Don’t Cook Your Dog: Tips From a Vet & Publicity Poster
Everyone has heard tales of doggie (and sometimes human) fatalities every year as a result of the deadly combination of heat and cars. Michigan veterinarian, Kerry E. McKinney, shed some light on keeping track of your car climate and figuring out whether your next road trip is pooch-friendly. You can also share this dont_cook_your_dogs_poster, courtesy of the UK-based “Dogs Today” campaign, with friends to help raise awareness among well-intentioned owners.
Summer brings plenty of opportunities for fun but a dog, (or child!), in a car on a hot day is a recipe for disaster.
Consider the chart below which illustrates how quickly the interior of a car can heat up.
Even on a relatively mild 70 degree day, the temperature inside a car reaches 89 degrees in just ten minutes.
Tissue and organ injury begin at an internal body temperature of only 104 degrees. In the 85 degree temperatures we’ve had this month, that’s the temperature inside the car 10 minutes after you’ve locked it and run into the store for a quick errand. Why take a chance you choose the “wrong” check out lane with the new cashier and a customer in front of you with unpriced items and 28 coupons?
And if you think cracking the windows makes a difference, think again. Related tests with single and multiple windows left open to varying degrees revealed little difference in the speed of the temperature rise or the ultimate temperature reached.
If you love them, leave them home or take them in with you.
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Estimated Vehicle Interior Air Temperature v. Elapsed Time
Elapsed time
Outside Air Temperature (F)
70
75
80
85
90
95
0 minutes
70
75
80
85
90
95
10 minutes
89
94
99
104
109
114
20 minutes
99
104
109
114
119
124
30 minutes
104
109
114
119
124
129
40 minutes
108
113
118
123
128
133
50 minutes
111
116
121
126
131
136
60 minutes
113
118
123
128
133
138
> 1 hour
115
120
125
130
135
140
Data Courtesy Jan Null, CCM; Department of Geosciences, San Francisco State University
Posted by Kerry E. McKinney DVM at 7:42 AM
via FURthermore–Tails from the Front: Please Don’t Cook Your Dog.
