Hello, I’m Christopher! Read my introduction to study extra about me and my foolish Russian Blue cat, Olga.
Antifreeze and different chemical compounds containing ethylene glycol, corresponding 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 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 might trigger an proprietor to assume they’ve recovered.
They’ll turn into dehydrated and breathe sooner, however kidney harm, comas, and dying are extra seemingly after 12 hours.
Conserving Olga Protected
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 all the time 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 loos since she likes to open the cupboards often. Though cats dislike candy meals, they’re interested in antifreeze’s aroma.
They’ll get sick from licking their paws after strolling by way 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, however it occurs extra typically than you assume.
Punishing a Cat Assassin
A number of years in the past, I used to be visiting a good friend after I heard folks screaming exterior. Once we went exterior to research, we realized that one of many neighbors had left a tray of antifreeze exterior to kill a stray cat.
Among the residence’s residents had turn into connected to the cat and frequently fed him, they usually wished to homicide, or a minimum of mortally wound, the person who had killed him. They pounded on the assassin’s door and yelled, however he was both in 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 most effective 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 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 try to determine an animal cruelty registry that’s modeled after intercourse offender lists.
Growing the fines and jail phrases for offenders could 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 chunk 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.
Conserving your cat indoors could appear egocentric since they can not discover the surroundings and hunt small animals, however it protects them from poisons, parasites, cars, and merciless people.