Help, antifreeze!!!

Laceface

Arachnoknight
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Nov 20, 2006
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Okay, sometime before ten this morning (its now 12.30) My sister's cat, Remmy, got into antifreeze. My dad's a mechanic, apparently left a bucket out, he fell in, and was cleaning himself of the antifreeze. Dont worry ,i hate my father, no need to bash him, im fully aware. Everyone said he couldnt have ingested enough to cause problems, my grandma washed him up, but its now about 2 and a half hours later, and hes acting really lazy, doesnt want to move. My sister is away, wont be back for three hours, and has her card. So the vet is out of the picture, cant take him there. Is there anything we can do at home for him, something to make him throw up, and is it too late to do this? Thank you much in advance.
 

pitbulllady

Arachnoking
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Okay, sometime before ten this morning (its now 12.30) My sister's cat, Remmy, got into antifreeze. My dad's a mechanic, apparently left a bucket out, he fell in, and was cleaning himself of the antifreeze. Dont worry ,i hate my father, no need to bash him, im fully aware. Everyone said he couldnt have ingested enough to cause problems, my grandma washed him up, but its now about 2 and a half hours later, and hes acting really lazy, doesnt want to move. My sister is away, wont be back for three hours, and has her card. So the vet is out of the picture, cant take him there. Is there anything we can do at home for him, something to make him throw up, and is it too late to do this? Thank you much in advance.
Once the animal begins showing symptoms of the poison, there isn't anything you can do, and very little that a vet can do. If it's caught in time, vets will force liquid charcoal down the animal's throat by means of a stomach tube, to absorb as much anti-freeze as possible before it passes through the digestive tract. Anti-freeze in and of itself is not toxic, but once it reaches the liver, it is then converted into toxins that destroy the kidneys. Lethargy is the first symptom of kidney failure. Given a cat's propensity to lick itself, and the fact that cats are very sensitive to any chemicals, much moreso than a dog, it does sound like the cat is a goner. My vet will actually begin an iv infusion of hard liquor mixed with Ringer's Lactate IF it's been less than half an hour since the animal was exposed to the anti-freeze, since the liver will deal with the alchohol and more or less "ignore" the anti-freeze, allowing it to pass safely through the system without being changed over to toxin, and the worst that the animal will experience will be a bad hangover, but again, once symptoms appear, it's too late. I'm really sorry, but it doesn't look good for this cat at all.

pitbulllady
 

DrGigglez666

Arachnoknight
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sorry

I'd say get it to the vet immediately!!!!! I mean ASAP get off the computer and go to the vet forget about the card or whatever just go before he dies!!
 

Drachenjager

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my experience wiht critters injesting antifreeze is that its best to just take them out and shoot them. Never had one survive injestion of antifreeze.
dont even know of any that have. The problem is that by the time most people realize they injested it its too late. I suppose if you caught it in time and took it to the vet it cold be saved. Never seen anyone watch a cat drink antifreeze tho except the jerk that puts it out to kill them.
 

DrGigglez666

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sad

my experience wiht critters injesting antifreeze is that its best to just take them out and shoot them. Never had one survive injestion of antifreeze.
dont even know of any that have. The problem is that by the time most people realize they injested it its too late. I suppose if you caught it in time and took it to the vet it cold be saved. Never seen anyone watch a cat drink antifreeze tho except the jerk that puts it out to kill them.


it would be to hard for me to just up and shoot an animal unless it had rabies its probrarly sad to do it but maybe you should just shoot it!!
 

Laceface

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I was scared there was nothing to do, and we dont have to he money with out my ssiters card to take him to the vet, thats the problem. We need her bankcard to do it, vets here dont do a THING until you pay. Hopefully he didnt drink too much, my grandma caught him immediately, and he only got what he licked off, and was immediately bathed..twice now. Thanks guys :/
 

ScorpDemon

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Isn't most antifreeze pet safe nowadays? I heard that or read it somewhere I think. Could have been wrong though, havent researched it anymore.
 

pitbulllady

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Stores give you a choice between the newer, safer antifreezes, which cost twice as much as the old, dangerous formula, and buying the older formula. Most people, unless they're really concious of the danger it poses not just to animals, but to young children, will opt out for the cheaper old formulation. The bad thing is, the cat was probably drinking it when it he fell in the bucket, so he'd most likely ingested enough to kill him before falling in, and it doesn't take much to kill a cat, which are way more sensitive to chemicals than dogs are. That's why most of the animals that died from eating that tainted pet food were cats, even though a lot of dogs were fed those same tainted brands. The old-formula anti-freeze is very sweet, and animals are attracted to it by its odor and taste, so they will drink large quantities of it, as will young children, since it looks like green Kool-Aid or some other non-carbonated sweet drink. Many of the newer formulations are just as dangerous, but have chemicals added to them to make them taste bitter, so animals and children won't drink enough to harm them due to the awful taste, but if a cat gets something on its fur or feet, it'll lick it off, no matter how bad it tastes.

