, in organ disease, a diet coordinated with your veterinarian. In kidney disease in particular, food is not a side issue but the measure with the best evidence of effectiveness; in pancreatic disease, too, it is an important part of treatment.

👉 Recognizing your dog’s ideal weight

👉 What doesn’t belong in the bowl: foods toxic to dogs

9. Exercise, enrichment and rest

Regular exercise maintains the cardiovascular system, muscles and joints. Mental enrichment contributes just as much – and rest is explicitly part of it.

Adapt rather than maximize. Overexertion is as harmful as lack of exercise. In growing young dogs, joint-friendly exercise matters more than endurance; in seniors, shorter, regular sessions are better than infrequent long ones.

One point that concerns the musculoskeletal system: abrupt stops, turning at full speed and repeated jumping are exactly the movements that can overload a previously damaged ligament. Ball throwing combines all three.

Scent work is the most versatile form of enrichment – it tires the dog out without putting strain on the joints, and it works for almost every dog at almost any age.

And sleep is not a break from training but part of it.

👉 Brain games and scent work · 👉 Sleep and learning in dogs

👉 Why ball games aren’t harmless: ball games with dogs

9.1 Rest is not an afterthought

The section above explicitly names rest as part of health. Because this regularly goes unheard in consultations, here is a closer look.

Adult dogs sleep and doze for a considerable part of the day, puppies and old dogs considerably more. A dog who doesn’t get that because something is always happening is not better exercised – he is more exhausted and more reactive.

How you can tell there’s too little rest: the dog can’t wind down in the evening, reacts more strongly to little things than before, sleeps restlessly, or can no longer switch off in everyday life when someone gets up.

What helps is unspectacular: a resting place away from through traffic, periods without being spoken to, and letting go of the idea that every day needs a program. Especially with dogs who find it hard to switch off, the question is not how to make them more tired, but how they can find their way to rest.

For health, this is not a side issue. Persistent tension can show up in the gastrointestinal tract in many dogs, and a dog who doesn’t sleep enough may recover less well – from exertion, from illness and from surgery.

10. Grooming and care

Brushing depending on coat type, more often during shedding. The side effect is the real value: you notice lumps, ticks, skin changes and pain reactions early.

Bathing only when needed, with dog shampoo.

Trimming nails. Nails that are too long can change the way the foot meets the ground and put strain on the joints. A dog whose nails audibly click on hard floors when standing needs an appointment.

Ears: look and sniff – but don’t clean them routinely. A healthy ear without odor needs no care, and cleaning too often is what upsets the environment in the first place. Cotton swabs have no business in the ear canal.

Anal glands should not be expressed routinely either. That is a treatment when there is a finding, not a grooming measure.

Teeth deserve a paragraph of their own. Daily brushing is one of the most effective measures you can take yourself – the AAHA dental guidelines state that brushing needs to be done daily to be of benefit (Bellows et al. 2019) – built up like any other handling, in small steps and with rewards. Regularity matters more than thoroughness.

10.1 What your dog’s build demands

Grooming needs are not a matter of diligence but of anatomy – and some features bring a fixed amount of effort with them that you should know about before getting a dog.

Floppy ears and hairy ear canals mean a warm, moist environment and therefore a greater tendency toward ear infections. Here the weekly look is especially worthwhile.

Skin folds on the face, tail or body need to be kept dry regularly. Otherwise exactly what is hard to treat there develops in the fold.

A dense undercoat mats if it isn’t combed out – and under a mat the skin becomes inflamed without anyone seeing it.

A short muzzle comes with airways that reach their limit sooner under exertion and in heat, and with teeth that sit more closely together. Both need to be kept in mind permanently with these dogs.

Very short legs with a long back call for care on stairs and with jumps.

And dogs that don’t shed don’t shed because their coat keeps growing – they need clipping, and between appointments care that prevents matting.

The practical conclusion: if you know your dog’s features, you know where to look more closely – and where less. That is more useful than being equally thorough everywhere.

