Your Ask A Vet tracker measures the temperature around it and can warn you when your pet's surroundings get too cold or too hot. Here's what it measures, what the alerts look like, and when they fire.
Ambient, not body temperature
The reading is the ambient temperature — the temperature of the air around the tracker on your pet's collar. It is not your pet's body temperature.
Important: Temperature alerts tell you about your pet's environment. They are not a health measurement, and the Ask A Vet tracker is not a medical device.
The three alert bands
| Band | Fires when | Default (if you haven't set your own) |
|---|---|---|
| Cold | The temperature drops below your low threshold | Below 10 °C |
| Hot warning | The temperature reaches your high threshold | 30 °C and above |
| Hot critical | A safety backstop | 40 °C and above |
Once you set your own thresholds, the cold band uses your low threshold and only fires while Cold alert is on, and the hot-warning band uses your high threshold and only fires while Hot alert is on.
Please note: The hot-critical band is always on. It fires even if you have turned Hot alert off, at whichever is higher — 40 °C, or your own high threshold plus 5 °C.
What you'll see on your phone
| Band | What your lock screen says |
|---|---|
| Cold | "It may be too cold for {Pet}" / "The temperature is 4°C. Keep them warm." |
| Hot warning | "It is getting too hot for {Pet}" / "The temperature is 31°C. Limit outdoor time and keep them hydrated." |
| Hot critical | "Dangerously high temperature near {Pet}" / "42°C. Move your pet somewhere cooler immediately." |
Tap the notification and you get a full-screen alert titled Too cold for {Pet}, Getting hot near {Pet} or Too hot for {Pet}, with the actual reading shown in colour — blue, amber or red.
On the map
Your pet's tracker card shows the current temperature as a rounded degrees badge. Its colour follows the same bands: neutral when there's nothing to report, blue for cold, orange for a hot warning and red for hot critical. If the tracker hasn't sent a reading, the badge shows —.
Good to know
- Every temperature is shown in Celsius. There is no Fahrenheit option in the app.
- Each alert occurrence is shown to you once — reopening the screen won't pop the same alert again.
- Temperature alerts go to the tracker's owner only. They are not sent on to family members.
Related articles - How to set your own cold and hot temperature thresholds - I'm getting too many temperature alerts, or none at all - Every tracker alert Ask A Vet can send you