“Never leave your pet in a parked car when the outside temperature is above 70 degrees. Not even with the windows partway down, not even in the shade, not even for a quick errand. Dogs and cats can’t sweat like humans, so they pant to lower their body temperature. If they’re inside a car, recycling very hot air, panting gives no relief, and heat stroke can happen quickly.”
– Michael Dix DVM, Medical Director, Best Friends Animal Society
“Heat stroke can permanently damage a pet’s health very rapidly. The change of only a few degrees to a dog’s normal body temperature can quickly result in coma, organ dysfunction, permanent brain damage or even death.”
– Jules Benson, DVM, Medical Director, Pet Plan Pet Insurance
“When temperatures outside range from 80 degrees to 100 degrees, the temperature inside a car parked in direct sunlight can quickly climb to between 130 to 172.”
– Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
We all love our furry family members!!
With Summer coming, we thought it would be a great time to put out a reminder of the danger you can put your pet in if you choose to take them in a vehicle with you and leave them while you run into a store.
The temperature inside your vehicle can rise almost 20º F in just 10 minutes. In 20 minutes, it can rise almost 30º F… and the longer you wait, the higher it goes. At 60 minutes, the temperature in your vehicle can be more than 40 degrees higher than the outside temperature. Even on a 70-degree day, that’s 110 degrees inside your vehicle!
Your vehicle can quickly reach a temperature that puts your pet at risk of serious illness and even death, even on a day that doesn’t seem hot to you. And cracking the windows makes no difference – cracking the windows has very little effect on the temperature rise inside the vehicle. This is definitely a situation where “love ’em and leave ’em” is a good thing! Please leave your pets at home at home when you can…they’ll be safe and happily waiting for you to come home.
This Summer before you put your pet in the vehicle, ask yourself if you really need to take your pet with you – and if the answer is no, leave your pet safely at home.
At Car Direct, our goal is to help you in finding the right vehicle for you. Check out our inventory page to see what we currently have in stock. Don’t see what you’re looking for? Give us a call – that vehicle may be on its way in. If not, we’ll find it for you!