11. Emergency preparedness

Your dog’s first-aid kit should contain: tick tweezers or a tick hook, sterile wound dressings, elastic bandages, antiseptic solution for the skin around a wound, tweezers, disposable gloves, a digital thermometer, blunt-tipped scissors, a cold pack.

And the numbers, saved in advance: your veterinary practice, the nearest clinic with night service, and the animal poison control service that covers your area – in the US, for example, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center or the Pet Poison Helpline. Save the number now, not in an emergency.

No medications from your own medicine cabinet. Many active ingredients that are suitable for humans are dangerous for dogs – anti-inflammatory painkillers can damage the stomach and kidneys.

👉 First-aid kit for dogs

👉 Plants toxic to dogs · 👉 Never give your dog medication from your own medicine cabinet

11.1 What belongs in the first-aid kit

The emergency preparedness above depends on having things at hand in the moment. This list fits in one box and covers what makes sense to keep at home.

For measuring and checking: a digital thermometer with lubricant, a small flashlight.

For care: sterile gauze pads, self-adhesive bandage, gauze bandage, cotton padding, adhesive tape, blunt scissors, disposable gloves, tick tweezers or a tick hook, single-dose saline vials for rinsing eyes and wounds.

For transport: a blanket that can serve as a stretcher, and a makeshift muzzle loop – with the restriction that it is not put on in cases of breathing difficulty, vomiting or heatstroke.

In summer, additionally in the car: a canister of water and a large bowl.

On paper: the number of your own practice, the nearest emergency clinic and animal poison control, plus a list of the medications your dog receives. On paper because then it also works when someone else is with your dog.

What does not belong in it: medications from your own medicine cabinet and leftovers from previous treatments. Several common human painkillers are dangerous for dogs, and what helped with a previous illness doesn’t necessarily suit the next one.

Check the box for expiration dates once a year – easiest at the same time as the yearly check-up.

12. Financial preparedness

In an emergency, veterinary costs can quickly run into four figures. Pet health insurance or surgery-only insurance can prevent a treatment decision from turning into a question of cost.

What to look for: coverage limits, deductible, age limits at enrollment, exclusions for pre-existing conditions and certain breeds, and waiting periods.

12.1 What you can actually expect

Figures are deliberately left out here, because they differ with fee structures and from region to region. What can be generalized is the order of magnitude of the differences – and that surprises most people.

Routine preventive care – check-ups, vaccinations, parasite prevention – is predictable and makes up the smaller part over a dog’s lifetime.

A single emergency can cost many times an annual budget. Bloat, a cruciate ligament rupture, a foreign body in the intestine, an emergency spay for a uterine infection – these are surgeries with in-patient aftercare.

A chronic disease is the underestimated factor. Diabetes, Cushing’s, kidney disease or an allergic skin disease mean medication, therapeutic diets and check-ups for years. In total, this often exceeds the one-off emergency.

12.2 The question nobody wants to ask

It is uncomfortable and still right to settle it beforehand: how far can you go? Asking this question for the first time in the waiting room is the worst of all options – for you and for the decision.

If you take out insurance, pay attention to three things: waiting periods after the policy starts, how pre-existing conditions are handled, and whether and up to what level veterinary fees are reimbursed. If you set money aside yourself instead, you need a separate account for it that you don’t touch in everyday life.

And one point that applies regardless: talk openly at the practice about your budget. For many conditions there is more than one way, and a practice that knows your limits can take them into account. What doesn’t work is silence – and then breaking off a treatment that has been started.

13. Working with your veterinary practice

The principle from chapter 2 – anything new is a finding – is only useful if the observation actually gets across. More fails at this point than you’d think.

13.1 What makes an appointment productive

A timeline instead of an impression. “For about three weeks, twice a week at first, now daily” leads to a different approach than “more often lately.”

Numbers, where there are any. Water intake over three days, last month’s weight, number of seizures, temperature. These are the details that can be worked with.

Videos. Of the gait, of coughing, of a seizure, of retching. Much of this can’t be triggered at the practice, and telling coughing from retching or vomiting from regurgitation works much better from a video than from a description.

