Comparison between auricular and standard rectal thermometers for the measurement of body temperature in dogs
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Published on: September 14, 2018
Marlos G Sousa1, Roberta Carareto, Valdo A Pereira-Junior
1The Federal University of Tocantins State, College of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, Araguaína, Tocantins, Brazil. marlos@uft.edu.br
Abstract:
Although the rectal mucosa remains the traditional site for measuring body temperature in dogs, an increasing number of clinicians have been using auricular temperature to estimate core body temperature. In this study, 88 mature healthy dogs had body temperatures measured with auricular and rectal thermometers. The mean temperature and confidence intervals were similar for each method, but Bland-Altman plots showed high biases and limits of agreement unacceptable for clinical purposes. The results indicate that auricular and rectal temperatures should not be interpreted interchangeably.
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