Dog Dies At Doggy Day Care From Heat Stroke In Tampa, Family Left Heartbroken And Wanting Answers


A doggy daycare in Tampa, Florida is under fire after a French Bulldog named Porscia died at their facility from heat stroke last weekend. This little fur baby’s death has left a big hole in her family’s heart. Mia Norton said that the Lucky Dog Day Care had called her on Saturday to inform her of this tragedy, and she is now left to wonder why this all happened.

According to a report by KMTV, this is the second pooch to have lost its life at the daycare in the last few weeks. Mia Norton told the news reporter that she had no idea another dog had previously died there. If she had known that, she would have taken Porscia somewhere else while they went away on vacation. Norton blames the facility for being so short staffed that the employees just couldn’t handle all of the dogs in their care.

According to the doggy day care’s part owner, Jack Hamilton, the employees are responsible for getting them all inside within 30 minutes. They are supposed to begin this task at 10:30 a.m. and have them all inside by 11 a.m. He said that the employees on duty that day did not follow that procedure.

However, a former employee said that they did everything that they were supposed to. There is apparently only one employee to wrangle up 30 to 40 dogs at once. Poor little Porscia wasn’t found until 12:18 p.m., according to the surveillance video. Many of the employees, including a few managers and the dog trainer, have since been fired. Also, some of the staff members chose to leave their jobs after this tragedy happened.

Norton has many questions that she wants answered. She wonders why no one had seen her dog panting heavily, which is a sign of heat stroke. She suspects that there are just not enough people working at the doggy day care to be able to meet the safety needs of the dogs who are dropped off. She had no idea that something like this would happen to their little four-year-old French Bulldog.

Doggy day care under fire
A French Bulldog such as this one died of heat stroke. [Image by Chris McGrath/Getty Images]

This time of year is especially dangerous for dogs. Leaving them out in the heat for too long can have devastating consequences such as this one. Now the Norton family has one less member of their family to love. They are truly heartbroken over their loss. Mia Norton couldn’t hold back her tears as she talked about Porscia. She mentioned how close the dog was to her two-year-old son.

It is recommended by veterinarians that if you suspect that a dog is suffering from heat stroke, you need to do what you can to lower their body temperature. That can be done by spraying them with cool water or wrapping them in cool, wet towels. Always use cool water, not cold. Also, be sure to give the animal cool water to drink to hydrate them.

[Featured Image by Thinkstock/Getty Images]

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