Stop Antifreeze killing our pets

paddypaws101

http://www.petitiononline.com/EGpoison/petition.html

Every year, thousands of much loved pets die an agonising death after ingesting anti-freeze. Unfortunately it has a sweet taste which cats and dogs find attractive. In the US, campaigners have managed to persuade manufacturers to add a bitter additive to stop pets ingesting the liquid....can't we try to follow their success?

Please sign the petition.

durham_girl

Genuine question.

How are these animals managing to ingest the antifreeze? If it's stored correctly there if no way a cat or dog can get the lid off! So, surely that means the owners are responsible for making sure the antifreeze is stored and used correctly.

It seems to be that nobody wants to take responsibility for their own actions anymore

tankgirl1

I've already signed, and am a member of the facebook group too.

Its an awful way to go, and something has to change

tankgirl1

durham_girl wrote: »

Genuine question.

How are these animals managing to ingest the antifreeze? If it's stored correctly there if no way a cat or dog can get the lid off! So, surely that means the owners are responsible for making sure the antifreeze is stored and used correctly.

It seems to be that nobody wants to take responsibility for their own actions anymore

Theres a few news articles on here about the darker side - that some people will seemingly poison animals purposefully : http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=malicious+antifreeze+poisoning&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a

Also, accidental poisoning is quite easy - people put antifreeze in garden water features, or their car windscreen washer tank leaks etc etc.

snowman2_2

Whilst I agree that adding a bitter extract would be beneficial, I have only seen 2 antifreeze poisonings in the past 10 years. Keeping Ibuprofen and diclofenac safe would be a better thing to do.

paddypaws101

snowman2 wrote: »

Whilst I agree that adding a bitter extract would be beneficial, I have only seen 2 antifreeze poisonings in the past 10 years. Keeping Ibuprofen and diclofenac safe would be a better thing to do.

I am sure there is a degree of regional variation with these things...and unfortunately here in London, at least, it seems to be a far more common occurrence.
A poster on petforums has just told us that 2 of her neighbour's cats were killed today and the vet is blaming anti freeze. 5 other neighbourhood cats have disappeared recently in that area alone.:mad:
It would be great to get vet surgeries on board with this campaign...access to hundreds of people who will sign the petition.

morg_monster

durham_girl wrote: »

Genuine question.

How are these animals managing to ingest the antifreeze? If it's stored correctly there if no way a cat or dog can get the lid off! So, surely that means the owners are responsible for making sure the antifreeze is stored and used correctly.

It seems to be that nobody wants to take responsibility for their own actions anymore

I'm sure most pet owners act safely with this stuff; but people without pets (and probably some with, too) may not be aware how dangerous it is. Even aside from the scum who may purposely leave it out as someone has already mentioned. It also could drip from a car and leave a puddle.
As well as pets, of course it would be equally dangerous if a child ingested it.

dizziblonde

Quite near to here we've had someone with a grudge against cats (as yet unidentified) leave it out to intentionally poison them. I know of one woman who has lost both her cats to it. If it tasted like cr.ap to pets - would be much harder for idiots like this to do it.

Liquorice_Twirls

Well thanks for letting all those pet haters out there know of a cheap and easy way to kill our much loved pets!

BLT_2

Liquorice_Twirls wrote: »

Well thanks for letting all those pet haters out there know of a cheap and easy way to kill our much loved pets!

Nah its ok, I have patented the idea :rotfl:

snowman2_2

The treatment for anti-freeze poisoning is to give the dog or cat alcohol. The same enzyme that metabolises alcohol, changes anti-freeze into the toxic substance so we out-compete the anti-freeze with loads of alcohol. The last dog I had looked so drunk but he was on a drip and had some hangover medication and did very well in the end but it is a funny sight.

Interesting to think that Londoners use more anti-freeze (or spill more) than northeners. After working in Yorkshire, Lancashire & Cumbria, I so rarely see it as a problem.