Warning: This is how hot it is inside a car for your pet (VIDEO)
We’re all warned about the dangers of leaving a pet inside the car when it’s hot outside, but have you ever really thought about just how sweltering it is inside that vehicle?
A veterinarian filmed himself inside a hot car for 30 minutes outside his Maple Ridge animal clinic in an experiment to replicate what happens to animals when they’re locked in hot cars.
Adrian Walton of Dewdney Animal Hospital said the experience became “markedly uncomfortable” after the five minute mark.
At that point is was 58 degrees Celsius inside the car as it sat in the sun.
“Sweat stopped evaporating, or wasn’t evaporating fast enough to provide any cooling. While reviewing the video I shot I noticed that I was very angry, frustrated and basically losing my cool,” Walton told Vancity Buzz.
But it got worse. By the end of the 30 minutes, the veterinarian was “just staring off into space.”
“My staff report that after I got out I was slurring and stumbling,” he said.
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Walton was lucky. He was able to dunk his head into a bucket of cold water to cool off after getting out of the car. But dogs in cars don’t have that luxury. They can’t even sweat. Just one hour in a hot car can cause heat exhaustion in a dog, and – in the worst case scenario – lead to a coma or death.
Walton says temperatures as low as 18 degrees Celsius outside can make a car reach over 43 degrees Celcius inside.
The lesson here? Heat kills. Please keep your dogs at home while you’re running errands.
Watch the CTV News at Noon video to hear Walton speak about the experience:
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