The complete list of everything your dog is given – including supplements, tick products and things someone else in the household gives.

And the most important question beforehand: what do you want to take away from this appointment? If you’ve worked that out for yourself, you are less likely to leave the practice with the feeling that you didn’t ask about what really mattered.

13.2 Questions that are always allowed

What does this finding mean for everyday life? What alternatives are there? What happens if we wait? How will I know it’s getting worse? When should I get back in touch?

None of these questions calls a treatment into question. They make sure you know what to do at home – and for most of the conditions in this overview, that is the part that decides the course of the illness.

13.3 Second opinion

With a serious diagnosis, before major surgery, or when nothing improves over a longer period, a second opinion is a normal step and not a vote of no confidence. It makes sense with complete records – findings, lab values, images – so that nothing has to be done twice.

For individual areas there are also board-certified veterinary specialists, for example in behavior, cardiology, ophthalmology, dermatology and orthopedics. A referral to them is common, and your own practice will as a rule suggest it when it makes sense.

👉 Primary care vet, specialist or referral hospital: When does my dog need to see a specialist?

14. Conclusion

The three things that make the biggest difference are unspectacular.

Look regularly. While brushing, during the check after a walk, at the yearly or twice-yearly check-up. Ten seconds per ear, once a week, are worth more than any worry in hindsight.

Take changes seriously. Behavior is often the earliest signal you get – and increased drinking one of the most frequently overlooked. Measure it instead of estimating.

Maintain a healthy weight. A factor with a major influence on life span and quality of life, and the one you control most directly.

Everything else – vaccinations, parasite prevention, nutrition, enrichment – is a matter of working it out with your veterinarian. No schedule fits every dog.

If you take away only one thing from this overview: put your dog on the scale once a month and write down the number. It is the simplest, cheapest and most telling preventive measure there is – and it catches a considerable part of what is described on this page.

Key takeaways on dog health

Anything new is a finding. Not every finding needs treatment, but every one deserves a look. “He’s just getting older” ends the search for a cause that is often treatable.

Increased drinking is the most frequently overlooked early sign. Behind it can lie, among other things, kidney disease, diabetes, Cushing’s syndrome and uterine infection – completely different things, in other words. Measure it instead of estimating.

Regular weighing is the simplest preventive care there is, and weight change without a reason counts in both directions.

Lameness that appears after rest and wears off with movement is the typical early picture of osteoarthritis and cruciate ligament damage – and the stage at which something can still be changed.

A dog under ongoing treatment who suddenly stops eating is an emergency until proven otherwise – especially with Cushing’s, diabetes and kidney disease.

Whether any vaccination is legally required depends on where you live – in many places, including most US states, rabies vaccination is mandatory. Distemper and parvovirus are core in all major guidelines; non-core does not mean unimportant but risk-dependent.

Blanket deworming four times a year is no longer the standard answer. Instead, a risk assessment (ESCCAP) – and then treatment or regular fecal testing at the frequency that fits the dog’s risk; at least four times a year applies where the risk can’t be assessed.

Excess weight is one of the most common preventable health problems and at the same time the one you can control most directly. The amount on the package is a starting point, not a target.

The senior check should include urine. It is the part most often left out, and it can show something early: the ability to concentrate urine can be impaired early in kidney disease – a clue that bloodwork alone does not provide. The AAHA Senior Care Guidelines recommend bloodwork and urinalysis every 6 to 12 months; how often checks are done depends on the individual dog.

A note on the sources

The vaccination information follows current veterinary vaccination guidelines: the small-animal vaccination guideline of Germany’s Standing Committee on Veterinary Vaccination (StIKo Vet) at the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, on which the original version of this page is based, and the international WSAVA and North American AAHA guidelines. These are updated regularly – when in doubt, the current version applies.

