EDITORIAL: Take care of your pets during hot summer days

Jul. 27--While the weather has been a bit cooler this week in the Golden Isles, we have seen our share of extremely hot days this summer. Temperatures have climbed into the mid and high 90s at times, which means the heat index has reached the century mark.

Anyone who has gotten into a car after it's been sitting out on such a hot day can tell you just how miserable those first few moments are. Drivers can't get the car cranked up and the air conditioning going quick enough on those days.

Now imagine that you were stuck in the car like that and had a couple inches of fur surrounding your whole body. That is what our furry friends have to endure when we leave them in a car during the summer.

According to Trupanion, a company that offers medical insurance for pets, the temperature outside doesn't reflect how hot it will get in a car. If it is 70 degrees outside, a vehicle can reach 89 degrees inside in 10 minutes. That number jumps to 104 degrees after 30 minutes.

If you have been outside since June, you know it's hotter than 70 degrees. At 80 degrees outside, the temperature inside a car can jump up to 99 degrees after just 10 minutes and 114 degrees after 30 minutes. At 95 degrees outside, the conditions are even worse with the heat inside a car reaching 114 degrees in 10 minutes and 129 degrees in 30 minutes. Humans wouldn't enjoy sitting in such heat, so how do you think a dog would handle it?

"If you would not want to sit in that vehicle, your dog certainly would not either," said Glynn County Animal Control manager Tiffani Hill.

Last week, Glynn County Police arrested an 18-year-old Missouri woman and charged her with misdemeanor cruelty to animals after a county police officer and a bystander pulled an overheated puppy out of the teen's car while she was in the store, according to the police report.

No matter how the incident is adjudicated in court, it is a good reminder that pet owners or anyone caring for a pet has not only an ethical, but legal obligation to not leave them in a hot car.

Our pets deserve to be treated right. So if you have to have your companion with you while running around town, be sure to provide them with water, shade and some way to stay cool besides cracking a window a couple of inches.

Of course, the easiest way to guarantee that is to leave your pet at home when possible during these hot summer days. They may not like being left at home, but they will appreciate it more than being trapped in a hot car.

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