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Bailey was seven, a Labrador who had never missed a meal in his life. Then his owner noticed he was taking the stairs one at a time, pausing on the landing before carrying on. Nothing dramatic. No yelping, no limping. Just slower. By the time the vet saw him, the arthritis in both hips was advanced enough to show clearly on an X-ray.
That scene plays out in clinics every week, because dogs are exceptionally good at absorbing discomfort. Most common dog health problems are not dramatic. They arrive as small changes in appetite, energy, or mood, and they are easy to explain away until they aren’t.
Here are the conditions vets diagnose most often, what the early signs genuinely look like, and where your attention is best spent.
Dogs hide illness better than most owners realise
A dog in pain rarely cries out. The instinct to mask weakness is old and deep, and what you usually get instead is a dog who quietly stops doing things: no longer jumping into the car, sleeping in a different room, eating more slowly, lagging half a pace behind on the evening walk.
Learning to read those smaller signals is half the battle. Why dogs hide when they are sick covers the behaviours that tend to appear first, and it’s worth reading before anything else on this list.
Dental disease: the most common problem, and the most ignored
By the age of three, more than eight in ten dogs have some degree of periodontal disease. It is the most frequently diagnosed condition in general practice, and it’s the one owners notice last, because a dog with sore gums keeps eating. They just chew differently.
Watch for breath with a metallic edge, a brown line of tartar where gum meets tooth, drooling, chewing on one side, kibble dropped out of the bowl, or a paw rubbed across the muzzle after meals.
Gum disease doesn’t stay in the mouth. Bacteria enter the bloodstream through inflamed tissue and settle in heart valves and kidneys, which is why vets push dental work so hard on older dogs.
And no, dry kibble does not scrape teeth clean. A biscuit shatters against the tooth and leaves the plaque along the gumline exactly where it was. If you’re weighing up food formats, wet dog food vs dry dog food is a fair comparison on other grounds, but neither one is a toothbrush.
What genuinely helps
- Brush three or four times a week with a dog-specific enzymatic paste. Daily is better. Once a month does almost nothing.
- Choose chews carrying the VOHC seal, which means they’ve been tested against plaque rather than just marketed against it.
- Ask for a dental check at every annual exam, and put money aside for a scale and polish under anaesthetic when it’s recommended.
Weight gain and obesity
Roughly six in ten dogs are overweight. It’s the problem owners are least likely to spot, because the change happens over a year and every other dog on the walk looks the same.
Quick test: run your palms along the ribs. You should feel them under a thin layer, similar to the back of your hand. If you have to press, or there’s no visible waist behind the ribcage when you look from above, there’s weight to lose.
Carrying an extra 10% of body weight puts direct stress on hips, knees and the heart, and makes diabetes roughly three times more likely. Shedding two kilos from a Labrador can be the difference between managing arthritis and needing surgery.
Treats are usually the culprit. Keep them under 10% of daily calories, and swap a few for green beans or a handful of kibble set aside from the bowl.
If you suspect the food itself is working against you, how to choose healthy dog food without falling for the label explains what to read on the back of the bag rather than the front.
Skin and ear problems
Itching has a short list of causes: environmental allergies like pollen and dust mites, food allergy, fleas, and yeast or bacterial overgrowth that moves in once skin is already inflamed. The tell is where the dog scratches. Paws, armpits, groin and face point towards allergy. A single hot, moist patch that appears overnight is usually a hot spot and needs seen quickly.
Bathing too often strips the skin barrier and makes things worse. Every four to six weeks with a gentle shampoo is plenty for most dogs, and a vet-prescribed medicated wash beats anything on a pet shop shelf when there’s an active infection.
Ears
Floppy-eared breeds and swimmers collect trouble. Head shaking, a yeasty smell, dark discharge, or flinching when you touch the ear flap all warrant a check. Never push cotton buds down the canal; use a vet-approved cleaner, flood the canal, massage the base and let the dog shake it out. Dry the ear properly after every swim.
Digestive upset
Occasional soft stools are normal. Repeated vomiting, gas, and a dog who eats grass obsessively suggest something more consistent. Food sensitivity, sudden diet changes, scavenging and intestinal parasites all produce similar pictures.
If the gut is the recurring issue, best foods for dogs with sensitive stomachs goes through which ingredients tend to settle things and which quietly aggravate them.
A dog who refuses food for more than 24 hours needs attention, particularly small breeds and puppies, where blood sugar drops fast. Why dogs lose their appetite separates ordinary fussiness from the red flags.
Arthritis and joint disease
Arthritis affects around a fifth of dogs over the age of one and most dogs over eight. Hip and elbow dysplasia are inherited, cruciate ligament tears are sudden, and both leave a dog who is stiff for the first ten minutes after rest, reluctant on stairs, or slower to rise from the floor.
Weight is the single most effective lever. After that, regular low-impact exercise, ramps instead of jumps, and a warm dry bed do more than most supplements. Keep nails short too, since long nails change how weight distributes through the paw.
Parasites
Fleas cause itching and tapeworm. Ticks carry disease. Roundworm can pass to humans, which is why monthly worming matters more in households with children. Prevention is cheap and near-total: year-round flea and tick treatment plus worming every three months, adjusted for your region and your dog’s lifestyle.
Lumps, and why you should measure them
Around half of dogs over ten develop cancer, and most lumps owners find turn out to be harmless fatty deposits. What matters is change. Note the date and size of any new lump with a ruler, check it monthly, and book a vet visit for anything that grows, changes texture, or appears on a dog who seems otherwise unwell.
A two-minute check worth doing every Sunday
Run your hands over the whole dog while they’re relaxed on the floor. Ears, eyes, mouth, each paw pad, under the tail, and along the belly. You’re building a baseline, so that the day something feels different you actually know it’s different.
Weigh them on the same scale once a month and write it down. A 500g gain is invisible on a big dog and obvious on a chart. Then watch the ordinary stuff: how eagerly they get up, how far they walk before slowing, whether they finish dinner in the same time as last week. Dogs can’t tell you where it hurts. They can show you, though, and the owners who catch things early are simply the ones paying attention to the boring details.