The information on deworming follows the ESCCAP worm-management scheme; on nutrition and weight, the 2021 AAHA Nutrition and Weight Management Guidelines; on check-ups for seniors, the 2023 AAHA Senior Care Guidelines; and on dental care, the 2019 AAHA Dental Care Guidelines. These are consensus recommendations of expert panels, not trials of their own, and partly written for North America; national rules and the individual dog take precedence. We deliberately do not give specific products or amounts – they depend on the individual dog and belong in the veterinary consultation.

The linked individual guides each list their own sources, including the limits of what those sources can show. Where figures are given, they appear there with the study reference and its limitations.

References

• Bellows, J., Berg, M. L., Dennis, S., Harvey, R., Lobprise, H. B., Snyder, C. J., Stone, A. E. S. & Van de Wetering, A. G. (2019): 2019 AAHA Dental Care Guidelines for Dogs and Cats. Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association, 55(2), 49–69. https://doi.org/10.5326/JAAHA-MS-6933 (brushing needs to be daily to be of benefit; general anesthesia and intraoral radiographs for dental procedures)
• Cline, M. G., Burns, K. M., Coe, J. B., Downing, R., Durzi, T., Murphy, M. & Parker, V. (2021): 2021 AAHA Nutrition and Weight Management Guidelines for Dogs and Cats. Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association, 57(4), 153–178. https://doi.org/10.5326/JAAHA-MS-7232 (treats and other extras ≤10% of daily calories; nutritional assessment ideally at every exam visit; preventing overweight may contribute to a longer lifespan)
• Dhaliwal, R., Boynton, E., Carrera-Justiz, S., Cruise, N., Gardner, M., Huntingford, J., Lobprise, H. & Rozanski, E. (2023): 2023 AAHA Senior Care Guidelines for Dogs and Cats. Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association, 59(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.5326/JAAHA-MS-7343 (medical workup with bloodwork and urinalysis once or twice a year for senior pets; senior defined as the last 25% of estimated lifespan)
• Ellis, J., Marziani, E., Aziz, C., Brown, C. M., Cohn, L. A., Lea, C., Moore, G. E. & Taneja, N. (2024): 2022 AAHA Canine Vaccination Guidelines (2024 Update). Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association, 60(6), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.5326/JAAHA-MS-7468 (core for dogs: distemper, adenovirus-2, parvovirus, leptospirosis and rabies; leptospirosis recategorized as core in 2024)
• European Scientific Counsel Companion Animal Parasites (ESCCAP): Scheme for individual worm management in dogs (GL1 fact sheet, version 7). https://www.esccap.org/uploads/docs/jgwcc6v4_0778_ESCCAP_GL1__Worm_Management_Scheme_Fact_Sheet__Dogs_v7.pdf (treatment frequency by risk group, from 1–2 times a year to monthly; fecal testing at the same frequency as an alternative; at least 4 times a year if the risk cannot be assessed)
• O'Neill, D. G., Church, D. B., McGreevy, P. D., Thomson, P. C. & Brodbelt, D. C. (2014): Prevalence of Disorders Recorded in Dogs Attending Primary-Care Veterinary Practices in England. PLOS ONE, 9(3), e90501. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0090501 (obesity among the twenty most frequently recorded disorders in UK primary care)
• Squires, R. A., Crawford, C., Marcondes, M. & Whitley, N. (2024): 2024 guidelines for the vaccination of dogs and cats – compiled by the Vaccination Guidelines Group (VGG) of the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA). Journal of Small Animal Practice, 65(5), 277–316. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsap.13718 (globally core: distemper, adenovirus, parvovirus; rabies and leptospirosis core where endemic; respiratory non-core vaccines cannot prevent infection but can reduce disease severity)
• Ständige Impfkommission Veterinärmedizin (StIKo Vet), Arbeitskreis kleine Haustiere (2025): Leitlinie zur Impfung von Kleintieren – 6. Auflage. Tierärztliche Praxis Ausgabe K: Kleintiere/Heimtiere, 53(01), 12–22. https://doi.org/10.1055/a-2501-5778 (core for dogs: distemper, parvovirus, leptospirosis; rabies no longer core in Germany but required for cross-border travel)

Frequently asked questions about dog health