Antifreeze Poisoning in Cats: Preserving Olga Secure From Poisonous Chemical substances

Hello, I’m Christopher! Learn my introduction to study extra about me and my foolish Russian Blue cat, Olga.

Antifreeze and different chemical compounds containing ethylene glycol, equivalent to hydraulic fluid, de-icing merchandise, motor oil, paints, solvents, and wooden stains, are poisonous to cats and different animals. A small spoonful of antifreeze can kill a cat, and most felines don’t survive until they’re handled inside 6 hours.

Antifreeze Poisoning

The preliminary indicators of antifreeze poisoning embrace vomiting, lethargy, incoordination, extreme urination, hypothermia, extreme thirst, and seizures. Sadly, the cat’s situation appears to enhance after 12 hours, which might trigger an proprietor to assume they’ve recovered.

They will turn out to be dehydrated and breathe quicker, however kidney injury, comas, and dying are extra possible after 12 hours.

Preserving Olga Secure

I don’t let Olga exterior or enable her to discover my storage, the place most of my poisonous chemical compounds are saved, so she is much less more likely to be uncovered to ethylene glycol than an out of doors cat. Nonetheless, I’m at all times cautious about the place I retailer family cleaners and different hazardous merchandise.

Olga can open doorways and cupboards, and I don’t maintain something poisonous within the bogs since she likes to open the cupboards often. Though cats dislike candy meals, they’re drawn to antifreeze’s aroma.

They will get sick from licking their paws after strolling by means of an antifreeze spill within the storage or sipping from a container with ethylene glycol. It’s obscure why somebody would deliberately poison a cat, nevertheless it occurs extra usually than you assume.

Punishing a Cat Assassin

A number of years in the past, I used to be visiting a buddy after I heard folks screaming exterior. After we went exterior to analyze, we realized that one of many neighbors had left a tray of antifreeze exterior to kill a stray cat.

A number of the residence’s residents had turn out to be connected to the cat and incessantly fed him, they usually needed to homicide, or at the very least mortally wound, the person who had killed him. They pounded on the assassin’s door and yelled, however he was both at school or hiding inside.

He was by no means injured or killed by the offended mob, however one of many cat lovers contacted the native college’s editor-in-chief. The cat killer was a journalist till he murdered the cat, and I’m glad the editor determined that unethical workers don’t make the very best writers. I perceive that stray cats annoy folks and kill wildlife, however a number of humane deterrents can maintain them away.

Animal Cruelty Legal guidelines

In the US, killing a cat is a felony and can lead to fines of as much as $5,000 or 2 years in jail. Every state imposes totally different penalties, however some legislatures try to determine an animal cruelty registry that’s modeled after intercourse offender lists.

Growing the fines and jail phrases for offenders might lower the variety of antifreeze deaths, however they gained’t persuade me to permit Olga to discover the outside. I’m paranoid sufficient about dropping a bit of onion or garlic on the ground after I’m making dinner, and I don’t need to fear about one other particular person injuring or killing my cat.

Preserving your cat indoors could appear egocentric since they can not discover the setting and hunt small animals, nevertheless it protects them from poisons, parasites, cars, and merciless people.