During the dog days of summer, the last place your canine companion wants to be is sitting in a car. That’s because temperatures inside vehicles can rise quickly in the summer sun, becoming deadly for dogs in a matter of minutes, warns veterinarian David Yedo of the Allbrick Veterinary Clinic at 8700 Zuni St. in Federal Heights.
“It depends on the outside temperature, how much the windows are rolled down, but temperatures in an automobile can accelerate very rapidly and can get very hot,” Yedo said. “Taking into consideration that dogs don’t sweat and regulate their temperature by panting, if the temperature is too high, they are unable to regulate it. Once it gets to 106 degrees or higher, dogs can start getting some brain abnormalities, and it can eventually lead to seizures, coma and death.”
While Yedo said that he rarely sees cases of dogs that have suffered heat exhaustion due to being left in a vehicle, reports of animals left sweltering in cars are on the rise. In Westminster alone, about 15 dog owners have been given animal cruelty tickets since the beginning of June, said Westminster Animal Management Supervisor Kelli Jelen.
“We’re probably averaging about five to eight calls a day,” Jelen said. “Out of those, we’re probably writing about four people tickets. So I’d say four out of five calls, the dogs are bad enough that we write tickets.”
Jelen said the offense, a misdemeanor animal cruelty charge, is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or one year in jail. She said the criteria for issuing a summons depends on how distressed the dogs are, and the temperatures inside and outside the vehicle.
“You look at the dogs to see if they are stressed, you look for panting and signs that they are trying to stay cool or they just aren’t handling the heat,” Jelen said. “Some of the cases we’ve dealt with, we’ve actually had to remove animals from vehicles. At that point, we have vehicles that are cooled and our officers know how to handle that type of situation with a dog that has heat exhaustion. They’ll cool them down. If they’re really bad, then they’ll go right to the vet.”
Jelen said there has been one instance this summer of a dog dying due to heat exhaustion, but Yedo said he can’t remember a single overheated dog coming in for treatment in the last five years.
“It’s rare,” Yedo said. “Most people know that’s a big no-no.”
While it may be common knowledge not to leave pets in cars baking in the sun, Jelen said that people don’t realize just how quickly it can become a problem.
“A lot of the time, people lose track of how long they’ve been inside a store, and don’t realize that in just minutes the temperature can increase inside the car by 10 degrees,” she said. “A good example is the inside of the car can climb to 102 degrees in 10 minutes when the outside temperature is maybe 85.”
Edgewater resident and Front Range Community College student Cullen Mahaffey left his dog Juneau in his Honda Civic for a few minutes on Monday when he stopped at the school to turn in an assignment. He left the windows slightly cracked and a bowl of water inside for Juneau, who was panting in the 93-degree heat, and said he knows better than to leave her in the car for a long time when it’s hot.
“I was just in and out,” Mahaffey said. “I was probably gone about 10 minutes. I know it’s bad to leave her in the car and I normally never do it but I just had her with me and had to stop to turn in my homework. I always worry about my dog in this heat no matter where she is.”
Jelen said that leaving the windows cracked doesn’t always help.
“The bottom line is to always leave your dog at home when the weather is warm or hot,” she said.
The website for Westminster’s Animal Management states that if your dog begins to show signs of heat exhaustion, including excessive panting and lethargy, then immediately cover the animal with a cool, wet towel until the body temperature lowers and give the animal small amounts of water to drink. Citizens concerned about unsupervised animals left in hot cars should call the city of Westminster Police Dispatch line at 303-658-4360.