Something between crossing your fingers and the animal ER

May 25, 2010 7:24 AM

Is there a "bible" of home pet diagnostics, treatment, and general health?

My partner and I have taken our dog to the vet one too many times for superficially alarming symptoms that turned out to be "He probably ate something weird, we'll keep him overnight for observation."

I'm looking for a book or manual that covers common symptoms and their causes, as well as home treatments and indications of when a dog really needs to see a vet. Is there an acknowledged, authoritative book of this type out there?

(I've seen the pet health website thread.)

posted by hayvac to Pets & Animals (8 answers total)

Best answer: I have a copy of the Dog Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook </a, which I have found pretty useful. I think there's a cat version too.
posted by kataclysm at 7:29 AM on May 25, 2010

and someday I will remember to frigging well close my HTML tags (or look @ the preview).....
posted by kataclysm at 7:30 AM on May 25, 2010

nthing the Dog Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook. It's a little pricey, but it's increased my animal husbandry confidence by 1000%.
posted by MeiraV at 7:46 AM on May 25, 2010

Yes to the Dog Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook.
posted by HotToddy at 8:21 AM on May 25, 2010

And for cats?
posted by princelyfox at 8:39 AM on May 25, 2010

How about.... the Cat Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook?
posted by kataclysm at 8:41 AM on May 25, 2010

(or even the new edition of COHVH, which you should probably get instead of the 1995 edition if you're looking for a cat health manual...)
posted by kataclysm at 8:45 AM on May 25, 2010 [1 favorite]

The forums at Dogster and Catster are pretty helpful for this. My dog is also an eater of strange things, and I've spent way too much time and money rushing to the vet for those incidents, so I feel your pain.
posted by judith at 10:19 AM on May 25, 2010