Bendigo Police and veterinarians have joined calls for people to take extra care of pets and avoid leaving them in hot cars.

Police were called to retrieve a dog inside a parked car in Lyttleton Terrace on Tuesday morning. 

Sergeant Jason McDermott said the dog's owner was quickly located and the dog was unharmed.

"The person who spotted the dog has been extra cautious in reporting it to police. It was the right thing to do," he said.

"Fortunately the dog was OK."

Bendigo Animal Hospital doctor Max Tori said conditions inside hot cars could quickly rise to lethal temperatures for animals.  

He said the unfortunate reality was that veterinarians were regularly forced to euthanise pets on hot days.

“A lot of older animals have to get put down at this time of the year. If they’re not looked after well in the hot conditions it can be the tipping point.

“We see it on a daily basis.”

Dr Tori said the best advice for pet owners was to take every precaution they could.

“It’s frustrating to see cases where they’re quite preventable," he said.

"It comes down to common sense.

“Keep your pets inside if you can. We bring our dogs to work on hot days like this… It’s about making sure they’ve got access to plenty of bowls of water.”

Petcarers Bendigo owner Sharon Moore said it was "sickening" to think that some dogs and cats were left to die in the heat.

"Even to see the poor things struggling just to cope with the heat is bad enough," she said.

"It would be incredibly distressing for carers, for animal lovers and the owners."

Ms Moore said there were grave consequences for pets that were left in conditions of extreme heat. 

"They suffer from heat stress and can perish very quickly," she said.

"Get to the vet immediately because they can go into organ failure."