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7 rue Lamartine 06000 NICE |
So
that here and now cruelty to animals
is no longer tolerated |
Tél
et Fax. 04.93.85.59.50
Sur Internet. www.stop-abus-animal.com |
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FOR
MAGGIE
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You
already know that cars and animals don't mix well, |
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| Dear Dog or Cat Lover, | |||
| I was sitting in the waiting area of the emergency room at the Foster Hospital for Small Animals at the Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine when I saw the other Maggie. | |||
| A veterinary technician came out to the waiting area and called out a man’s name. The man got up from his seat and said, “Let’s go Maggie.” Maggie, a puppyish long-legged boxer-type dog, got up and trotted after her owner happily as they went through the doors into the examining room. She didn’t look injured, or very sick. | |||
| I was envious, and sad. | |||
| My own Maggie, a five-year-old Irish Terrier, stood on wobbly legs next to me. She wouldn’t lie down. I think she was afraid she’d have trouble getting back up. She looked when she heard the man call Maggie, but she didn’t move. Once the other Maggie left, my Maggie went back to looking up at me and sharing her concern. It was obvious she felt terrible. Her eyes were watering and her nose was running and if she were a person, you would have sworn she was crying. | |||
| Before I tell you how we came to be at the Foster Hospital for Small Animals, I have to tell you that I have never been a dog lover. I’m mildly allergic to dogs, so to me, dogs have always been a minor annoyance. I was happy for all the people who loved their dogs, but, well, it’s hard to get too excited about an animal that makes you sneeze and itch. | |||
| In fact, we got Maggie specifically because Irish Terriers are one of those breeds that shed very little, and my wife was hoping that would limit my allergy problems. And it did. | |||
| But allergies or no allergies, I don’t think I could ever have resisted Maggie. From the moment we brought her home, she charmed me in ways that constantly surprised me. I quickly became a proud puppy daddy and would tell anyone who could stand to hear it again that Maggie was the cutest puppy in the world. I know it wasn’t quite fair to all the other puppies for me to say that. After all, even to a non dog lover, all puppies are pretty cute, and I never did an objective evaluation. But I was so smitten with little Maggie that I could never be objective about puppies again. | |||
| What impressed me and endeared her to me was that she was just so full of life. She did everything intensely, whether it was chasing a squirrel, sitting down hard to show how deserving she was of a biscuit, welcoming strangers with surprise kisses on the nose, playing tug of war, melting into a tummy rub, or just sleeping on her back with legs akimbo. | |||
| I’ll never forget the first time I took her canoeing. For the first 20 minutes after I lifted her into the canoe, she shook with trepidation. Then, she decided it was okay. Then she decided it was fun. She spent the next hour making me nervous as she flitted around the canoe and leaned over the sides. Since that first day, she loved to stand in the very point of the canoe, with her chest and head way out over the edge, leading the way. When we’d pass other boaters, they’d laugh to see her, a canine version of a Viking bowsprit. | |||
| But, if I start telling Maggie stories, this letter will be much longer than I intend it to be, so I’ll get back to why we were at the Foster Hospital for Small Animals. | |||
| On a Wednesday afternoon, my wife and I both noticed that Maggie stumbled going up the steps into the house. It caught our attention because it was so unusual. Irish Terriers are pretty agile dogs and Maggie was no exception. Still, everybody slips once in a while, so we didn’t think much more about it. | |||
| That night, I was playing tug of war with her, which she did with something like her usual gusto. But twice, she slipped on the kitchen floor, her hind legs going out from under her. Again, it was unusual, but we just passed it off as the kitchen floor being slippery and Maggie being overly excited by the game. | |||
| I got up the next morning, however, to discover that Maggie had thrown up all over the house. And she was walking very unsteadily. I woke up my wife and we took Maggie to the local veterinary clinic the moment it was open. I told the vet my concern, which was that on Tuesday, the day before Maggie first showed signs of trouble, I had discovered my car had an antifreeze leak. I had read that antifreeze is highly toxic to dogs and I was afraid Maggie had somehow gotten some of the antifreeze that leaked from my car. | |||
| My car is parked on a sand driveway, so any leaked liquid would have soaked into the ground, but still, maybe she had licked it up. If it tasted good, which apparently it does to dogs, she would have thought it was a special treat, just for her. | |||
| An x-ray showed an enlarged liver, which could be a sign of poisoning. The vet also had some concern that the problem might be leptosporosis, a serious bacterial infection that is not uncommon in dogs. Blood work showed nothing too serious, but a slight elevation of some factors that suggested that Maggie’s kidneys were also affected. | |||
| The vet sent off for liver tests and a leptosporosis test. Meanwhile, he put Maggie on intravenous fluids to rehydrate her, and antibiotics in case the cause was bacterial. He recommended leaving her overnight. | |||
| The next morning, Friday, I spoke to the vet and he told me that Maggie seemed a bit better, but that she was having trouble with her hind legs. We agreed I should take her to the Tufts University Foster Hospital, one of the country’s best animal hospitals, not far from where we live. | |||
