Eye vs. Rectal Temperature in Dogs: A Diagnostic Comparison

Send us Fan Mail A “normal temperature” can be the most dangerous kind of comforting. We sit down with Drs. Kimberly Woodruff and Sahar Rostami to unpack what happens when ocular thermometry and rectal thermometry show similar diagnostic performance for detecting abnormal body temperature in dogs, and why that still doesn’t mean you should relax after a normal reading. We translate sensitivity and specificity into day-to-day clinical decisions. High specificity means these methods are fairly good at confirming normal temperature when a dog truly is normal, but low to moderate sensitivity means they can miss dogs with abnormal core temperature. That’s where the nuance lives: an abnormal result is often meaningful and deserves follow-up, while a normal result shouldn’t outweigh your clinical intuition when the patient looks unwell. We also discuss why the shelter population matters for interpretation, including how rare abnormal temperatures can widen uncertainty around sensitivity estimates. Then we get practical. We walk through combining ocular and rectal measurements using parallel testing (any positive) versus serial testing (both positive), and how your choice depends on whether you’re trying not to miss cases or trying to be confident before labeling a dog abnormal. We also explore why ocular screening may be a better fit in shelters and some clinics: less handling stress, faster workflows, and potentially lower risk of disease spread than moving a thermometer between animals. Along the way, we touch on measurement technique, eye-region considerations, and why rectal temperature isn’t a perfect gold standard, including how Bayesian latent class analysis can better reflect reality. If you care about smarter canine triage, better shelter medicine protocols, and making test results match what you see in front of you, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave a rating and review wherever you listen. AJVR article: https://doi.org/10.2460/ajvr.26.04.0185 INTERESTED IN SUBMITTING YOUR MANUSCRIPT TO JAVMA ®  OR AJVR ® ? JAVMA ® : https://avma.org/JAVMAAuthors AJVR ® : https://avma.org/AJVRAuthors FOLLOW US: JAVMA ® : Facebook: Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association - JAVMA | Facebook Instagram: JAVMA (@avma_javma) • Instagram photos and videos Twitter: JAVMA (@AVMAJAVMA) / Twitter   AJVR ® :  Facebook: American Journal of Veterinary Research - AJVR | Facebook Instagram: AJVR (@ajvroa) • Instagram photos and videos Twitter: AJVR (@AJVROA) / Twitter JAVMA ®  and AJVR ®  LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/avma-journals