The Death of a Beautiful Cat

The only solution here is to make anti-freeze non-toxic. We have gotten rid of a whole bunch of products that were bad for the environment, changed them, and they still work just about as well. As technology improves, sometimes the safer product even ends up being better.
Also, it isn’t really true that modern cars have sealed radiators that never need anti-freeze added. Car companies have been trying this, but it doesn’t really work.
Some systems in your car can work this way– brakes and transmissions do. Hydraulic systems can be sealed: the forgotten reservoir. However, these systems have metal lines. Most cooling lines are various sizes of rubber hoses. These break or have to be changed periodically.
You just can’t get around the fact that rubber radiator hoses are more likely to leak than metal brake and transmission lines. Anti-freeze leaks are the most common leak that will happen to any car, new or old. Those hoses go long before engine seals, and even the most conscientious car owner can be taken by surprise, because the cooling system is under A LOT of pressure. A hose that seemed fine can burst and anti-freeze isn’t going to just leak out, it’s going to spray out. Anti-freeze is the only fluid in a car that is likely to spray, shoot and fly everywhere if something goes wrong, and that doesn’t just have to be from a broken hose.
I had my friend Bob change the water pump on my Toronado when it started making a noise, long before it leaked. But how many people are going to do that? How many people are going to hear it in time? The coolant also is what makes your car’s heater work, so there is a possibility of leaks there as well.
I remember vividly one summer day when an upper component of the cooling system, originally made of plastic, failed on my ’76 Toronado while it was sitting in the driveway running with a mechanic friend of my husband’s there. Suddenly a geyser of coolant is shooting in the air, with no one even near it (thank goodness). We cleaned up the mess and replaced the part with a metal one. I know that’s an example from a very old car, but even newer cars have hoses and parts that can seem fine, but are actually too brittle to withstand the pressures in the cooling system. The potential for anti-freeze leaks will always be there. They have to change the anti-freeze, not the cars. It’s the most practical and safe solution.
You can’t buy the old types of freon for your air conditioners anymore. Why are we still able to buy poisonous anti-freeze?
And please, everybody, never, ever, ever, try to open your radiator cap when the car is warm. The pressure builds up fast. My rule is, unless it’s stone cold, like hasn’t been driven that day, I don’t do anything dealing with the cooling system. Even a little bit of pressure in the system can cause steam and coolant to shoot out and potentially burn you.

Your story has made me cry. It’s so sad that the poisoning of any animal by anti freeze could be so easily prevented with one added ingredient.
Those poor little kittens.
Poor all animals with so many selfish and money obsessed people in this world.