Thread: Danger Of Hot Cars In Summer For Pets - Even For Just A Few Minutes

I saw it so much last summer it made my heart break. I live in Dallas, Texas and the temperatures here get extremely hot. Last summer we had many days over 100 degrees. Yet I would see pet owners leaving their dogs and even a few cats, locked inside a vehicle. I would see the dogs and the cats looking anxiously out the window for their owners and suffering in the heat.

Yes the windows were cracked to prevent the pet from escaping, but even a 10-15 minute errand can cause temperatures in a car or vehicle to soar to 110+ degrees or higher. This is even more true in super hot places where the temperatures are already in the 100s before the car is parked. This type of intense heat, even after just 10-15 may be fatal for some pets.

Unfortunately this heat danger can happen to even the most loving owners because people simply don’t realize the dangers. If you have friends of family members who routinely take their dogs or pets with them in the car during hot summer months, please gently remind them of the dangers of even short exposure in a super hot vehicle.

Educating people of the dangers would save the lives of countless dogs and pets. Even if you have a friend or acquaintance, please share this information so that needless dogs and pets don't needlessly perish in hot vehicles this summer.

It really makes me mad too when I go shopping and see dogs left in cars in temperatures 100 deg plus, sometimes the windows are down a bit but even so it still gets very hot inside .I would break a car window if I had to to get the pet out.It really makes you wonder why they have to take pets out in extreme heat, even walking them on hot concrete foot paths is bad too.

Originally Posted by wombat

It really makes me mad too when I go shopping and see dogs left in cars in temperatures 100 deg plus, sometimes the windows are down a bit but even so it still gets very hot inside .I would break a car window if I had to to get the pet out.It really makes you wonder why they have to take pets out in extreme heat, even walking them on hot concrete foot paths is bad too.

Hi Wombat,
Last summer I saw a beautiful chocolate lab in a car parked at a Kroger grocery store. The windows were cracked so that the lab couldn't get out, but the dog was panting really badly. It was 105 and around 1:30 pm. I was sweating like crazy just walking to and from the store. The dog was whining. I didn't know what to do so I went back into the store and asked the office clerk to announce that the owner of the car should go to the car immediately.

I waited and the owner came out. She was very annoyed with me and told me she left her dog in the car all the time and that the dog would be just fine and I should mind my own business. She got into the car and drove off giving me lots of dirty looks.

I thought about it and decided maybe this summer I should keep cool bottles of water in my car and if I see a dog in distress and I can reach into the car with the water, give them a drink. I am not sure if that would be considered trespassing or any other legal matter that could get me in trouble? Could the pet owner sue me for giving their pet water? Even if they get the water to cool down, depending on the size of the dog and the heat, they could still be in trouble.

Thoughts on my water idea?

I'm not an expert, but I think you could probably get away with giving a dog some water if it really needed it. I doubt you would get into that much trouble for it.
I think you did the right thing, I would have done the same, its not your fault that person got annoyed.
I hate to think that pets can die just because their owners can't be bothered to find someone to look after their pet while they go out, so they just leave him/her in the car.