A Coquitlam veterinarian posted a photo to Facebook of a deceased dog wrapped in a blanket that was brought into her practice yesterday in the hopes that pet owners will stop leaving their animals in their cars in hot weather.
Leah Montgomery, a vet at the Shaughnessy Veterinary Hospital, was working at her clinic Friday evening when a distraught family came in carrying their dog.
"[He] was unfortunately dead on arrival," Montgomery told CTV News.
Although it was hard to get much information out of the family, who were all incredibly upset, Montgomery learned the dog had been left in the car. She's not sure for how long.
She debated whether or not to post the photo of the dead dog on the internet, but decided to do it because she thought people needed to see such a graphic image in order to understand how deadly leaving an animal in a hot car can be.
"Having a graphic of a happy panting dog in the car is obviously not getting the message across to people," she said.
Her goal was not to publicly shame the family, but to show people what can happen when they leave their dogs, cats or children in cars.
Montgomery says she's seen two or three dogs die in the last year from heat exposure. Usually she gets at least four dogs a year coming in with heat stroke.
"Dogs aren't able to sweat, so they need to pant to try and relieve the heat," she said. "And all they end up doing is recycling all that hot air [in the car] and so the temperature rises even more quickly."
Heat can kill dogs because it can cause organ failure and blood clots.
"It doesn't take very much time at all," she said. "Don't think that cracking the window is going to be enough."
With a report from CTV Vancouver's Breanna Karstens-Smith.
