Last Monday morning our Siamese cat of nine years came home with a drunken appearance, seemingly blind and shortly after began vomiting. I rushed him to the vet and he was diagnosed with having ingested ANTIFREEZE. Harley was an indoor/outdoor cat who was getting older and mostly stayed indoors. However, he did not come home Sunday evening which was strange. Needless to say upon arrival at the vet he only had a 50% chance of survival. There is such a short windo of time to get the animal to the vet. We're talking hours. He was treated, but did not survive. His kidneys failed within 24 hours. This is a terrible and tragic loss to our family. This loss was also entirely preventable. If you are not a pet lover let me say that children can be killed by antifreeze (Ethylene glycol) in exactly the same painful way animals are. If we want to continue to let our pets be free roaming in this neighborhood and protect our children we all need to take responsibility.

Prevention of antifreeze poisoning:

Clean up any antifreeze spills immediately and dispose of any antifreeze-contaminated rags or paper towels in a sealed container.

Regularly check your vehicle(s) for antifreeze leaks.

Store antifreeze in sealed, clearly marked containers, out of the reach of children and pets.

Never allow pets access to the area when draining radiator fluid from a vehicle.

Use products that do not contain ethylene glycol.

Do not allow pets to drink out of or walk through puddles as water runoff may contain antifreeze from other vehicles. Wash the pet's paws when finished with the walk.

If ingestion of antifreeze or engine coolant by a pet is suspected, seek veterinary attention immediately.

Here are two links you can copy and paste into your browser for more information.

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=2&cat=1938&articleid=2801

http://www.cah.com/dr_library/antifreeze.html

Thank You,
Autumn & David Leopold
6308 Sir Ians Cv.