Product Description

The classic bestseller—expanded and updated

The guide dog lovers have relied on for more than twenty-seven years, this handbook has been extensively revised to include the latest information on everything from canine healthcare to nutrition to holistic treatments. Dog Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook, Fourth Edition, is the definitive guide for every dog owner. It puts vital information at your fingertips, with:

• An index of signs and symptoms to help you find information fast

• Clearly written, step-by-step directions for handling common canine ailments and problems

• A chapter on emergencies that explains what to do immediately for shock, broken bones, burns, dehydration, heat stroke, poisoning, insect stings and bites, wounds, and more

• Hundreds of photos and drawings that illustrate what to look for and what to do to provide the best care for your dog

• A glossary of terms

With this guide, you'll know when to rush your pet to the vet and when you can begin treatment at home. You'll communicate more effectively with your vet. You'll have the latest information on every aspect of your dog's medical care when you need it. This is the hands-on reference you'll trust again and again.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15084 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 656 pages

From Amazon.com
Open the front cover and the first two pages you see contain the Index of Signs and Symptoms, from Abdomen (painful, swollen, distended, and tucked up) to Weight loss, Wheezing, and Whining (continual). There's a comprehensive index in back, of course, running the gamut from Abortion to Zinc-Responsive Dermatosis, which is all very useful, but when your pooch is in pain, it's great to be able to turn, with the minimum of folderol, to the page that says to relax, it's nothing a bit of extra grooming won't fix, or alternatively to hightail it over to the vet hospital. It's a wonderful reference for any dog owner, with chapters on emergencies (such as burns, dehydration, and poisoning), as well as worms, infectious diseases, skin care, and canine eyes, ears, and nose. There are chapters on the digestive, respiratory, and circulatory systems, the nervous, musculoskeletal, and urinary systems, plus dog sex, whelping, puppy pediatrics, geriatrics, and chapters on cancers and medications. In short, it covers every health dimension a dog owner might want to know more about, identifies the possible causes, helps you determine the severity of the condition, and indicates what treatments or actions to take to best insure your dog's good health. --Stephanie Gold

From the Inside Flap
Praise for the previous edition:

"A MUST for any dog owner!"
—The American Field

"Useful for any dog owner, indispensable for kennel owners?. Offers comprehensive, up-to-date, well-organized information on every phase of health care for dogs."
—Publishers Weekly

This easy-to-use, authoritative guide provides the information you need to care for your dog at all ages and stages, from pediatric to geriatric. This fully revised and updated Fourth Edition covers common canine problems and ailments in language you can understand. It includes current information on:

• Treatments for cancer and kidney disease

• Raw diets

• Canine influenza

• Vaccine protocols

• Flea, tick, and heartworm preventives

• Drugs and surgical techniques

• Supplements and nutraceuticals

• Arthritis medications and supplements

• Holistic treatments

• The canine senses

• Possible organic causes of behavior problems

• Breed predispositions for specific genetic conditions

• Genetic testing for specific diseases

• Cognitive dysfunction in senior dogs

From the Back Cover
The classic bestseller—expanded and updated

The guide dog lovers have relied on for more than twenty-seven years, this handbook has been extensively revised to include the latest information on everything from canine healthcare to nutrition to holistic treatments. Dog Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook, Fourth Edition, is the definitive guide for every dog owner. It puts vital information at your fingertips, with:

• An index of signs and symptoms to help you find information fast

• Clearly written, step-by-step directions for handling common canine ailments and problems

• A chapter on emergencies that explains what to do immediately for shock, broken bones, burns, dehydration, heat stroke, poisoning, insect stings and bites, wounds, and more

• Hundreds of photos and drawings that illustrate what to look for and what to do to provide the best care for your dog

• A glossary of terms

With this guide, you'll know when to rush your pet to the vet and when you can begin treatment at home. You'll communicate more effectively with your vet. You'll have the latest information on every aspect of your dog's medical care when you need it. This is the hands-on reference you'll trust again and again.

Customer Reviews

The first aid information is almost useless
I was very disappointed with this book, but I suppose it serves a certain purpose. I went to several bookstores looking for a first aid guide for dogs, and this seems to be the standard offering. It includes information about first aid, but it isn't suitable for use in a first aid situation. Instead, it's more of a book for bathroom readers and do-it-yourselfers. I really don't know why the authors chose to include first aid in this book. It must have been for the sake of comprehensiveness -- they must have included it not so it would be useful, but so no one would ask why it was missing.

