I'm a really big believer in calling your vet immediately when you want to find out if you should be worried about any unusual behaviour. Any good vets is not going to have you come in and waste your time (and theirs) for something they don't think is a real worry -- they will give advice on what to watch for, or will set your mind at ease.
The problem with asking a forum for advice on serious rather than generl medical issues is that members have no idea of the real expertise of anyone who answers -- and to my knowledge we only have *three* people here at most who have some vet medical training as nurses, techs or doctors, and a lot of amateur advisers.
On a serious note: if you get someone advising to do nothing, and the reality is that person really knows very little about dogs or vet medicine but just likes to be 'helpful' and happens to be online at the time you post, and you take their advice, you could end up with a very sick or dead animal.
This is serious enough for me and many other animal board owners that many of us have legal disclaimers on the site about taking advice from anyone, and I mean ANYONE including me
, on medical issues.
I would consider any situation in which your dog :
appears hurt
bloated
lethargic
has ingested anything that MAY BE of concern
is vomiting or heaving
has an eye that looks hurt or cut or in any way damaged
is having any breathing problems
has had a fit or has frozen or collapsed
is in pain having a bowel movement
to be an URGENT situation in which to ring your vet FIRST and then, if you'd like, post here to see what people think or to get a sense of whether advice given seems right or if anyone can share a similar experience.
Sometimes you may have only minutes or an hour in which to act to prevent serious complications or death and this is just not a risk worth taking. If anyone fears their vet will just have them come in and spend money uselessly, then there are two things to consider:
1) if this is really true, time to change vets right away to one you trust!
2) consider whether the finances are there to manage a dog over its lifetime especially if an emergency arose, and consider insurance if you don't have it 8)