If this was your child, would you be debating on going to the doctor?
I'm not debating going to a doctor -- I'm debating going to the
ER! And YES, I HAVE debated taking my child, my husband, myself, my cats, & my dog to the ER. I've taken all of them to the ER at one time or another -- it's a chaotic place to be, particularly on weekends and ESPECIALLY during full moons (it's not an urban myth, ask anyone who's worked in an ER, whether for beasties or humans). Not only do I think non-emergency cases should hold out for regular hours, but I don't think the quality of care is as good with harried ER staff as with your regular doc.
Frankly, I think this is an obnoxious rule of thumb/question (it's already in the forums guidelines, btw). I can't imagine anyone would be here searching for answers if they didn't consider their 4-legged companions a part of the family. My own daughter (now 23) jokingly tells everyone I replaced her with a dog when she left home -- but my family knows it's not all that much of a joke :-) The thing is, whenever I debated taking my child to an ER, I had a better understanding of what constituted dire emergencies vs. urgent conditions that could wait 2 days vs. conditions that could wait for her regular doc's next convenient availability vs. conditions better treated at home, because I LOOKED THE SYMPTOMS UP. And that's just what I'm doing here. I simply can't imagine "If this were your child" ever being much of a constructive question.
Yep, I'm in the States (though actively looking at emigration options! No joke, but that's a discussion for another forum ;-) ).
Follow-up: the 'bubble' remains but seems a little smaller (or is more inside than out); the Pepto Bismal I've been giving her seems to be helping the diarrhea; she's still drinking fine; I'll try the "it's finished" tack today...