A dog spent six days trapped in a car. In Seattle, a car was abandoned with a dog inside. Police said he was trapped for up to six days without water or food.

After about six days, the dog was found by security guards. Zipper, a tiny pug-beagle mix, also sometimes called a puggle, looked skinny and nervous when security guards found him trapped in an abandoned car. Police said they found him early Sunday morning without water or food in a parking lot in West Seattle .

Detective Renee Witt of the Seattle Police Department said in a statement  "The dog appeared frightened and was shaken and appeared to be in distress."

The car that the dog was found in was parked in the Westwood Village shopping center parking lot outside QFC, a supermarket chain in the Pacific Northwest.

One of the security guards told police officers that the vehicle the dog, Zipper, was found in had been in the shopping center parking lot for at least six days. Authorities are not sure how long Zipper was stuck there, but it was probably the entire six days.

Zipper was fed and then given to workers at the Seattle Animal Shelter. They said he could have easily died of heatstroke in the car.

Don Baxter, the manager of the shelter's animal care and volunteer programs, said, "Even on a relatively cool day it can get deadly in there for them."

Officials learned that the owner was on vacation and the dog had been left with the owner's boyfriend. Neither of them have been charged, but the manager at the animal shelter said "We're going to have a conversation with this individual." and that they want to "try to educate them about the proper care for the dog and let them know that it's not acceptable to leave a dog inside a car on a warm day like today."

Police Officer Katrina Stuckey said that the car the dog was abandoned in was recently sold to an new and unlisted owner. The car has been removed by a tow truck.

Once police determine how long Zipper, the dog, was actually abandoned in the car without food or water. Once they know that, they will be better able to determine whether the man entrusted to care for Zipper is liable to face criminal charges.

"That's a big concern for us," Witt said, "and that would actually be animal neglect."

The dog is expected to recover and being cared for by the Seattle Animal Shelter.