Sadly, hundreds of cats die each year due to accidentally drinking antifreeze. Unfortunately, the toxic ingredient in antifreeze, propylene glycol, is palatable to animals and, if ingested, can cause vomiting, diarrhoea, fits and ultimately fatal kidney failure. A new petition has been launched calling on manufacturers to add a bittering agent to antifreeze to make it unpalatable.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Antifreeze-Kills/

Love
Yasmin
Stairway Of Life

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Hi Yasmin,

I think what they are saying is, that ethylene glycol is worse, but propolene glycol is less palatable.

It makes you wonder just how lethal ethylene glycol is, when you consider that propolene glycol can cause these conditions:


P R O P O L E N E G L Y C O L


This chemical is also known as industrial antifreeze and the major ingredient in brake and hydraulic fluid. It is also an aeroplane de-icer and brake fluid.

It is a common ingredient in many beauty creams, cleansers, deodorants, make-up and other cosmetics. Also it is in certain drugs and prescription calcium tablets. When a drum of propolene glycol is purchased from the suppliers, a Material Safety Data Sheet has to be supplied also. It says, ‘Avoid Skin Contact.’

SEVERE HEALTH EFFECTS:

Causes contact dermatitis,
Ototoxocity
Kidney damage and liver abnormalities
Has shown immeasurable toxicity to human cells in culture
Inhibits skin growth tests and cell respiration in animal tests
Irreversible deafness
Tissue and bone degradation
Morphological changes to the middle ear amongst other things
Propolene Glycol poisoning has been reported to induce seizures in epileptics

Ann x

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I'm not worried, my cat could never figure out how to get the top off the bottle. He's not as bright as some, obviously!

Anna x

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I wasn't suggesting that Anna. People DO leave things around without thinking and it is possible that it will leak out of a car radiator.

Yasmin

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Really? That's astonishing! Do people really leave a bottle of anti-freeze with no lid just lying around? What if the children drank it? I think that's more of a worry, to be honest!

Where did you read about this? These people are so negligent, I think that should be addressed before we go to all the trouble of reformulating the stuff, surely? I mean, there's plenty of dangerous chemicals around, the trick is realising they're dangerous!

It's great that you care so much, though, Yasmin, don't get me wrong!

Anna x

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Maybe we should be looking into ways to teach cats to read labels. After all, even the IAMS cat has confessed publicly on TV that he can't read; it must be so humiliating.

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