Five Point Health Checklist
1.) Nutrition: What type of food do you feed? How often do you feed? Is it well balanced? Has your pet's eating habits recently changed? Do they seem satisfied or always hungry? Has your pet's diet changed recently? Have you introduced any new treats, chewable toys, supplements or food ingredients recently?
2.) Digestion: Is flatulence a problem, in the evening or morning or before or after eating? Poor quality foods, pancreatic imbalance (fatty, discolored stool), and parasitic infestations. Quick diagnosis makes the condition much easier to reverse, and avoids development of more serious conditions such as weight problems, diabetes, or irritable bowel syndrome.
3.) Elimination: Does your pet have daily bowel movements? Has the stool smell, volume, consistency or color changed recently? Major signs of illness can include vomiting, diarrhea, of constipation for more than twenty-four hours. Do you allow free access to a potty area or do you impose set times around your own schedule? Has the arrangement recently changed? Does your dog refuse to use the same potty area as before? Has your pet's daily intake of water changed? Is the urine now painful, scant or bloody? Is there a metallic or sweet odor to it? Has your dog recently become incontinent?
4.) Body and Coat Condition: Have there been changes in sheen or general condition? Are the eyes or ears symptomatic of liver imbalance (irritated, inflamed). the lips ulcerated, possibly indicating a nutritional deficiency? Dry flakes, dull coat or greasy, with hot spots or pimples? Excessive shedding, hair loss, scratching, or licking, fur pulling etc.? Coat and skin condition can aid in the diagnosis of a health condition, especially those that involve the liver or kidneys.
5.) Nervous System, body, joints, and muscles: Has your pet recently shown signs of confusion, lethargy, or uncontrollable shaking? Difficulty drinking or eating? Any rapid weight changes? Has movement, especially getting up or down, changed? Pain or limping? Restless sleep or exhaustion? Body odor, fever, or erratic pulse present?
Normal Body Temperature (best taken for 1 minute with a digital thermometer): 100-100.5 degrees Fahrenheit. (smaller dogs may have a higher reading)
Normal Heart/Pulse Rate (taken inside the thigh on the femoral artery): small dogs-90-120 beats/minute, large dogs-65-90 beats per minute. * Checklist courtesy of: Nutrition. Newman, Lisa S. N.D.,Ph. D. The Crossing Press, Freedom California, 1999.