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Emergency first. If your dog is struggling to breathe, has collapsed, has pale, blue or gray gums, is having a seizure lasting more than five minutes, may have eaten something toxic, or has a swollen belly and is retching without bringing anything up, stop reading and go to an emergency veterinarian now. For suspected poisoning you can also call the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center on (888) 426-4435 or the Pet Poison Helpline on (855) 764-7661; a consultation fee may apply.
The library is organized the way owners actually arrive. If you have a name, a diagnosis from your vet, a word on a discharge sheet, start in the conditions A-Z index, where every guide explains one condition in the same order: what it is, signs, causes and breeds at risk, how vets diagnose it, treatment, daily life, and urgent warning signs. If you have a sign instead, a dog that is vomiting at 2 a.m. or limping after a walk, start in the symptom triage guides, which sort what you are seeing into go now, vet today and monitor at home before they discuss causes at all.
Every fact in the library is drawn from published veterinary guidance, principally the Merck Veterinary Manual and the American Kennel Club, with the exact sources linked at the foot of each page. Nothing here invents a reviewer, a statistic or a study, and treatment costs are not quoted unless a named, citable source supports the figure. The library informs decisions about urgency and helps you have a better conversation with your veterinarian. It does not diagnose, and it never replaces an examination of the actual dog.
Our symptom checker sits on top of these triage guides: check the emergency signs first, then pick a body area and a symptom, and see the matching guide’s own triage bands, with a link through to the full guide. It never offers a diagnosis, its red-flag screen always routes to emergency care first, and every screen carries the disclaimer and the hotline numbers shown on this page.
Two companion libraries are being built as separate packages and will link here when they ship: a toxic plants database and a medication safety library. Until they are live, use the food safety library for ingestion questions and call a poison hotline for any plant or medication exposure rather than waiting for a web page.
This page is general information drawn from the published guidance of the organizations listed under Sources below. It is not veterinary advice, and it does not replace your own veterinarian, who knows your dog. If your dog may have eaten something toxic, contact your veterinarian, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center on (888) 426-4435, or the Pet Poison Helpline on (855) 764-7661 straight away. A consultation fee may apply on the helplines. If your dog is struggling to breathe, has collapsed, is having a seizure that will not stop, or has a swollen belly with retching that brings nothing up, go to an emergency veterinarian now and do not wait to finish reading.
Last updated: November 2026. How we work: our methodology.