First of all, the pictures are a joke. They're small, they're in black-and-white, and if you don't read the captions, you can't even tell what you're looking at. When you have an injured dog to take care of, you don't want to make decisions based on Rorschach blobs. Clear drawings or _very_ well done color photos are standard for presenting human first aid methods.

Second, the decision flowcharts are unhelpful. After looking at several of them, I can't imagine using them in an emergency. Try to answer this question: "Is the dog in distress?" Huh? Some dogs seem to be in distress 24/7. Others will injure themselves without complaint if they think it pleases you. Can you imagine trying to translate the word "distress" into concrete terms while your dog is bleeding? The word might have a precise definition elsewhere in the book, but a good first aid guide doesn't require you to do research in the middle of an emergency.

Third, I failed in ten minutes of looking to locate information on the simple injury that brought to my attention my need for such a book. My dog's paws swelled up and started to peel after our first run in summer heat. Strangely, the index didn't send me to a central place for paw injuries. It seems that you have to have a tentative diagnosis before you can find any information. I looked up "blisters" and didn't find anything. I flipped through the book trying to pick up a sense of the organization, which led me to some first aid pages but no information about paws.

It turned out that his injuries were burns, a common paw injury that would deserve a place in a book a fifth the size of this one. The information must be in the book somewhere -- how could it be missing from a book that includes abortion, cancer, and geriatrics? -- but I could not diagnose the problem until I put this book down and sought information elsewhere.

(By human first aid standards, the authors of this book have bungled a well-understood task, but by dog first aid standards, they might be pretty good, for all I know. All the other books I found with dog first aid information suffered from similar problems, and none were half as useful as a typical human guide. Dozens of excellent first aid guides are available for humans, ranging from useful twenty-page pamphlets produced with line drawings and basic vocabulary to professional manuals larger than this book. Why can't I find a single well done, up-to-date first aid guide for dogs? If I recall correctly, _The Home Pet Vet Guide: Dogs_ was well illustrated and well organized, but it hasn't been updated in twenty years. Another book that I haven't been able to examine, but which sounds promising, is _Dog First Aid Emergency Care for the Hunting, Working, and Outdoor Dog_.)

Despite my disappointment with the first aid aspect of the book, I considered buying it anyway for the other veterinary information. I decided against it, since I already have a guide to basic care. I just couldn't imagine myself using it. It may be interesting to read about whelping, but if your dog were about to have puppies, would you really rely on this book, or would you buy a more specialized one? If your dog develops cancer, will you rely on the copy of _Dog Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook_ that's been on your bookshelf for three years, or will you seek a newer, more focused source of information? Or will you trust your vet?

The truth is that while there's lots of information in this book, it mostly provides interesting but ultimately insufficient chunks of information. A whole page devoted to a rare disorder might seem like an impressive amount of detail, but it's pointless until your dog develops that disorder. Then that page becomes useful, but it also becomes absurdly inadequate. And it hardly needs to be said that a six hundred page book won't enable you to accurately diagnose your dog or second-guess your vet. A textbook for an undergraduate physiology course -- which most vets take before they enter veterinary school -- contains as much information as this guide (and much more lavish illustrations to boot).

If you don't want to take your dog to the vet and are too lazy to study real vet school texts and veterinary reference books, or if you enjoy trivia, or if you want to annoy your vet with half-informed theories about your dog's maladies, then this is the book for you. If you have already have plenty on your reading list and just want a guide for basic care and emergencies, I'm sorry to say I haven't yet found the right book.

The Dog Owners Home Veterinary Handbook
An incredible resource. This excellent book provides dog owners with a wealth of practical, accurate information to help guide reactions to symptoms. We now go to the vet much more informed, and are also able to better appreciate the care the vet gives. The section on poisons is extremely helpful, giving the nefarious and varied symptoms good description, and offering effective home remedies which add valuable time to you getting your pet into treatment.

All dog owners should own, and read thoroughly, this book.

A Must For Every Dog Owner!
Believe it or not I actually used this book the first day I received it. My huskie cut his foot and the first aid treatment was at my finger tips! The book contains symptoms, diagnosis and especially informs the owner when a vet visit or emergency visit is required. Every dog owner should have this book on hand for emergencies, symptoms and treatment to take appropriate action for the benefit and health of their beloved pet. The same as having a first aid book for the human side!