A healthy dog’s temperature sits between 99.5 and 102.5°F (37.5 to 39.2°C), which is warmer than a person. Anything from 103°F counts as a fever, and 106°F is an emergency. Enter a reading below to see which band it falls in and what to do.
The bands below assume a rectal reading. Ear readings run slightly lower; armpit and forehead readings are not reliable on dogs.
General guidance for healthy adult dogs, not a diagnosis. If your dog seems unwell, call your vet whatever the thermometer says.
What is a normal dog temperature?
A dog runs warmer than you do. Normal is 99.5 to 102.5°F (37.5 to 39.2°C), with an average around 101.5°F. A human reading of 101°F means a fever; on a dog it means a perfectly healthy afternoon.
A normal reading is reassuring but it does not rule out illness. Plenty of serious problems, including a heat-stroke dog that cooled down in the car on the way, show a normal temperature. Where your dog sits inside the range also shifts with ordinary things:
- Activity. Ten minutes of running, a car ride, or a stressful vet waiting room all push a reading up by a degree or so.
- Time of day and weather. Temperatures drift slightly through the day and rise in hot weather.
That is why a single reading slightly above range is not a diagnosis. Let your dog settle somewhere cool and quiet for 20 to 30 minutes and measure again.
| Reading (°F) | °C | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below 99.0 | Below 37.2 | Abnormally low | Call a vet now |
| 99.0 to 99.4 | 37.2 to 37.4 | Slightly low | Warm, quiet, re-check |
| 99.5 to 102.5 | 37.5 to 39.2 | Normal | Nothing needed |
| 102.6 to 102.9 | 39.2 to 39.4 | Slightly raised | Re-check when calm |
| 103.0 to 103.9 | 39.4 to 39.9 | Fever | Call your vet today |
| 104.0 to 105.9 | 40.0 to 41.0 | High fever | Vet care now |
| 106.0 and above | 41.1 and above | Emergency | Emergency vet immediately |
How to tell if your dog has a fever
The old test of feeling whether the nose is warm and dry does not work. A cold wet nose belongs to plenty of sick dogs, and a warm dry one to plenty of healthy dogs that have just been napping in the sun. The only way to know is to measure.
What a thermometer cannot tell you is why, so the signs alongside the number matter:
- low energy, sleeping more, reluctance to move or play
- shivering, panting, or a faster heartbeat
- off their food, vomiting, or loose stools
- red or glassy eyes, a runny nose, coughing
- flinching or limping, which can point to pain or infection somewhere specific
Do not reach for your own medicine cabinet. Paracetamol (acetaminophen), ibuprofen and aspirin are all toxic to dogs, and ibuprofen can cause stomach ulcers and kidney failure. There is no safe human fever medicine to give a dog at home.
Tell your vet about those signs as well as the number. A dog at 103°F who is bright and eating is a different conversation from a dog at 103°F who will not stand up.
How to take your dog’s temperature
Two methods actually work, and both need a thermometer kept just for the dog.
Rectal (the most accurate)
- Use a digital thermometer. Coat the tip with petroleum jelly or a water-based lubricant.
- Have someone hold your dog, standing, with an arm under the belly.
- Lift the tail and insert the tip about an inch, less for a small dog. Do not force it.
- Wait for the beep, remove, read, and clean the thermometer.
Ear (easier, slightly less precise)
An aural thermometer designed for dogs reads the ear canal. Dogs usually object far less, and it is a reasonable choice for a nervous dog or a large one you cannot easily restrain. Follow the instructions on depth, since a shallow reading comes out falsely low.
Do not use a forehead-style human thermometer on a dog, and do not try to take a temperature by mouth.
Puppies under 4 weeks are different
Newborn puppies cannot regulate their own temperature, and what counts as normal changes week by week, so the adult bands do not apply at all.
| Age | Normal body temperature |
|---|---|
| Week 1 | 95 to 99°F (35 to 37.2°C) |
| Weeks 2 to 3 | 97 to 100°F (36.1 to 37.8°C) |
| Week 4 | 99 to 101°F (37.2 to 38.3°C) |
Keep the nest warm enough that the puppy stays above 97°F. A 3-week-old at 96°F is cold, even though that reading would be normal in its first week.
Two things matter more than the number. Rewarm a chilled newborn slowly, over 30 to 60 minutes, because fast rewarming is dangerous. And never feed a cold puppy: a chilled gut stops moving, so milk sits in the stomach and can be inhaled. Warm first, feed second, and call a vet.
A temperature drop before whelping
In a pregnant bitch close to her due date, a sustained drop below about 99°F is normal and useful: it usually means whelping will begin within 8 to 24 hours. Get the whelping box ready and tell your vet. Call them if labour has not started within 24 hours of the drop, or if she strains hard for 30 minutes without producing a puppy.
When a temperature is an emergency
Call an emergency vet straight away if the reading is 106°F or higher, or below 99°F, or if your dog is collapsed, disoriented, having trouble breathing, or has gums that look brick red, pale or blue, whatever the thermometer says.
If the reading is high after heat or hard exercise, that is heat stroke territory, and the current veterinary advice is cool first, transport second. Dogs cooled before the journey do measurably better than dogs driven straight to the clinic.
- Pour or spray cool tap water over the whole body, or stand your dog in cool water. Cold tap water is fine and works faster than tepid water.
- Keep air moving with a fan, a breeze or an open car window. Evaporation is what carries the heat away.
- Stop cooling at about 103°F and keep driving. Cooling past that point can tip a dog into dangerous hypothermia.
- Do not use ice, ice packs or rubbing alcohol, and do not drape wet towels over your dog: a towel left in place traps the heat it just absorbed.
Frequently asked questions
Is 103°F a fever in a dog?
Can I tell my dog has a fever by their nose?
What temperature is dangerous for a dog?
Can I give my dog human fever medicine?
Where these numbers come from
- Normal range and fever threshold: the American Kennel Club’s guidance, Fever in Dogs, which gives 99.5 to 102.5°F as normal, an average of 101.5°F, and 103°F as the fever threshold.
- Newborn and whelping figures: the MSD Veterinary Manual on neonatal care (normal 95 to 99°F in the first weeks, slow rewarming, do not feed a chilled puppy) and its whelping guidance on the pre-labour temperature drop.
- Cool first, transport second: the Royal Veterinary College’s VetCompass work on heat-related illness in dogs, which also found flat-faced breeds are affected at much milder conditions.
- Emergency thresholds and cooling advice: VCA Animal Hospitals on heat stroke in dogs, which treats above 103°F as hyperthermic, above 106°F as heat stroke, and 107 to 109°F as the point of organ failure.