Antifreeze poisoning in dogs

Overview

• EMERGENCY: Call your vet immediately if you think your dog has come into contact with antifreeze.
• Antifreeze contains ethylene glycol, a very toxic chemical that causes severe damage to your dog’s organs, even in very small amounts.
• It’s important to take sensible precautions to prevent your dog from coming into contact with antifreeze.
• Sadly, ethylene glycol poisoning is often fatal unless it’s treated extremely quickly.

Why is antifreeze poisonous?

Antifreeze contains ethylene glycol, which is an extremely toxic chemical. Ethylene glycol is also found in car screen wash, brake fluid, radiator fluid and garden water features. If it’s swallowed even in small amounts, it can cause permanent damage to your dog’s kidneys. Unfortunately, ethylene glycol is naturally sweet which, is why dogs are often tempted to drink it. They can also ingest it if they walk through a spillage and lick it off their paws.

Symptoms of antifreeze poisoning in dogs

Once swallowed, symptoms of antifreeze poisoning can develop in as little as an hour, and tend to include:

• Wobbliness and weakness – this tends to happen within one hour of ingestion and then improves again.
• Vomiting
• Low energy (lethargy)
• Drinking more than normal
• Weeing more than normal to begin, and then less than normal from one to three days after ingestion.
• Difficulty breathing or fast breathing
• Seizures (fits)
• Collapse

Contact your vet straight away, if you suspect your dog has come into contact with antifreeze or any other product containing ethylene glycol – don’t wait for symptoms to develop.

Diagnosis

Your vet may ask you some questions about your dog’s access to antifreeze - they’ll want to know if they could have come across any spillages from nearby parked cars, recently drained car radiators or water features. They will then examine your dog and if necessary, run some blood and urine (wee) tests to check your dog’s kidneys.

Treatment

Treatment has a much higher chance of working if it’s started early, before the kidneys are damaged. It’s likely that your dog will need to be hospitalised for some (or all) of the following treatments:

• Medication to make them vomit – this will only help in the very early stages. Once the antifreeze has been absorbed, there is no benefit in making your dog vomit.
• Washing any antifreeze off their paws and coat.
• Specific medicine to try to stop the effects of antifreeze.
• A fluid drip to help support the kidneys.

Outlook

Sadly, due to its very toxic nature, many dogs die from ethylene glycol poisoning. Your dog has a higher chance of surviving if treatment is started within 12 hours of coming into contact with it. The outlook will also depend on the amount of ethylene glycol your dog has swallowed.

Prevention

• Use labelled and sealed containers to store any product containing ethylene glycol such as antifreeze, screen wash, brake and radiator fluid.
• Clear up antifreeze spillages immediately.
• Dispose of old antifreeze containers - dogs may be poisoned by drinking rain water from containers that previously contained antifreeze.
• If possible, buy antifreeze that contains a bittering agent to discourage dogs from drinking it. It’s important to be aware this is not completely reliable and dogs may still want to drink it.
• Avoid letting your dog roam near parked cars and exercise them away from any areas you think there could be spills.

When to contact your vet

Contact your vet immediately if you think your dog has been exposed to antifreeze. Never wait for symptoms to develop, the quicker they are treated, the better their chance of survival.

Cost

Treatment for antifreeze poisoning can become very expensive, so it’s important to speak openly with your vet about the cost of treatment, your finances, and what you think is right for your dog.

Consider insuring your dog as soon as you get them, before any signs of illness start to ensure you have financial support to care for them.

FAQs

Published: January 2024