Some signs that warrant you getting up in the middle of the night and getting to an emergency vet ASAP include:
- Difficulty breathing, which may be manifested as blue gums, coughing of foamy, pink frothy liquid, panting constantly, or stretching the head and neck out while breathing
- Constant coughing and inability to rest through the night
- A distended, “bloated” abdomen
- Non-productive retching (which is classic for gastric-dilitation volvulus or “GDV”)
- Anxiety or restlessness (often a sign of pain or a GDV)
- Pale gums (which is often seen with internal bleeding or anemia)
- An elevated heart rate (> 160 beats per minute at home)
- A respiratory rate of > 60 breaths per minute at home while resting
- Crying out in pain
- Jaundiced (yellow gums)
- Not being able to move or walk
- or dragging of the back legs
- Extreme lethargy
- Any significant amounts of bleeding
- Any trauma
- Any poisoning or toxin ingestion
- Vomiting more than two or three times
- Abnormal vaginal discharge
- Abnormal odor from your dog
- Fever
- Squinting, bulging, or painful eyeballs
- Straining to urinate, making multiple trips to urinate, squatting to urinate without producing any urine
- Collapse
- Anything that makes you worried
- Tremors or seizures
- Any abnormal behavior that you’re worried about (e.g., acting aloof or particularly clingy)