| I explained to the emergency room veterinarian at Foster my concern about antifreeze. He agreed that was a possibility, but his suspicion leaned towards leptosporosis. He said that in his experience, if Maggie had been poisoned by antifreeze and had started showing symptoms on Wednesday, by Friday morning, she would have been much sicker than she was. Normally, by that time, a dog’s kidneys would have failed. | |||
| Though she was clearly unhappy and wobbly, Maggie didn’t seem to be in real danger. Her kidneys were still functioning. She had peed and pooped. She was reasonably alert. Her reflexes were okay. There didn’t seem to be any neurological impairment. | |||
| Still, new tests showed the first signs of serious kidney problems, so they wanted to keep her on an IV and wait for the leptosporosis test. I spoke to the vet again twice on Friday and both times he said she seemed okay. He thought there was a good chance that if it was leptosporosis, we had caught it in time. And if it was antifreeze poisoning, she must have gotten a very small dose. He thought she was going to make it, with maybe some manageable loss of kidney function. She was going to be one of the lucky dogs that survive the mistake of drinking antifreeze. | |||
| Since this all happened, I’ve learned more about antifreeze poisoning. The main ingredient in most automotive antifreeze is ethylene glycol. When mixed in a 50/50 ratio, it lowers the freezing point and raises the boiling point of water, making it perfect as an automotive coolant. | |||
| Unfortunately, ethylene glycol has a sweet taste. | |||
| When ethylene glycol is ingested, it is broken down by the liver into aldehyde, glycolic acid, and eventually oxalate. These chemicals circulate in the bloodstream and eventually disrupt the function of the kidneys, causing irreversible damage. | |||
| The typical progression of ethylene glycol poisoning is that a dog or cat will show signs of physical impairment shortly after ingestion. They may stumble or appear drunk. It is at this stage that the liver is breaking down the ethylene glycol. Within a day or so, the ethylene glycol byproducts begin to destroy the kidneys. The usual result is complete kidney failure and death. | |||
| There are two treatments. One is to give the dog or cat alcohol. The other is a special antidote called fomepizole. Both work by tying up the sites in the liver to which ethylene glycol would otherwise bind. This slows the breakdown of ethylene glycol into oxalate and allows the ethylene glycol to be excreted intact by the still-functioning kidneys. | |||
| The problem is that by the time a pet owner notices symptoms, it is often too late. Too much of the ethylene glycol has been broken down and begun its work destroying the kidneys. If fomepizole isn’t given with a few hours of poisoning, the chances of survival are not great. | |||
| By Friday, when we were closely monitoring Maggie’s condition, I had learned all this. I consoled myself that Maggie must have gotten only a tiny dose. And my heart told me that she was too full of life to give up easily. She was going to make it. I was sure of that. | |||
| Still, when the weekend emergency vet at the Foster Hospital called me early on Saturday morning to tell me that Maggie’s kidneys had shut down, the rational part of my brain knew instantly what that meant. The rest of my brain tried desperately not to hear him. | |||
| My heart absolutely refused to hear him. | |||
| While I sobbed and fought the urge to throw the phone as far away from my heart as I could, the vet explained that the only way to keep Maggie alive was to put her on a dialysis machine for two weeks, which would cost $6,000 or more, and had only a 5-10% chance of survival. But, because she had already had a couple of seizures, she might have suffered brain damage. And if she survived, she would almost certainly need dialysis for the rest of her life. The vet informed me that no veterinary hospital in the country currently performs kidney transplants for dogs. | |||
| He told me we needed to decide pretty quickly if we wanted to start her on dialysis, because Maggie was in a coma and suffering repeated seizures. | |||
| After crying hysterically with my wife for ten minutes, we decided we had to let our little Maggie go. When I called the vet back, I could barely get the words out. | |||
| The vet told me he thought we were making the right decision. But ending the life of that little dog will never seem “right” to me. | |||
| I’m grateful to the veterinarians who tried to save Maggie. They did all they could. Maybe they could have more quickly recognized the signs of ethylene glycol poisoning, but it was probably already too late. And I think Maggie fooled them because she didn’t seem sick enough for ethylene glycol poisoning. She fought hard and she had so much life in her to start with that it was hard to realize it was slipping away. | |||
| I’m telling you this story not because I want sympathy for my aching heart. (Well, maybe a little.) Mostly I’m telling you this sad story because it could have been so easily prevented. | |||
| So now, as someone who has never been a dog or cat lover, I’m going to suggest that all you dog and cat lovers do something to protect the animals you love. | |||
| First, make sure that if your car ever leaks antifreeze, you clean it up immediately. Soak up as much as you can, and hose off the rest. Don’t let your dog or cat anywhere near it. Even if you don’t have a dog or cat yourself, do this for the sake of all the animals in your neighborhood. | |||
| And if you have the slightest suspicion that your dog or cat has gotten into antifreeze, take them immediately to the nearest animal hospital. Every hour that passes could make a difference in their chances for survival. | |||
