Puppy Locked in Car That Was Impounded for Month Found Alive

A 3-month-old puppy was found alive after being locked inside an SUV that had been impounded nearly a month before.

The dog had no access to water and survived off trash left in the car from a McDonald's restaurant, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

The dog was spotted on Monday by a municipal worker who was tagging cars in the lot when it jumped on the car's dashboard, according to Kansas City municipal government spokesman Danny Rotert.

Police broke into the car and rescued the puppy.

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The terrier and schnauzer mix, named Kia by staff at Missouri's North Kansas City Animal Shelter, was suffering from severe dehydration and malnutrition but was expected to recover fully, according to animal shelter spokeswoman Toni Fugate.

“Four weeks of her life she was trapped in the car, so she has no formal training,” Fugate told the Kansas City Star.

The vehicle's owner, whose name has not been released, made no mention of owning a dog when he came to the lot to inspect his car, the Kansas City Star reported. The Chevy Suburban was impounded April 8.

"Without an appreciable amount of water, it’s pretty miraculous for a puppy to survive three weeks in a car," veterinarian Billie Deam told the Star. "Physiologically it’s possible, depending on what she was eating to survive on," she added. "But it’s really stretching the outer limits of what’s possible."

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The Kansas City, Mo. case is similar to one in Washington state in which a dog was found in a car after the vehicle was left in a parking lot for six days. That dog also survived.

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