The capillary refill time tells us the perfusion status of the membrane. Make sure that you always assess both colour and CRT, irrespective of the colour of the membrane. You still need to know the perfusion status of a dog with a cyanotic membrane (usually quickly!) or a white one. Remember that oral diseases can also LOCALLY affect the CRT. An inflamed mucous membrane will often have a fast CRT because of the inflammation per se. In this cat you can see that there is gingivitis around the canine tooth. The CRT in the inflamed area is fast. If you watch closely you can actually see that the CRT in the gum adjacent to the gingivitis is slower than in the gingivitis!