Dog hit by a car: what to do
Rescue guide · Last reviewed
Short answer
A dog hit by a vehicle is frightened, in severe pain, and very often has injuries you cannot see — a fractured pelvis, internal bleeding, a spinal injury. It does not know you are helping. Almost every serious bite a rescuer treats comes from a well-meaning person who reached for the head of an animal in this exact state.
The order of operations matters more here than in any other rescue. Traffic first, then the phone call, then the dog. Reversing that order is how a second casualty happens — sometimes the person helping.
What to do when a dog has been hit by a car
You will need: A flat rigid board, a hard suitcase lid or a taut bedsheet · A thick towel or blanket · A clean cloth for pressure on bleeding · A second person, if at all possible
- 1
Make the spot safe before anything else
Switch on your hazard lights and stop upstream of the dog so traffic sees your vehicle before it sees the animal. Ask someone to flag drivers down from a safe distance. Do not stand in a live lane, and do not kneel over an animal on a road with traffic still moving past it — on a fast road, your own safety genuinely comes first.
- 2
Keep everyone back and look before you touch
Clear the crowd. From about a metre away, note whether the dog is conscious, whether it is standing or lying, where the bleeding is, whether it can move its back legs, and whether it is breathing fast and shallow. You now have everything the rescue team needs, and you have not been bitten.
- 3
Call an animal rescue helpline now
Ring before you attempt anything else. Give a live location pin plus a landmark, the size of the dog, what you saw happen, the injuries you can see, and whether it has tried to bite. Ask how long they will be. A trained team with a stretcher and a muzzle arriving in twenty minutes beats an untrained lift in two.
- 4
Control heavy bleeding with steady pressure
For blood that is pooling or spurting, press a clean folded cloth firmly onto the wound and hold it there. Do not lift the cloth to look, and do not remove it if it soaks through — add another on top. Do not use a tourniquet, and do not wash out, probe or dress the wound.
- 5
Muzzle only if you must, and only if it can breathe freely
If the dog is snapping and the team has told you to move it, a strip of cloth or a roll of tape looped around the muzzle and tied behind the ears makes handling safer. Never do this to a dog that is vomiting, choking, struggling for breath, or has facial injuries — a muzzled dog that cannot pant or vomit can die from it.
- 6
Move it only on a flat support, spine straight
If it truly cannot wait, slide — do not lift — the dog onto a rigid board, a hard suitcase lid, or a bedsheet held taut between two people like a stretcher. Support the whole length of the body so the spine stays in a straight line. Never carry an injured dog by the legs, by the scruff, or slung over your arms with its back curved.
- 7
Keep it warm, still and quiet
Cover the dog loosely with a towel or blanket, including on a warm day — an animal in shock loses heat fast. Keep it flat and stop it walking, even if it seems able to. Turn the music off in the car, keep talking to a minimum, and drive smoothly.
- 8
Tell the clinic you are coming
Call the vet or clinic while you are on the way so they can prepare, and say it is a road accident with suspected internal injuries. Repeat what you saw at the scene when you arrive — you are the only person who witnessed it.
Do
- Call the helpline before you touch the dog, not after.
- Share a live location pin. A pin beats a street name every single time.
- Note whether the dog can move its hind legs — it changes how the team lifts it.
- Cover the dog to keep it warm, even in Mumbai heat. Shock drops body temperature.
- Stay until the team arrives if you safely can. Animals crawl away and a team arriving to an empty road is a wasted trip.
Do not
- Do not give paracetamol, ibuprofen, aspirin or any human painkiller. Several are toxic to dogs and paracetamol is lethal to cats.
- Do not offer food or water. A dog with internal injuries may need surgery, and anything in the stomach makes anaesthesia dangerous.
- Do not lift the dog by its front legs, back legs, tail or scruff.
- Do not pull the dog by a limb to get it out of the road — slide it on a sheet instead.
- Do not apply turmeric, oil, kerosene, antiseptic or any home remedy to a wound.
- Do not muzzle a dog that is struggling to breathe or vomiting.
Signs the dog is in shock and needs a vet urgently
An animal can look deceptively stable straight after a collision and collapse twenty minutes later. Internal bleeding is invisible from outside, and these are the signs that it is happening.
- Gums that are pale, white or greyish instead of healthy pink.
- Fast, shallow breathing, or breathing with visible effort.
- Cold paws and ears, and shivering, even in warm weather.
- Lying flat and unresponsive, or responding very slowly to sound.
- A distended or tense belly.
- Bleeding from the nose, mouth or back passage.
If the dog runs off after being hit
A dog in pain very often bolts, then hides somewhere dark and enclosed — under a parked car, behind a bin, inside a drain, under a stairwell. It can be badly injured and still run several hundred metres on adrenaline.
Do not chase it. Chasing pushes it further away and back into traffic. Note the exact direction it took and anywhere it habitually sits, call the helpline back with that information, and let the team search. A dog that has been fed by someone in the area will usually be found near that person.
If you are bitten or scratched
Wash the wound under running water with soap for several minutes — the length of the wash matters more than what you wash it with — and see a doctor the same day about rabies post-exposure treatment. This applies to any bite or scratch from a street animal, however small the wound and however friendly the animal seemed. Do not wait to see whether it looks serious.
Need a rescuer right now?
Mumbai bird and animal rescue helpline numbers, listed area by area.
Open the rescue helplineFrequently asked
A dog has been hit by a car. What should I do first?
Make the spot safe from traffic first — hazard lights on, your vehicle stopped upstream, someone warning drivers. Then call an animal rescue helpline with your exact location before touching the dog. Keep bystanders back, and observe the dog from about a metre away rather than reaching for it.
Should I take the dog to a vet myself instead of waiting?
Only if no rescue team can reach you and you can move the dog safely on a flat support. An untrained lift can turn a treatable spinal injury into a permanent one, and a frightened dog in pain is very likely to bite. If a rescue team can come within a reasonable time, wait for them.
How do I lift an injured dog without hurting it more?
Do not lift it at all if you can avoid it. If you must, slide the dog onto a rigid board, a hard suitcase lid or a bedsheet held taut between two people, keeping the spine in a straight line and supporting the whole body. Never lift by the legs, tail or scruff, and never let the back curve.
Can I give an injured dog a painkiller?
No. Human painkillers are dangerous to dogs — ibuprofen and aspirin damage the stomach and kidneys, and paracetamol is lethal to cats. A dog that may need emergency surgery also must not be given food or water, because anything in the stomach makes anaesthesia far riskier.
The dog seems fine after being hit by the car. Does it still need a vet?
Yes. Internal bleeding, a ruptured diaphragm and bladder injuries are all common after a vehicle impact and none of them are visible from outside. Adrenaline masks pain for the first half hour or so. Any animal that has been struck by a vehicle should be examined the same day even if it walks away.
Who do I call for a dog hit by a car in Mumbai?
Use the area-wise rescue directory at jinseva.in/helpline and call the contact listed for your locality, saying at the start of the call that it is a road accident involving a dog. Road-accident cases are usually treated as top priority, so say clearly that the animal was hit by a vehicle.
It is the middle of the night and nobody is answering. What do I do?
Send a WhatsApp message with a live location pin, a photograph and a one-line description to every number listed for your area, then try the general animal helpline. Meanwhile keep the dog warm, covered, still and off the road, with no food or water, and call again at first light.
This guide covers containment and transport first aid only — the same advice rescue groups give over the phone. It is not veterinary treatment and does not replace a vet. Any injured, sick or orphaned wild animal should be handed to a registered rescue group or a veterinarian as soon as possible.