Vital signs are signals to health. They are the first things veterinarians check when you arrive with a sick dog because they reveal how the body is working and, if something is awry, what diseases or conditions to suspect. You can use the same vital signs to help you decide if you need to visit your veterinarian.

Buy a digital thermometer from the drug store and label it “for dog use only.” Because you are going to put it in the anus, apply a little Vaseline or oil to the tip. Insert the metal tip as far as it can go, up to five centimetres. If it’s not in far enough, it won’t register the true body temperature.

Most digital thermometers beep once they have recorded the temperature. At this point, remove it and read the display. Normal body temperature for a dog is between 38 and 39.2°C (100.5 and 102.5°F). Clean the tip of the thermometer by wiping with a tissue. Sterilize it with a second tissue soaked with rubbing alcohol.

If the temperature is high, your dog has a fever or is suffering from hyperthermia. A low temperature means you are dealing with hypothermia. This can happen if a dog is chilled, but also with dehydration or severe illness.

The pulse rate is the number of heartbeats per minute. Of course, you can hear it with a stethoscope, but you can also feel it by putting your hand on the chest between the forelegs or feeling the pulse in the large artery that runs on the inside of the back leg.

Count the beats for 15 seconds, multiply by four, and you have the rate per minute. Most dogs have a pulse between 80 and 140. It rises if the dog is excited and slows down when he’s sleeping. Measure your dog’s pulse when he’s relaxed so you can determine his normal rate.
A high pulse rate can suggest a fever or heart disease. A low rate can also be seen with heart disease or a lack of circulation to the heart.

The respiratory rate (RR) is the number of breaths per minute. This is easy to measure – just watch the ribs or the abdomen rising and falling. Count how many times it does the up/down cycle in 15 seconds and again multiply by four. There is no normal range for RR because it differs with each dog. To get the normal rate for your dog, count the RR when he is at rest in a comfortable temperature. If it rises or drops out of this range, there is something wrong.

The RR can rise due to exercise, a fever or even anemia or pneumonia. The RR going down can indicate hypothermia.

If you pull your dog’s lip up to see the gums, you are looking at the mucous membranes. Colour can be an indicator of health. They should be a mild pink.

Excessively red gums can indicate a high body temperature (fever or overheating) or gum disease. Pale gums indicate anemia or poor blood flow from low blood pressure. Yellow gums suggest liver problems or hemolytic anemia. The membranes should also be moist. Tacky gums indicate dehydration.

While you’re lifting your dog’s lip, you can also do a capillary refill time (CRT). Find an area of unpigmented (pink) gum and press a finger on it to blanch it (turn it white). Remove your finger and count how many seconds it takes for the colour to come back.

The CRT indicates blood pressure and circulation. Normally, it takes less than two seconds to ‘repink.’ If it takes longer, circulation is poor, indicating dehydration or heart disease.

The last test you can do is a skin test. Grasp the skin over the shoulders and pull it up. Once you’ve ‘tented’ the skin, let it go and see how quickly it returns to its normal position.

If a dog is dehydrated, it takes longer to fall back down. Don’t go too high on the neck (toward the head) because a skin test there can make it look like a dog is dehydrated when it isn’t.

Monitoring vital signs is easy to do. To ensure that you can interpret them properly, take them when your dog is healthy. Do it today.