I'm still unclear what the sister's charge card has to do with taking that animal to a vet, although it is most likely too late at this point. I've never known a vet that charges up-front, BEFORE they treat the animal, especially for an emergency like this. You can bet that the cat is NOT going to just be treated and released the same day; IF the vet even considers it worth the effort to try and save it, it will have to be there for several days, and your sister will be back with her charge card by then. Don't you have a way to reach her? It's hard to believe anyone NOT carrying a cell phone these days, and she can authorize you to use her card number without the actual card, unless she doesn't trust you.

pitbulllady
 

Laceface

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Its how the vet is here, you have to pay an upfront fee, and my father apparently cant do it, you have to have the card. Thats just how it is. Please dont start attacking me over these things, if i could take him, i would, but its really not an option. Nevermind the asking, i dont want to here what bad owners we are or anything like that. Thanks anyway.
 

Drachenjager

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you could try to force feed the cat some whiskey. I have heard that will help but sounds sorta flaky to me. Maybe it gets the cat so drunk it dosent know its dying . But probably does somethig with the liver processing alcohol more than the antifreeze not sure
 

blacktara

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You can try the following - mix a little bit of baking soda and a little rum or whiskey in some milk and administer it.

Ethylene glycol, which the toxic component of antifreeze, is converted to glycolate, gloxylate, and oxalate.

Ethyl alcohol will inhibit the enzyme that converts the antifreeze to its toxic metabolites. The bicarbonate in the baking soda will act to at least partially counteract the acidosis caused by the ingestion. The toxic byproducts are more prone to be able to get into tissues and to not be excreted by the kidney

The problem with all of this is that it's difficult, even in a controlled ICU setting on human patients, to dose and properly maintain appropriate levels of alcohol.

If the cat becomes real sick and you cant try this therapy or it doesnt seem to work, the only other option would be dialysis

Hope kitty is fine, wish I had better news if he isnt, and hope this helped in any case
 

Taceas

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There are other vets. :rolleyes:

And I agree with Drachenjager to a degree, I've never seen an animal survive ingesting antifreeze, even with veterinary assistance. By the time you figure out why your pet is acting ill, it's already too late in most instances.
 

Galapoheros

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I wouldn't kill it. If it's alive, I would let the unfortunate circumstance take it's course. Maybe it only ingested enough to get symptoms and maybe some organ damage but it might turn out OK. I'd just leave it alone, ...if it dies, it dies. If you kill it, you might always wonder if it would have made it if you didn't kill it.
 

FelanMoira

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If the kitty was already showing signs of toxicity, there most likely is little that can be done.

If there is a vet in the area that has it, they can use Antizol-Vet (fomepizole) injectable. This is however a relatively expensive med. In the year and a half I was at the emergency vet clinic, we only used it twice because it was cost prohibitive. The one animal made it, the other didn't. None of the animals that we had a positive antifreeze test on that we didn't use fomepizole on made it (many were euthanized by owners so the animals weren't suffering any more).

It takes only a few milliliters to produce toxicity. (A teaspoon is 5 milliliters for comparison).

And just an aside since I work in the vet field as a RVT, Alot of vet clinics are going to a pay a percentage up front in an emergency, especially if the owner is not a regular client. At the ER Clinic I used to work at, if we admitted the animal, we needed 50% of the estimate left as a deposit and the remainder paid when you picked up your pet. We didn't bill. At my current clinic, we don't bill and anything ER has to leave at least a $150 deposit and payment in full when the pet is picked up. Surgeries that are not ER (like repairing torn ligaments, etc, things that aren't life or death) that normally go home the next day (we keep most surgeries overnight) may not pay a deposit up front (for regular clients) but the full balance is due when they pick up their pets.
 

Laceface

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As I said, if my sister was home, he would have gone to the vet. That's justs how it is, we did our best. Thankfully, my grandma saw him soon enough, and we got him cleaned off (two baths to be sure), and he's okay. He was crazy tired that day, andwent to the vet the next morning for blood work, all is good, so he must not have ingested much.
 

FelanMoira

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Glad kitty's blood values were good. Grandma musta caught him just as he started cleaning himself. That is very great to hear. Give the kitty a good head scratch for me!
 

Laceface

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I definitely will, Remmy and his siblings are our babies, all three born here after their mom was dropped off, wed be crushed if anything happened to him. So, yay for grandmas
 

AneesasMuse

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Awww... I am so glad to hear Remmy is hanging in there! What a nightmare to have your kitty get into something so easily avoided.

Yey for Grandmas is right!! :D :clap:
 

blacktara

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Good to hear he still had at least one of those nine lives in reserve.
 
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