Normal temperature, pulse and respiratory rate by species
Three numbers anyone can take without equipment worth the name. Their value comes less from the published range than from knowing what this animal reads when it is well.
The short answer
- Rectal temperature in most adult mammals kept for farming or company falls between about 37.2 and 39.7 °C; birds run several degrees higher, around 40.5–42 °C.
- Heart rate scales inversely with body size: a horse at rest sits near 28–44 beats per minute, a cat near 140–220.
- Young animals run higher than adults on all three measures, so applying an adult range to a calf, lamb or puppy produces false alarms.
- A reference range describes a population; an individual's own resting baseline is the more useful comparison, and it costs nothing to record while the animal is well.
- A single reading taken after handling, exercise or in the afternoon heat is not a resting reading — the conditions of measurement change the number more than most illnesses do.
Temperature, pulse and breathing rate are the three measurements a keeper can take without a laboratory, and they are the three a veterinarian will ask for first over the telephone. They are worth taking properly, and they are worth taking when nothing is wrong — because the range that matters most is not the one in a textbook but the one this particular animal produces on an ordinary day.
This page gives the published reference ranges by species, explains how each measurement is taken so that it means something, and sets out what a value outside the range does and does not establish.
What a reference range actually is
A reference range is the interval within which most healthy animals of a species fall when measured at rest under unremarkable conditions. It is a statement about a population, and it has two properties that are easy to forget.
It has soft edges. An animal a tenth of a degree outside the published band is not thereby unwell, and one comfortably inside it can be seriously ill — a reading inside the range is not a clean bill of health, particularly in an animal that is deteriorating quietly.
And it varies between sources. Different reference works publish slightly different intervals, drawn from different populations measured in different conditions, and the differences are real rather than errors. The ranges below follow the values used in standard veterinary reference works; where a figure matters clinically, the veterinarian working with the animal is the arbiter.
Reference ranges by species
| Species | Rectal temperature (°C) | Heart rate (beats/min) | Respiratory rate (breaths/min) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cattle, adult | 38.0–39.0 | 48–84 | 15–35 |
| Sheep | 38.5–39.5 | 60–120 | 16–34 |
| Goat | 38.5–39.7 | 70–110 | 15–30 |
| Horse, adult | 37.2–38.3 | 28–44 | 8–16 |
| Pig, adult | 38.0–39.5 | 70–120 | 8–18 |
| Dog | 37.5–39.2 | 60–140 | 10–30 |
| Cat | 38.0–39.2 | 140–220 | 20–30 |
| Chicken | 40.5–42.0 | 250–300 | 15–30 |
The chart makes two things visible that the table states but does not dramatise. The mammalian ranges are narrow and they do not coincide — a temperature that is unremarkable in a goat would be a clear fever in a horse. And poultry sit in a different band altogether, which is why a bird handled by someone used to mammals feels alarmingly hot and is not.
Young animals run higher
Applying adult figures to young stock is the most frequent source of false alarms.
| Measure | In young animals | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Temperature | At or above the top of the adult range | Higher metabolic rate; less mature thermoregulation |
| Heart rate | Markedly faster; often close to double the adult figure in neonates | Smaller stroke volume compensated by frequency |
| Respiratory rate | Faster, and more variable between readings | Higher oxygen demand per unit of body mass |
The corollary matters more than the rule: a newborn whose temperature is low is in a different and more urgent situation than one whose temperature is high. Neonates lose heat quickly, and hypothermia in a calf, lamb or piglet is a common terminal pathway rather than a minor finding.
How each measurement is taken
Temperature is measured rectally with a lubricated digital thermometer, inserted to a depth appropriate to the species and angled so the tip rests against the rectal wall rather than sitting in the middle of the lumen or in faeces. Wait for the reading to stabilise rather than for the first beep on a fast-read device. Non-contact infrared thermometers aimed at skin or ear are convenient and are affected by coat, ambient temperature, sunlight and technique — useful for tracking a trend, not for settling a question.
Pulse can be taken by palpating an artery — femoral in dogs and cats, facial along the jaw in horses, coccygeal under the tail in cattle — or by feeling or listening to the heartbeat over the left chest wall. Count for a full 30 seconds and double it; counting for ten seconds and multiplying by six magnifies every error, including the animal’s normal beat-to-beat variation.
Respiratory rate is counted by watching the flank or chest rise and fall, at a distance, before the animal registers that it is being watched. One breath is one complete rise and fall. Panting in a dog is not respiration in this sense — it is thermoregulation, and it makes the count meaningless.
The conditions of measurement change the number more than most illnesses do. An animal that has just been moved, restrained, transported or handled by a stranger will produce a raised temperature, pulse and respiratory rate for reasons that have nothing to do with disease. Take the reading before the handling where possible, or allow the animal to settle — and record what was happening, so that tomorrow's reading is comparable.
Why the numbers move during the day
Body temperature follows a daily rhythm in every species here: lowest in the early morning, highest in the late afternoon or early evening, with a normal swing of several tenths of a degree. A morning reading and an afternoon reading are not interchangeable, and a fever that appears only in the afternoon may simply be the rhythm plus warm weather.
Superimposed on that are ambient temperature and humidity, feeding and rumination, physical work, oestrus, late pregnancy, lactation and stress. In hot conditions the effect is large enough to be a subject in its own right, since a rising body temperature in a group is one of the first measurable signs of heat stress rather than of infection.
