Health & Safety Hub

How to Examine Your Pet

Ten minutes, every 1 to 2 months. Learn what is normal for your pet so you notice quickly when something changes.

Nose to tail: how to examine your dog at home

A basic home examination focuses on observing their daily habits and assessing key physical and behavioural markers. Noticing problems early helps with diagnosis and treatment.

Permethrin toxicity warning

Never apply dog flea or tick products containing permethrin to cats. Even small amounts can be fatal. Always check labels before using any topical product.

Behaviour and habits

Healthy pets should want to play, eat, sleep and move. Noticing a change early helps with diagnosis and treatment.

Energy level and mood

Watch how they behave over a normal day rather than in one moment.
Compare against what is usual for them, not against another pet.

Healthy looks like: Wanting to play, eat, sleep and move, as they usually do.

Call your vet about: Sudden lethargy, hiding, or disinterest in daily activities.

For dogs: Watch for sudden lethargy, hiding, or disinterest in daily activities like walks or playtime.

A pet moving normally around the home

Eating and drinking

Note how much they eat and drink across a few days.
Watch for thirst that has clearly increased.

Healthy looks like: A steady appetite and normal thirst for them.

Call your vet about: Changes in appetite, or unusual increases in thirst, which can indicate underlying hormonal or organ issues.

A pet at their food and water bowls

Elimination habits

Check stool when you pick it up.
Track how often they urinate, whether they strain, and the colour.

Healthy looks like: Stool firm, brown and easy to pick up, with regular comfortable urination.

Call your vet about: Straining, a change in frequency, or a change in the colour of the urine.

For dogs: Stool should be firm, brown, and easy to pick up. Track the frequency of urination, straining, and the colour of the urine.

Litter tray and garden, showing what to look for

Physical appearance and body condition

Weight check

Look down at them from above.
Run your hands down their chest with light pressure.

Healthy looks like: A visible indentation at the waist from above, with ribs you can easily feel but not see.

Call your vet about: No waist from above, or ribs you cannot feel at all, or ribs that are clearly visible.

Waist seen from above, and hands feeling along the ribs

Skin and fur

Part the fur to check for scabs, bald spots or dandruff.
Feel for any unusual lumps or bumps.
Run a fine-toothed flea comb through the fur to check for ticks or flea dirt.

Healthy looks like: Smooth skin with consistent colour, no flakiness, no scabs, no redness.

Call your vet about: Scabs, bald spots, dandruff, unusual lumps or bumps, ticks or flea dirt.

Parting the fur to check the skin underneath

Mobility

Observe how they walk, stand, and get up from lying down.

Healthy looks like: Moving and rising freely, without hesitation.

Call your vet about: Stiffness, reluctance to move, or limping, which are signs of pain.

A pet rising from lying down

Eyes

Look at both eyes in good light, straight on.

Healthy looks like: Clear, bright, and free of squinting, cloudiness, or green or yellow discharge.

Call your vet about: Squinting, cloudiness, or green or yellow discharge.

Checking a pet's eyes in good light

Ears

Inspect the ear flaps and inside the ear canal.

Healthy looks like: Clean and pale inside, with no smell.

Call your vet about: Dark debris, redness, swelling, or a foul odour.

Lifting an ear flap to see inside the canal

Mouth and teeth

Gently lift the lips to check the gums.

Healthy looks like: Gums a healthy pink, with clean teeth and no smell.

Call your vet about: Pain, heavy brown tartar buildup, swelling or bleeding along the gum line, or foul breath.

Lifting the lip to check the gum line

Paws and nails

Look between the toes for swelling, redness, or a musty odour.
Check whether the paw pads are cracked.
Make sure the nails are not overgrown.

Healthy looks like: Clean between the toes, supple pads, and nails at a comfortable length.

Call your vet about: Swelling, redness, a musty odour, cracked pads, or overgrown nails.

Checking between the toes and the pads

Resting respiration

Wait until they are completely at rest.
Count how many times the chest rises and falls in a minute.

Healthy looks like: Fewer than 30 breaths per minute.

Call your vet about: A resting rate of 30 breaths per minute or more, or visible effort to breathe.

Counting breaths while a pet rests

Capillary refill time

Gently press a finger against the gums, then release.

Healthy looks like: The pink colour returns in less than two seconds.

Call your vet about: Colour that takes longer than two seconds to return.

