When a Scottish woman sitting in her kitchen drank a cupful of car antifreeze she was told it could kill her. Antifreeze damages the same organs in a person as it does for cats: kidneys and liver. We know that it causes kidney failure in cats. It kills them.
The Scottish woman was taken to hospital and immediately treated. The treatment – the antidote – was two cupfuls of “the water of life”, better known as whisky1. A very simple and pleasant remedy to save someone’s life. Easy to administer and effective. It is the ethanol in the whisky that apparently counteracts the ethyl glycol in the antifreeze. She was give a choice of whisky, gin or vodka.
Speed is important in treating antifreeze poisoning. Cats are prone to antifreeze poisoning because people deliberately poison cats with it or the chemical has leaked from a car or been spilled by a person. Note: There is no need to buy antifreeze for modern cars, in my experience. Also you can buy antifreeze with a bitterant that makes it unpalatable to cats. Antifreeze usually tastes to cats.
With the urgent need to treat a poisoned cat promptly, it would make sense if there was an over-the-counter antidote for cats that could be administered by the cat’s caretaker. It could be administered immediately with a prompt follow-up visit to the vet. Of course the person would have to know that there cat had been poisoned by antifreeze. My reading of the experiences of people indicates that it is often not that difficult to come to that conclusion. Even as precaution it would be acceptable.
Three years ago a Russian developed an alcohol pill that can get people drunk. Why can’t the pet pharmaceutical industry make an alcohol pill for cats as an antidote for antifreeze poisoning? Note: to the best of my knowledge ethyl alcohol (booze) is no more dangerous to cats than to people.
It would allow for immediate treatment. The pill could also include activated charcoal to prevent absorption of the toxin from the stomach.
Perhaps I have missed a complication somewhere. I probably have but as far as I can see all the ingredients are in place for a cat pill that would save lives. Antifreeze poisoning is not uncommon. It would be nice to know that the sh*ts who deliberately poison cats could be beaten on occasions by giving a cat a pill.
Update: I am sure the complication is that it is not commercially viable to make it 😳
Ref:
- http://news.bbc.co.uk – Tuesday, 31 December, 2002
Me neither Michael!
Good idea. I was thinking the same thing. I would never have thought snow globes were potentially fatal to cats.
It’s frightening to think how many seemingly innocent things around the house are potential killers for cats
That could be a life saver though, if anyone suspected that their cat had been poisoned with antifreeze they could administer a dose of alcohol in the few minutes before rushing to an emergency vet appointment, certainly worth a try in a desperate situation. (Administer the alcohol to the cat that is, even though in that situation I can see myself wanting to upend the bottle into my own mouth!)