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Surviving Antifreeze?


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My cousin's dog supposedly got antifreeze from an unknown source. When they realized the dog was sick (which started out with just vommiting) they took her to their vet who ran an antifreeze test that showed a strong positive. This vet told them that he'd "never seen a higher level". He kept the dog for 2 days at which point the dog was much better and he sent her home. She is still fine now about a week later. They searched high and low for any antifreeze at their home and found none. Their dogs are kept on their property as well so didn't have access to the neighbors.

 

When my Mom called me to tell me what was going on my first thought was that this was a dead dog. I worked for a group of vets for 8 years and have seen many an antifreeze dog and cat. I have NEVER seen one already showing symptoms survive. At that point the kidneys are too far gone. In fact, I can only remember one dog that survived antifreeze at all and that was just because they saw the dog drink the antifreeze and rushed him right in for treatment.

 

The vet they use is seriously suspect in my opinion. They have used him for several years and he's screwed up several procedures on their animals, one requiring them to seek more treatment at a university and costing $2500. My Mom and I have both pleaded with them to find another vet in their area but for whatever reason they just keep going back to this fellow. We've both told them on numerous occaisions that this vet's a quack. My cousin and his wife are crazy about their dogs. They don't have kids to dote on so you can imagine how well the dogs get treated. When they were told about antifreeze they immediately started inquiring about kidney transplants. If it were available there's no doubt in my mind that they would have tried it if it had proved necessary.

 

Have any of you seen a dog with a "Strong Positive" antifreeze test that was already sick survive? I just think this dog was A) Misdiagnosed, or :rolleyes: this vet downright lied to them. But I am glad the dog survived either way.

 

Lydia

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The only experience I have is a friend's dog in college. Her dad saw it drink the antifreeze, but didn't realize how dangerous it was until the dog got sick. Their vet tried - but they ended up putting him down - kidneys were shot. I've never heard of any recovering from antifreeze poisoning. It'd be interesting to know how he was cured - the treatment used, etc. I worked 8 years for a vet, and hadn't thought about it before, but that's one of the few things I didn't see working there - but still never heard any stories like yours.

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Oh, and your college friend's experience is typical of antifreeze poisoning. The animal doesn't get sick right away. The ethelyne glycol destroys the kidneys but you usually don't see symptoms until the toxins in the body start to build up from the kidneys not being able to flush them out. This usually take a day or two to begin. Before the antifreeze test kit came out we would diagnose it by getting a urine sample from the animal. Under the microscope you would see little coffin shaped crystals in the urine. When you saw those, you knew that animal was in deep trouble.

 

The kicker is that many dogs actually like the taste of antifreeze and it only takes a tiny amount to kill them. A cat can just walk thru where antifreeze has been spilled and get enough off their feet from grooming to kill them. That happened to one of my Mom's cats.

 

I'm just real skeptical about this case and this vet. My Aunt took one of her terriers to him for a bit of hair loss. He didn't find any mites but decided that it was probably demodex and to treat the pup with Mitaban anyway. The person that dipped the dog mixed the dip way too strong and almost killed the dog. Even though it was the vet's fault (or employee of his), he still charged my aunt a couple hundred bucks to run fluids and hospitalize the dog. This was after he ADMITTED it was his office's fault! It would have been a cold day in a very hot place before I'd have paid for those "services".

 

Unfortunately I can name off at least 3 other episodes where this particular vet has done horrible work. That's why I'm so skeptical of this antifreeze diagnosis.

Lydia

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Ilost a dog some years ago to antifreeze poisoning. I never knew. He never showed symptoms until a month later when he stopped eating. Lab work showed no kidney function left & we euthanized him 6 days later.

 

So I would be very interested in knowing anything about this subject.

 

Vicki

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I also work at a vet hospital, and just before Christmas we had a dog that drank antifreeze, the owners went all out and the dog was on IV fluids in hospital for two weeks. I had to do treatments one Sunday and figured I was walking a dead dog. Maybe being part terrier gave that dog a reason to live. But he did. No one figured he was going to make it.

 

Dawn

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Hi,

 

I have seen two dogs survive anti-freeze poisoning, they were starting to show symptoms however it did help that we knew right away what it was since a third dog had been critical and died only two days after the family arrived at their cabin for a weekend vacation. It seems that they had used antifreeze in the toilets and after the long trip, the dogs all went for the toilets. Out of the four dogs, the only dog not sick was the one that was too short to drink out of the toilet. They treated them with an everclear treatment- basically hooked them up. The critical dog died right away, probably got there first and hogged the water :rolleyes: .

 

Jaime

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