Normal dog and cat parameters

Temperature: The normal body temperature in dogs and cats generally varies between 100 and 102.5 Degrees Fahrenheit (F).{{more}} Temperatures outside of these values do not automatically indicate that a disease or disorder is present, but we have to look at it in a holistic sense, taking factors like ambient temperature, whether or not the animal was exercised before taking the temperature, mode of transport if the animal was transported, etc. In my practice, I see animals sometimes with temperatures bursting through the ceiling, and when I enquire if the animal was walked to the clinic, it will be obvious that the animal was walked for maybe one mile on a hot day.

A high temperature, 103 degrees F or over, is regarded as hyperthermia, and usually indicates that something is not right and requires further investigation.

Generally, there could be elevated temperatures in cases of bacterial infections, initially in cases of viral infections; in cases of acute inflammatory processes; etc.

Likewise, animals could have hypothermia, that is when the body temperature is below the normal range. Some instances when I see cases of hypothermia are: In severe cases of dehydration usually in cases of viral infections like parvo virus; gramoxone poisoning; in dying animals, etc.

Gestation Period: This is the length of pregnancy.

Dogs: 58 – 63 days on average.

Cats: 60 – 64 days on average.

Clients often call panicking, saying that the animal is over the average gestation period, peg. 65 days of pregnancy and the animal is going about its day to day routine as though nothing is wrong. Most of the time owners hadnoticed the dog mating and thought that it was the 1st time the animal mated and noted that date on a calendar, but did not cater for the dog having mated 5 days prior to that, which they may not have seen, hence the miscalculation.

My response in such cases would be to observe her for a few days longer, if there is no sign of distress, forcing (contractions) etc, let her be. If there is doubt, we normally perform an ultrasound to verify the viability of the fetuses and get a rough estimate of their age.

If the animal is not able to deliver the pups normally, a cesarean is performed.

A few days ago, a client called me and related that her poodle had mated with a much larger dog and was only _ way through its pregnancy, but the abdomen appeared to be very big and the dog was showing signs of restlessness. I enquired if she was in labour and was told that she wasn’t. I advised that she observe the animal closely for a few days and call me if there was anything abnormal about her behaviour, like abdominal contractions, fluids from the reproductive tract etc.

Two days later the client called to say that the dog had a litter of healthy pups.

The problem was that the client thought that the gestation period of a dog was 3 months instead of 2 months. She erroneously thought that because the father of the pups was quite big, the pups were super big, hence the reason for the huge abdomen. The truth was that the dog had a normal pregnancy and was about to give birth.

In my experience with pregnant dogs, I have found that very often, contrary to what most people believe, if the father of the puppies is much bigger than the mother, it does not automatically mean that she will have difficulty giving birth. The miracle of pregnancy and the process of giving birth have been so fine tuned that the size of the fetus in most cases does not show a great variation, so that the process of giving birth is not affected greatly by the size of the father.

On the other hand, dystocia or difficulty at birth may be caused by a wide range of problems, like:

1. Bad presentation in the birth canal of the fetus.

2. Birth canal being too narrow.

3. Over sized fetus.

4. Dead fetus.

5. Inadequate uterine contractions due to a variety of causes.

For further information, contact: Dr. Collin Boyle Unique Animal Care Co. Ltd. Tel: 456 4981

Website: www.uniqueanimalcare.com