A Canine's Past is an Important Way to Diagnose Skin Illness
Skin complaints are one of the most common presenting conditions in a vet's medical practice. Many canine epidermal welts are not differentiating in how they look, yet have multiple possible triggers, so an in office exam alone does not always supply the answers required to recommend a specific an approach to care. Before the exam, one of the most important diagnostic methodologies is the taking of a medical history. By asking a specific set of questions about a dog's past, a veterinarian can start to cut down probable causes of the difficulty. This could save the owner time and help to eliminate costly tests by narrowing the long list of possible dog skin conditions.
Most pet health professionals begin the office visit with a written list of questions. The doctor will then comb through the written answers with you and then will ascertain any actions that should be taken. Typical lines of questioning include:
1. What is the type of dog? There are several skin diseases possessing a higher incidence in certain breeds. Note this info can change by area. For instance, several breeds are predisposed to atopy, which are inhaled seasonal allergies including Basset Hounds, Beagles, Boston Terriers, Boxers, Bullterriers, Cairn Terrier, Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Dalmatians, and German Shepherds.
2. Do you know the age of the patient? Certain cutaneous conditions are seen in younger dogs including inherited conditions. Others are due to a malfunctioning or immature immune system, which isn't strong enough to avoid issues to develop such as parasitic disorders. Middle age dogs are at the mercy of allergic response to inhaled or food allergies, while older dogs are frequently subject to skin melonoma.
3. How long has the dog suffered from the problem? Diseases that appear all of a sudden are connected with parasitic sicknesses or a dietary sensitivity. Ongoing problems such as itch can be related to food or dermatitis. Problems that have gone on for years without other issues, allow issues such as hormonal problems to be discounted. Dog alopecia without other symptoms can be hereditary or a difficulty called follicular dysplasia. Depending on the cause identified, a veterinarian can test for scabies, food allergy, or infection.
4. Where on the body did the problem occur? Location is an indicator of the underlying cause of the problem. For instance, conditions on the ears can be the result of summer or seasonal allergy, food sensitivity, mites skin polyps, and secondary infection. Conditions on the extremities are frequently caused by spring, summer or fall allergy, food allergy, parasitic disorders like mange, vasculitis and pemphigus (pus filled lesions). Issues on the head include mites, pollen allergens, food allergy or fungi.
5. What are the symptoms? Symptoms such as itch are related to several problems and aren't particularly helpful in deciding the cause. Also, owners may interpret itch as being a big problem when it is not as bad as it seems.
There are many more questions, including the time of year the problem started, other possibly related symptoms that aren't related to the skin such as the avoidance of food and behavioral change, dietary change, the presence of other dogs and whether or not the owner has any skin lesions that would have been passed from a member of the family to the dog. The result is that by doing a thorough job by responding to a laundry list of written questions can help limit the total cost of treatment and get your dog on the road to a excellent end result.
Most pet health professionals begin the office visit with a written list of questions. The doctor will then comb through the written answers with you and then will ascertain any actions that should be taken. Typical lines of questioning include:
1. What is the type of dog? There are several skin diseases possessing a higher incidence in certain breeds. Note this info can change by area. For instance, several breeds are predisposed to atopy, which are inhaled seasonal allergies including Basset Hounds, Beagles, Boston Terriers, Boxers, Bullterriers, Cairn Terrier, Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Dalmatians, and German Shepherds.
2. Do you know the age of the patient? Certain cutaneous conditions are seen in younger dogs including inherited conditions. Others are due to a malfunctioning or immature immune system, which isn't strong enough to avoid issues to develop such as parasitic disorders. Middle age dogs are at the mercy of allergic response to inhaled or food allergies, while older dogs are frequently subject to skin melonoma.
3. How long has the dog suffered from the problem? Diseases that appear all of a sudden are connected with parasitic sicknesses or a dietary sensitivity. Ongoing problems such as itch can be related to food or dermatitis. Problems that have gone on for years without other issues, allow issues such as hormonal problems to be discounted. Dog alopecia without other symptoms can be hereditary or a difficulty called follicular dysplasia. Depending on the cause identified, a veterinarian can test for scabies, food allergy, or infection.
4. Where on the body did the problem occur? Location is an indicator of the underlying cause of the problem. For instance, conditions on the ears can be the result of summer or seasonal allergy, food sensitivity, mites skin polyps, and secondary infection. Conditions on the extremities are frequently caused by spring, summer or fall allergy, food allergy, parasitic disorders like mange, vasculitis and pemphigus (pus filled lesions). Issues on the head include mites, pollen allergens, food allergy or fungi.
5. What are the symptoms? Symptoms such as itch are related to several problems and aren't particularly helpful in deciding the cause. Also, owners may interpret itch as being a big problem when it is not as bad as it seems.
There are many more questions, including the time of year the problem started, other possibly related symptoms that aren't related to the skin such as the avoidance of food and behavioral change, dietary change, the presence of other dogs and whether or not the owner has any skin lesions that would have been passed from a member of the family to the dog. The result is that by doing a thorough job by responding to a laundry list of written questions can help limit the total cost of treatment and get your dog on the road to a excellent end result.
About the Author:
Cathy Doggins is the writer of several pieces on canine health. She is the number one contributor to the Internet resource, the Dog Health Guide, Cathy is passionate about dog care and has published extensively on canine skin disease.
>
.jpg)
.jpg)
0 comments:
Post a Comment