| Second, replace your antifreeze with one of the new “environmentally friendly” types. There are at least two national brands, SIERRA, and Prestone LowTox. These coolants use propylene glycol, not ethylene glycol. Propylene glycol is much less toxic than ethylene glycol and will still effectively protect your car. Propylene glycol coolant cost about $1 more a gallon than ethylene glycol coolant, but over the life of your car, this is a difference of less than $20. So take your car to your local mechanic and ask them to drain your coolant and replace it with a propylene glycol antifreeze. | |||
| Do it soon. | |||
| Third, I’m hoping that we can all send an email to the major coolant manufacturers and ask them to take ethylene glycol coolants off the market. It seems senseless to me that we use this stuff when it is so attractive and so poisonous to pets. Some sources estimate that 10,000 dogs and cats die of ethylene glycol poisoning each year in the United States. | |||
| I always try to think the best of people, so let’s assume the coolant manufacturers are unaware of the toll their product takes on pets. Let’s make sure they know. | |||
| At the end of this letter are the email addresses of several companies that make ethylene glycol antifreeze. I’ve also written a brief letter you can cut and paste to an email if you want. Or express it in your own words. If you have also lost a pet to this problem, please tell them that. Tell them you will no longer use ethylene glycol in your car and ask them to stop producing it. | |||
| And maybe you could pass this letter on to others. Don’t send it out indiscriminately. Goodness knows none of us needs more email we don’t want … except maybe the antifreeze manufacturers. But send it to all the people you know who have cats and dogs. (By the way, cats are apparently a bit less attracted to ethylene glycol than dogs, but with their smaller body size, it only takes a tiny amount to kill them.) | |||
| Maybe if enough of us write to the antifreeze manufacturers, something will happen. | |||
| I apologize for the length of this letter. Maybe this is nothing more than a way to assuage my sense of guilt over what happened to Maggie. I’m willing to admit that possibility. It was probably my car, after all, that was responsible for her death. If only I’d been more attentive and noticed the leak sooner … | |||
| Or maybe this letter is just an act of grieving by someone who has lost a friend. I can accept that, too. It has made me feel better to write it. | |||
| I know for sure that Maggie doesn’t need this letter to bring meaning to her life. She was here for a short time, and she loved every day she was alive. That’s all the meaning she ever asked for. | |||
| But I’m hoping this letter could have some meaning for you. Maybe it could be a way to stop other people from feeling the loss I’m feeling tonight. | |||
| That morning in the Foster Hospital for Small Animals, when another Maggie walked by, apparently healthy, and hopefully with a long life ahead of her, I remembered that I recently saw a website that said that Maggie is the most common female name for dogs. | |||
| I’m hoping this letter might help save some other Maggies … and some Maxes and Ladies, and Jakes. | |||
| My poor heartbroken wife is the real dog person in this family and Maggie loved her best of all. That’s okay with me. This is one time when I don’t mind coming in second. I was Maggie’s favorite playmate and hiking partner. And whenever she was startled or felt worried, she always moved next to – and sometimes, behind -- me. | |||
| It’s an honor to have been the alpha male in her pack. | |||
| I work at home by myself, and the last few years since my kids moved out, Maggie has protected me from loneliness. She was my buddy. She made me play and hike and laugh more than I otherwise would have. | |||
| What more could anyone ask of a friend? | |||
| I don’t know that Maggie made me into a dog lover. We’ll see, I guess. But I do know that, to my great surprise, she made me a Maggie lover. | |||
| This letter is written in her honor. I’m not much of a believer in dog heaven, but if there is such a thing, I hope Maggie’s there. And for her sake, I hope that in dog heaven, the squirrels are slower and the cars leak dog biscuits. | |||
| Tom Pelletier | |||
| Maggie’s Friend | |||
| P.S. I know that Maggie was “just a dog.” Although, after sharing five years with her, I’m not as sure as I once was what that phrase means. And if we need any more motivation to end the use of ethylene glycol in antifreeze, it’s also toxic to people, especially children. I was surprised, when I mentioned Maggie’s plight to my brother the pediatrician, that he instantly knew the treatment for ethylene glycol poisoning, which suggests to me that the poisoning of children is a real danger. Let’s get this poison out of reach of our children and our pets. | |||
| Some major antifreeze manufacturers: | |||
| Havoline
- Havoline Inquiries@ChevronTexaco.com Valvoline/Zerex - VWEBMAIL@ashland.com (Zerex is formulated with a “bittering agent” that is intended to make it unpalatable to dogs and cats. It does contain ethylene glycol, however.) |
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| Prestone makes Prestone LowTox, and Peak makes SIERRA, the two safer antifreeze products. Both also make ethylene glycol antifreezes, however. | |||
| Prestone - Prestone.Information@honeywell.com Peak – contact Old World Industries at http://www.oldworldind.com/careers/contact_us.htm |
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| Sample
letter: Dear Sirs, Because ethylene glycol is so poisonous to pets, and because a much less toxic alternative already exists, I ask that your company remove ethylene glycol-based antifreezes from the automotive market. I will no longer purchase ethylene glycol-based antifreeze and will not allow it to be installed in my automobile. Please help protect our pets by ceasing the sale of this deadly poison for use in automobiles. Sincerely, [your email signature] |
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Ladies!
Gentlemen!
Let Us Wake Up ! We Have Been Sleeping Too Long ! "Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For indeed, that's all who ever have." Margaret Mead |
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