'Winterizing' Your Dog or Cat

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So how can you tell if your pet's been into the antifreeze? Well, just knowing that such poisoning is common — especially in the fall and spring in the northern and midwestern parts of the country — can be an important clue. The first noticeable symptoms may not seem significantly different from any other ailment likely to plague your dog or cat. For instance, the pet will start vomiting, stop eating, drink a lot of water, walk with a stumbling gait, and urinate more often. Should these symptoms show up during the high-risk seasons, a quick trip to the vet is in order. Because, if your dog or cat is suffering from antifreeze poisoning, your vet can treat it . . . with — believe it or not — ethanol, or alcohol.

"The cornerstone of therapy," according to Dr. Gregory Grauer, assistant professor of medicine at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Wisconsin, "is to inhibit the metabolism of the ethylene glycol. That way the compound can be excreted, causing little or no harm. By using ethanol, the vet ties up the enzymes that metabolize the ethylene glycol, and that allows the glycol to pass through the kidneys without breaking down into its more toxic components."

Since it takes approximately three days for an animal to rid itself of ethylene glycol, an ethanol treatment will result in your dog or cat staying inebriated for at least the same amount of time. Researchers are looking for other treatments that don't have the same depressive side effects as ethanol, but keeping your pet antifreeze-free is unarguably the best solution. Here are a few tips:

1. Don't allow your dog or cat in your garage.

2. Park your car on gravel, on grass, or anyplace where there's good drainage — even when you're not flushing out your radiator — so leaking antifreeze won't puddle up.

3. Keep your animal well fed and full of water, so if it does get into any kind of poison, absorption will be slower and you'll have bought more time for treatment.

4. If your dog roams, you might want to ask your neighbors to inform you when they plan to change their antifreeze.

5. If you have a second home and you winterize the plumbing with antifreeze, be sure to flush the system out before you let your pet into the house. Your dog or cat may try to take a drink from the toilet.

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