Antifreeze poisonous for dogs, the signs and what to do

Meet Murphy. His family bought him to the vet hospital as he just seemed really unwell. It was established he had drunk antifreeze. Sometimes known as coolant for car radiators.

Dogs and cats often find the flavour sweet and irresistible. Unfortunately, it is extremely poisonous. Even in small doses it has been known to cause extreme and irreparable damage. This happens as poisonous metabolites are formed as the ethylene glycol is processed.  These metabolites cause severe, acute kidney failure and the secondary development of calcium oxalate crystals.

Signs of ethylene glycol poisoning:

• Stage 1: This occurs within 30 minutes to 12 hours. It looks similar to alcohol poisoning. Signs include walking drunk, drooling, hyper salivating, vomiting, seizuring, excessive thirst and urination.
• Stage 2: This occurs between 12-24 hours. Signs of drunkenness seem to improve, but an elevated heart rate, increase breathing effort and dehydration often develops.
• Stage 3: In cats, this stage occurs 12-24 hours after getting into antifreeze. In dogs, this stage occurs 36-72 hours after getting into antifreeze. During this stage, severe kidney failure is developing secondary to calcium crystals forming in the kidneys. Severe lethargy, coma, depression, vomiting, seizures, drooling and loss of appetite.

Murphy stayed in hospital for a couple of days. The veterinarians put together a care programme which included alcohol. This is known to prevent the ethylene glycol from forming oxalate crystals and damaging his kidneys. Murphy was also poked and prodded for frequent blood testing to check his kidney function.

The vets knew Murphy had recovered when the blood tests showed full functionality of his kidneys. The take home message is ‘antifreeze/coolant is irresistible to pets but even in small amounts very poisonous.’ Getting treatment in the first few hours is recommended. The longer it is left the higher risk that crystals begin developing in the kidneys.’