In this article we will talk about how to detect the feverish state of our pet, in this case, we will talk about dogs.
When we make the decision to acquire a dog, either by adoption or purchase, we must be aware that we must satisfy all its needs, food, grooming, walks, games, etc. It is very important to know the animal, its character, state of mind, etc. that is to say, we will give you the same treatment as if you were another member of the family.
The first thing we will do when the animal arrives at our house will be; make the reception as good as possible, we will show you where you will sleep, eat and relieve yourself. It is not convenient to place it in a place where there is a lot of noise since this would generate a lot of stress for the dog or that the room where it will live is too far from us. Let’s remember that it is a completely new place for him and we have to make him feel as comfortable as possible. After all, he is one more member of our family and as such, we have to make him feel as good as possible.
It can happen that our pet gets sick and the first symptom that will appear if it is a severe illness will be fever. How can we detect that the dog has a fever? What symptoms does it present? Well, as we have said before, we will give a brief explanation of how we will detect the feverish state in our dog.
How to know if our dog has a fever:
Our pet cannot tell us with words that he feels bad, but if he can communicate it to us through his behavior, he has a character, which, we have been learning over time, as a general rule if the dog is well, run, play, eat, etc. Otherwise, he is apathetic, this would be the first symptom that we should observe.
As we have said before, observe our dog daily, this is the most important point of this action, it will tell us if our dog is in good health or not. When we take him out for the first walk in the morning, we will see how he acts, if he is nervous and runs to go out to defecate or on the contrary, we see that he wants to go out and is nervous but does not run, he is calm and apparently it seems that he is very down, At this time is when we should start to worry and carefully observe the animal and see how it acts.
The next step in the observation of our pet will be; on the way back from the walk, put the feed in his feeder, the water and see if he has an appetite or not, mainly observe, if he eats the same amounts of food as usual or if he has no appetite at all.
When it happens that our dog does not eat and his mood is apathetic, his nose is dry to the touch, and hot, cloudy and watery eyes or tremors appear, we should start to worry, when we are faced with this situation the best thing is, take the body temperature of the animal, write it down and if it has a fever, notify the veterinarian, who will be in charge of detecting why the feverish state occurs in our pet and putting the appropriate remedy.
The normal body temperature of a dog usually ranges between; 38.5º or 38.8º. From this temperature, it is considered a fever. This temperature can vary if it is a puppy, a female in heat, an adult dog or if the animal has just finished running.
How to take our pet’s temperature? It’s simple; it will be done with a preferably digital thermometer, like the one we use to take our temperature, which we will only and exclusively use for the exclusive use of our pet.
The most reliable way to take a dog’s temperature is to insert the thermometer into the rectum impregnating it with a little Vaseline so that when placing it is less annoying for the animal, once the thermometer is inserted we will wait for it to beep. This operation will be done keeping the animal standing and between two people, why two people? One of them will be in charge of inserting the thermometer into the rectum and the other will caress and caress it so that the animal feels comfortable.
Let us remember that we are introducing a foreign body into its body, the animal mistrusts and do not know the reason why we are doing this operation, which is annoying for it. Once we have finished, we can reward the dog with a cookie for his good behavior. In the event that the animal becomes aggressive and you see some kind of indication that the dog out of fear or other reasons tends to bite or you are aware that you could cause an injury to it because it is nervous, while you are holding it to take its temperature, do not take unnecessary risks, stop! Go to the vet and let him take your temperature, he knows how to act in these cases.
