Video Transcript

Hi. I'm Doctor Q from DoctorQuesten.com. And today we're going to talk about how to determine if your dog is dehydrated. Dog can become dehydrated from several things such as vomiting or diarrhea. And sometimes it can be helpful to know before you call your veterinarian if you suspect that your dog might be dehydrated. Now there's three different way that we're going to check and see if we think if this dog, Sushi is dehydrated. The first thing we're going to do is check her eyes and her nose. So we're just going to turn her head toward you so you can see she has tears here in the corner of her eyes, and her nose is nice and wet. Now, contrary to popular belief, a dry nose does not necessarily indicate that your dog is running a fever. But a dry nose could mean dehydration. Luckily she's not showing any of those symptoms. So, let's go on to the second thing that we check when we're looking for a dehydrated pet, and that's called the skin tent test. So, what we're going to do is very gently, the skin right here on the back of her neck, we're going to grasp that, lift it up and let pop back down in to place. See how that skin just popped right back down in to place? That's perfect and that's exactly what we're looking for. If we lift it up and it stays up, that's an indication of dehydration. Now, the third way that we're going to check and see if she might be dehydrated is to check her mucus membrane. Now the most important thing to remember here is safety first. Do not get bitten. This is really important to make sure that you feel safe before you stick your hands inside your own or somebody else's dog's mouth. So. I'm going to demonstrate how we're going to do that here. Where I'm just going to very gently lift up her lip with one hand. With the other hand I'm going to stick my thumb right in between her lip and her gum and slide my finger along. Luckily it slides right along, my finger doesn't stick to her gums. So that indicates to me that she's definitely not dehydrated. So, there's three primary things that we've talked about today that tell us about dogs and whether or not they might be dehydrated. Eyes, nose, the skin tent test and the mucus membranes. Hopefully those are some tips that will help you the next time you're trying to decide if your dog is dehydrated. And on that note, I'm Doctor Q and the rest is up to you. Thank you for watching.