What a reading outside the range establishes
It establishes that something has changed. It does not name what.
A raised temperature accompanies infection, and it also accompanies heat load, sustained exertion, severe pain and inflammation of any cause. A raised heart rate accompanies fever, pain, dehydration, blood loss, cardiac disease and simple fright. A raised respiratory rate accompanies lung disease, and also pain, fever, heat and anxiety.
A low reading is often the more serious. Hypothermia in a newborn, a collapsed adult or an animal in the late stage of an illness indicates a body that is no longer maintaining itself, and it is a reason to seek help immediately rather than to keep observing.
In all of these, the number is a prompt to look at the whole animal — posture, alertness, appetite, water intake, breathing effort, milk yield, faeces and urine — and to describe that picture to a veterinarian, whose questions the vital signs will help answer. Which signs are worth acting on the same day is set out in early signs of illness in cats and dogs.
What to record
The value of these three numbers rises sharply once there is more than one of each.
Record the date and time, the value, and the circumstances: ambient conditions, whether the animal had been handled, what it was doing beforehand. Alongside them, note appetite, water intake, faeces and urine, and — for production animals — yield, feed intake and group behaviour. Where anything has been administered, record the product, the batch, the amount, the route and the date, because that record is also what governs any applicable withdrawal period.
A single reading answers almost nothing. Three readings across two days, taken in comparable conditions, answer a great deal.
Bottom line
For resting adults, rectal temperature sits at roughly 38.0–39.0 °C in cattle, 38.5–39.5 °C in sheep, 38.5–39.7 °C in goats, 37.2–38.3 °C in horses, 38.0–39.5 °C in pigs, 37.5–39.2 °C in dogs and 38.0–39.2 °C in cats, while poultry run at about 40.5–42.0 °C. Heart rate falls as body size rises, from around 140–220 beats per minute in a cat to 28–44 in a horse. Young animals exceed adult figures on all three measures, and a low temperature in a young or collapsed animal is the more urgent finding. Take each measurement at rest, under conditions you can repeat, and record what the animal reads when it is well — a personal baseline outperforms any published range, and it is only available to someone who wrote it down in advance.
Questions readers ask
What is a normal body temperature for a cow, a sheep, a horse, a dog and a cat?
Taken rectally at rest, adult cattle sit at roughly 38.0–39.0 °C, sheep at 38.5–39.5 °C, goats at 38.5–39.7 °C, horses at 37.2–38.3 °C, pigs at 38.0–39.5 °C, dogs at 37.5–39.2 °C and cats at 38.0–39.2 °C. Poultry are far higher at about 40.5–42.0 °C, which is normal for a bird and not a fever. Published ranges differ slightly between reference works, and the animal's own baseline is more informative than the population range.
How do the numbers differ in young animals?
They run higher across all three measures. Neonates and young stock have a higher metabolic rate, a larger surface area relative to their mass and less mature thermoregulation, so temperature sits at the top of the adult range or above it, and both heart rate and respiratory rate are substantially faster. A calf, lamb, piglet, puppy or kitten judged against an adult range will look feverish and tachycardic while being entirely well.
How are temperature, pulse and respiratory rate measured?
Temperature rectally, with a lubricated digital thermometer held against the wall of the rectum rather than in the middle, until it reads stable. Pulse either by feeling an artery — the femoral artery in dogs and cats, the facial artery in horses, the coccygeal artery in cattle — or by listening to or feeling the chest and counting heartbeats. Respiration by watching the flank or chest rise and fall for a timed interval, before the animal notices you are watching.
Why do the readings change during the day?
Body temperature follows a daily rhythm, typically lowest in the early morning and highest in the late afternoon, with a normal swing of several tenths of a degree. Ambient temperature, humidity, feeding, rumination, exercise, oestrus, late pregnancy and handling stress all move the numbers as well. This is why comparisons are only meaningful between readings taken under similar conditions at a similar time.
What does a reading outside the reference range mean?
That something has changed and is worth investigating — not that a diagnosis has been made. A high temperature accompanies infection but also heat load, prolonged exertion and severe stress. A low temperature in a newborn, a collapsed animal or one in late-stage illness is often the more urgent finding. The reading is a signal to look at the animal as a whole and to involve a veterinarian, not a result to be treated on its own.
What is worth writing down?
Date and time, the value, and the conditions — ambient temperature, whether the animal had been moved or handled, and what it was doing beforehand. Alongside that: appetite, water intake, faeces and urine, milk yield where relevant, and any product administered with its batch and the date. A record like that turns three isolated numbers into a trend, which is the form in which they are actually useful to a veterinarian.
Sources
- Normal rectal temperature ranges — MSD/Merck Veterinary Manual
- The Merck Veterinary Manual — MSD/Merck Veterinary Manual
- Pet care resources for owners — American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA)
- Terrestrial Animal Health Code — World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH)
- Animal production and health — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Galen publishes reference material on veterinary medicines. It describes how products are labelled, stored and classified; it does not tell you what to give an animal, in what amount, or for how long. Those decisions belong to a veterinarian who has examined the animal, working from the manufacturer's labelling for the exact product in front of them. Where national rules apply — to prescribing, residues in food, or reporting a suspected reaction — the authority in your own country is the one that governs.