title: Application of vaginal temperature measurement in bitches.
abstract: Finding innovative, non-invasive methods for continuously measuring body temperature minimizing human interference is important for accurate data collection. The objective of this study was to assess feasibility and accuracy of continuous body temperature measurements with loggers placed in the vaginal cavity of bitches. First, an in vitro experiment was performed to compare values obtained by temperature loggers (n = 26) to a calibrated liquid-in-glass thermometer. The mean differences between the two methods were low. Next, an in vivo experiment was performed using five healthy bitches, and values obtained by the vaginal loggers were compared to measurements collected rectally with digital thermometers. The results show that rectal and vaginal temperatures were correlated. The mean differences between rectal and vaginal temperatures were negligible. We conclude that the utilized temperature loggers provide accurate and reliable data.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Clinic for Animal Reproduction, Freie Universität, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Maeder
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arlt
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Burfeind
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Heuwieser
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001831:Body Temperature / Q000502:physiology*; D004285:Dogs / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000662:veterinary*; D012007:Rectum; D013821:Thermometers / Q000662:veterinary*; D014621:Vagina / Q000502:physiology*