How to Check Your Dog's Health at Home: A UK Owner's Guide
You spend more time with your dog than any vet ever will. That gives you a unique advantage in spotting subtle changes in health, behaviour and body condition early. A regular five-minute home health check — done weekly or monthly — builds familiarity so that small changes are quickly noticed. This guide explains what to check and what to look for.
Key takeaways
- A weekly five-minute home health check covering body condition, eyes, ears, coat, lumps and movement establishes a baseline that makes changes easy to spot early.
- Pale, white, blue or grey gums are a medical emergency — get to a vet immediately if you see this.
- Resting respiratory rate above 30 breaths per minute in a dog at rest warrants same-day veterinary assessment, particularly in dogs with heart disease.
Body Condition and Weight
Weight changes are often the first sign of an underlying health problem — both unexplained weight loss and gradual weight gain warrant investigation. Regular weighing at home (use bathroom scales: weigh yourself, then weigh yourself holding the dog, and subtract) gives an objective baseline. Changes of more than five per cent of body weight without a change in diet or exercise are worth discussing with your vet.
Body condition scoring (BCS) is more informative than weight alone. On a scale of 1–9 (where 1 is emaciated and 9 is obese, with 4–5 being ideal), you should be able to feel the ribs easily with gentle pressure but not see them. Looking from above, the dog should have a visible waist tuck; from the side, an abdominal tuck should be visible. Both the PDSA and the BVA publish freely available body condition score charts online that make home assessment straightforward.
Eyes, Ears and Mouth
Healthy eyes are clear, bright and free from discharge — a small amount of clear or slightly brown crust in the inner corner is normal. Cloudiness, redness, excessive or coloured discharge, squinting or pawing at the eye warrants a vet check. Comparing both eyes is helpful — asymmetry often indicates a problem in one eye.
Ears should look clean (pale pink-beige) and smell neutral. Redness, brown or black discharge, odour, and head shaking or scratching at the ears are signs of infection or mite infestation. The mouth should have pink, moist gums (press a fingertip to the gum and release — colour should return within two seconds in a healthy dog) with no persistent bad odour, white or red gums, excessive tartar or sores. Pale, white, blue or muddy-coloured gums are an emergency.
Skin, Coat and Lumps
Run your hands firmly over the entire body — neck, chest, shoulders, back, ribcage, abdomen, hindquarters and all four legs — feeling for any lumps, bumps, tender spots or areas of hair loss. This takes less than two minutes and should become a weekly habit. Note any new lumps and record their size, location and feel — your vet will find this information valuable.
The coat should be glossy and lie flat without excessive greasiness, dandruff or patches of hair loss. Check for flea dirt (dark specks at the base of the tail and behind the ears), ticks (particularly after walks in woodland or long grass — run fingers through the coat carefully) and signs of mange (patchy hair loss with crusty, reddened skin). Any lump that grows rapidly, bleeds, feels attached to underlying tissue or appears in an area not previously noticed should be seen by a vet promptly.
Movement, Breathing and Toilet Habits
Watch your dog move — getting up from rest, walking, trotting and turning. Stiffness on rising (worse in cold weather and improving with movement) suggests joint disease. Subtle lameness — a shift in gait, reduced weight-bearing, protecting a limb — is best seen from the front and back as the dog walks away from and towards you. Compare symmetry of muscle bulk on both sides: significant asymmetry suggests a limb that is being used less.
Resting respiratory rate — count breaths per minute when the dog is sleeping or lying quietly — is a valuable home monitoring tool, particularly for dogs with known heart or respiratory disease. Normal is under 30 breaths per minute. Above 30 at rest, or any laboured, noisy or open-mouth breathing, warrants veterinary attention. Toilet habits are informative: note any changes in frequency, consistency or colour of faeces; straining or blood in urine; or drinking significantly more or less water than usual.
Find a Vet Near You
If your home health check reveals anything unusual — a new lump, changes in gait, altered breathing or behavioural changes — book a vet appointment promptly. Use CompareMyVet at app.comparemyvet.uk to find and compare local practice prices before booking.
Common questions
A brief check of eyes, ears, mouth and gait is worth doing weekly — it takes only a few minutes and quickly becomes habitual. A more thorough hands-on check covering the whole body for lumps and skin changes is best done monthly. Senior dogs and those with known health conditions benefit from slightly more frequent checks.
Pale gums indicate reduced blood flow to the periphery, which can be caused by shock, significant blood loss, severe anaemia or heart failure. Any dog with pale, white or grey gums must be seen by a vet immediately as an emergency — do not wait for a regular appointment.
Not all lumps are serious, but any new lump should be assessed by a vet. Most skin lumps in dogs turn out to be benign (fatty lumps, cysts, warts), but some are malignant and early assessment significantly improves outcomes. Record the lump's size, location and feel, and book a vet appointment within one to two weeks — sooner if it grows rapidly, bleeds or changes.
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