How to Detect Antifreeze Poisoning

Antifreeze is made up of about 95 percent ethylene glycol, which is extremely toxic. Due to its sweet taste, up to 10,000 dogs and cats are accidentally poisoned annually. Even a few licks from a garage floor can prove fatal. Pets can easily die without recognition of symptoms and swift treatment.

Instructions

• 1

  Notice if your pet is suddenly acting as if he is drunk, such as an unsteady gait or staggering, drinking a lot of water, listlessness and sometimes seizures. These early symptoms can mimic many other maladies in pets, so many people put off taking their pet to the vet. This can make the difference in saving the pet, as antifreeze poisoning is nearly always fatal without swift treatment.

• 2

  Rush your pet to the vet if you even suspect they have ingested even the smallest amount of antifreeze. If a cat walks through a puddle of antifreeze, then licks it off of her paws, it's enough to kill her. Early diagnosis is crucial, as the first symptoms of antifreeze poisoning usually wear off in a few hours and the pet seems fine.

• 3

  Find that within about nine hours of ingestion, your pet's liver begins to metabolize the poison, and actually turns it into even more harmful substances. Vomiting, depression and decreased urine output are signs that your pet's kidneys have been affected. Making diagnosis more difficult is the fact that blood and urine tests can register negative for antifreeze poisoning by the time the kidneys are affected.

• 4

  Learn that pets with failing kidneys due to antifreeze poisoning frequently die within a few days. Some veterinary practices offer the possibility of a kidney transplant, or can put the pet on dialysis, which sometimes cures the animal by giving the kidneys time to heal.