WITH temperatures climbing as summer approaches, a new analysis has offered a shocking insight into the risks posed to dogs left in hot cars by their owners - revealing in some cases temperatures can soar to a deadly 60 degrees centigrade.
UK weather: Warm temperatures forecast by Met Office
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The message has been reinforced by the Dogs Trust, which has urged all dog owners to be aware of the risks and to consider the welfare of their beloved pets. A team of experts at LeaseCar.uk looked at the changing internal temperatures of a car with different external temperatures.Did you hear that? Sound frequency is measured in Hertz (Hz). The higher the Hertz, the higher-pitched the sound. Dogs hear best at 8,000 Hz, while humans hear best at around 2,000 Hz.
Internal temperatures increase the longer a dog is left on its own - and so too does the consequent threat to the animal’s health.
For instance, 21 degrees centigrade outside can see a car’s internal temperature shoot up to over 45 degrees in just an hour - more than double what it was at the start.
If the external temperature is 35 degrees, inside the car the mercury can hit an unsurvivable 60 degrees.
For humans, high environmental temperatures can be dangerous to the body.
In the range of 32 and 40 degrees, people can experience heat cramps and exhaustion.
Heat exhaustion becomes even more likely between 40 and 54 degrees.
However, dogs, with their layers of warm fur, and who must pant to try to keep cool given their inability to sweat, therefore face grave danger in any sort of raised temperature.
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Dogs Trust is urging owners to:
- Avoid walking dogs at the hottest times of the day - early mornings or later in the evenings is often best - and take plenty of water
- Be careful of walking dogs on hot tarmac by doing the ‘seven-second test’ – if it’s too hot for human hands, it’s too hot for dogs’ paws
- Avoid long car journeys where possible and not to travel during the hottest and busiest times of the day, avoid congested roads as much as possible, take regular breaks and have plenty of water on board
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