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

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

Antifreeze and different chemical substances containing ethylene glycol, resembling 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 except they’re handled inside 6 hours.

Antifreeze Poisoning

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

They will turn into dehydrated and breathe sooner, however kidney harm, comas, and demise are extra probably 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 substances are saved, so she is much less more likely to be uncovered to ethylene glycol than an outside cat. Nevertheless, 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 preserve something poisonous within the bogs since she likes to open the cupboards sometimes. Though cats dislike candy meals, they’re drawn to antifreeze’s aroma.

They will get sick from licking their paws after strolling by 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 typically than you assume.

Punishing a Cat Assassin

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

A few of the residence’s residents had turn into connected to the cat and ceaselessly fed him, and so they needed to homicide, or not less than 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 indignant 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 staff don’t make the perfect writers. I perceive that stray cats annoy individuals and kill wildlife, however a number of humane deterrents can preserve them away.

Animal Cruelty Legal guidelines

In the USA, killing a cat is a felony and may end up in fines of as much as $5,000 or 2 years in jail. Every state imposes completely different penalties, however some legislatures are attempting to determine an animal cruelty registry that’s modeled after intercourse offender lists.

Rising 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 wish to fear about one other particular person injuring or killing my cat.

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