Pressing the gum and watching the colour return

Body condition: the waist and rib check

From above, your dog should have a visible indentation at the waist. You should be able to feel their ribs easily when you run your hands down the chest, but not see them. What matters is knowing where your dog sits today and whether it is drifting.

The four checks

Rib check: with light pressure, your fingers should find ribs about as easily as feeling the back of your own hand.
Waist check: from above, there should be a visible tuck-in behind the ribs.
Profile check: from the side, the belly should slope up from ribcage toward the hips, not hang level or below.
Muscle check: feel along the spine and over the hips. Muscle should feel firm and full, not bony or wasted, especially in seniors.

Body shapes from too thin to obese, seen from above and the side

How often to check what

Run the full head-to-tail exam every 1 to 2 months. Step up to daily or weekly checks while your pet has an ongoing health issue.

Every 1 to 2 months

The full head-to-tail exam on this page, about 10 minutes.
Body condition check: ribs, waist, and profile.
Weigh your pet and write it down; quiet weight change is one of the earliest illness signs.
Nail length, and a flea comb pass at the tail base.

Daily or weekly, if something is being managed

A diagnosed condition you are managing at home.
Recovery from an illness, an injury, or surgery.
The weeks after a change of medication or a change of food.
Anything a previous exam flagged as worth watching.
These checks can be short. Ask your vet which areas to watch most closely.

Yearly, with your vet

A wellness exam with your vet, even when everything seems fine (twice yearly for seniors).
Vaccine and parasite screening updates.
Bring your home exam notes; trends over months are gold to a vet.

Call now, or watch and wait?

Call or go now

Trouble breathing, pale or blue gums, collapse, or a seizure.
A swollen belly with retching (dogs) or no urine being produced (especially male cats).
A painful belly, sudden inability to walk, or heavy bleeding.
Anything on this exam that is new, painful, and getting worse by the hour.

Watch and wait is likely fine for

A single mild finding in a pet who is otherwise eating, drinking, and behaving normally.
Small changes you are unsure about: write them down, recheck tomorrow, and call if they persist or grow.
Anything that has been stable for months; mention it at the next regular visit instead.

Found something during the exam and not sure how urgent it is? The symptoms guide gives each sign a triage level in plain words.

Open the signs and symptoms guide

The dog checklist

Behaviour and habits

Wants to play, eat, sleep and move as usual
No sudden lethargy, hiding, or disinterest in walks or playtime
No change in appetite, and no unusual increase in thirst
Stool firm, brown and easy to pick up
Urination normal in frequency and colour, with no straining

Physical checks

Visible indentation at the waist when seen from above
Ribs easy to feel with light pressure, but not visible
Skin smooth and even in colour, with no flakiness, scabs or redness
No bald spots, dandruff, or unusual lumps and bumps
No ticks or flea dirt in the flea comb
Walks, stands and rises with no stiffness, reluctance or limping
Eyes clear and bright, with no squinting, cloudiness or coloured discharge
Ear flaps and canals free of dark debris, redness, swelling or foul odour
Gums a healthy pink, with no heavy brown tartar, swelling, bleeding or foul breath
Between the toes free of swelling, redness or musty odour; pads not cracked
Nails not overgrown
Fewer than 30 breaths per minute at rest
Gum colour returns within two seconds after a press

A home exam supports, and never replaces, veterinary care. If anything you find worries you, call your clinic; describing exactly what you felt and when is the most useful thing you can do.

Highlights

A step-by-step check from nose to tail

Body condition scoring explained in plain words

A printable checklist for your fridge or pet folder

Deep Dive

The home exam is not a diagnosis. Its job is to teach your hands and eyes what normal feels like, so abnormal stands out early.

Set yourself up for an easy exam

Pick a calm moment, not right after play or right before dinner. Sit on the floor with your pet, keep your voice low, and treat the whole thing like slow petting with a purpose.

Keep sessions short at first. A partial exam your pet enjoyed beats a complete exam they now dread. Treats at the end build the habit.

Good light helps you actually see gums, ears, and skin.
Write findings down with the date; trends matter more than single observations.
Stop if your pet gets stressed and try the rest another day.

What this exam does not replace

A home exam never replaces veterinary care. Vaccines, dental cleanings, bloodwork, and parasite screening all find problems your hands cannot.

If a home check ever leaves you unsure, call your clinic and describe exactly what you felt or saw. That call is what the exam is for.