As a dog owner, it is important that you are aware of and are able to recognize the symptoms and signs of common illnesses that your pet pooch may experience at some point in their life. Being aware of these things ensures that you know when is and when is not the right time to take them to the Mt Pleasant SC animal hospital in order to get them the treatment that they require.
Some of the most common canine diseases and illnesses that your dog may experience include the following:
Ringworm
Unlike the name suggests, ringworm is not actually caused by a worm. What it is caused by is a type of fungus that infects your pet pooch’s nails, hair, and skin. It is a very contagious infection that causes areas of patchy hair loss not only in dogs but can also spread to other species of animals and humans also. Some dogs are more prone to experiencing ringworm and these are puppies that are under one year old, are malnourished, or are living in a shelter or kennels.
Kennel cough
This is a general term that is used in order to describe a wide variety of complex respiratory bacterial and viral infections. They cause inflammation in both your pet dog’s windpipe and voice box. The infections are actually a type of bronchitis and are somewhat similar to a chest cold in humans. Kennel cough is highly infectious amongst dogs, although it does typically clear up by itself.
Diabetes
This is a highly complex issue and is caused by either an inadequate response to insulin hormone or a lack of insulin. For instance, when your dog eats their food, its digestive tract breaks it down into lots of different components, including glucose. It is glucose that is carried into the cells via insulin – a hormone that is secreted by their pancreas. If your pooch is unable to produce insulin or is unable to use it in the normal way, their blood sugar levels will become elevated. The result is hyperglycemia and if this is left untreated, has the potential to cause serious health complications for your dog.
Cancer
Just like when it happens to a human, a cancer diagnosis for your pet dog can be devastating. When it comes to treatment options for canine cancer there are many different ones available and different veterinarian doctors may suggest different approaches. Dogs can experience a range of different types of cancers and can either be confined to a single area (localized) or spread across the entire body (generalized).
Heartworm
When your pet dog has this condition, they have a parasite living in their pulmonary arteries and their heart. The worm travels throughout the body via the bloodstream, causing severe damage to vital organs and arteries along the way. If your dog is infected, it could have as many as several hundreds of worms living in them for a period of between five and seven years (if left untreated).
