Dog recovering after being left in hot car in Paducah

Two people have been cited with cruelty to animals after authorities say they left their dog in the car on a very hot Monday afternoon in Paducah.

The McCracken County sheriff said if it were not for the quick action of witnesses, the dog would probably have died in the hot car. The dog is recovering well, but the body camera video shows the distress during the rescue.

“He immediately went to the other side and broke out a window,” McCracken County Sheriff Ryan Norman said.

Body camera video shows the window broken by a McCracken County Sheriff’s deputy.

Sheriff Norman said you can see the small crack left for the dog in the back window, but with a heat index of 109 in Paducah on Monday, no amount of time in the car is safe.

“The dog was very sick at that point,” the sheriff said. “Foaming at the mouth, attempting to stand up and couldn’t support his own weight, even when he was just kind of kneeling down, wasn’t able to support his weight.”

The sheriff said witnesses in the Kentucky Oaks Mall parking lot helped once deputies rescued the dog from the vehicle.

“Immediately took the dog inside, so it could be in air conditioning,” Norman said. “The dog was transported by McCracken County Animal Control to a local veterinarian, Ceglinski Animal Clinic.”

“Harder to breathe, any amount of activity outside is not recommended for people, same thing goes for your animals,” Jorrie Hayden said. She is a licensed veterinary technician at Ceglinski.

She said it’s not even remotely safe to leave your dog in the vehicle with this heat, even if you crack a window.

If you must take your dog, have someone with you so you can leave them and your pet in the car with it running.

“Or better yet, just leave your pet at home,” Hayden said.

And if your pet is showing signs of heat stroke including drowsiness, hard panting and breathing, drooling, or struggling to hold themselves up, their doctor wants to see them.

“That is a true emergency that we want to see them for and make sure they’re not having some of the later stages of heat stroke,” Hayden said.

Sheriff Norman said this incident should serve as a reminder for everyone.

“A car in this type of heat with the sun, it heats up extremely quickly,” the sheriff said. “It can go from 92 degrees to 120 degrees in 20 minutes or less.”

The dog did make a full recovery. According to the sheriff, he is currently being fostered by a family chosen by the Humane Society.

It’s unclear whether or not he will go back to his owners.