Poisoned Puppy Saved By Extreme Drunkenness

[Andy Chalk]

Poisoned Puppy Saved By Extreme Drunkenness

Veterinarians in Australia quickly determined that the only way to save Charlie from poisoning was to get him out-of-his-mind drunk.

A Maltese terrier named Charlie was given just hours to live after vets in Melbourne, Australia determined that he was suffering from ethylene glycol poisoning, the result of licking antifreeze off the floor of his owner's garage. His kidneys were shutting down and death seemed imminent, but luckily for him, that's the kind of trouble they know how to deal with in the Land Down Under.

"In Australia, the only antidote we have is alcohol," the Animal Accident and Emergency Hospital wrote on its blog, explaining how the people of the nation deal with their many day-to-day travails. And as it turns out, it's also a way to counteract ethylene glycol poisoning! "Alcohol alters the chemical reaction and stops the kidney failure from occurring. It is important that we treat these pets as soon as possible after ingestion. For most pets, a couple of licks of anti-freeze is enough to cause problems."

Vets inserted a tube through Charlie's nose into his stomach and spent the next 48 hours feeding him vodka, which is apparently a boozehound favorite. When all was said and done, he'd pounded back 700 ml of vodka, the equivalent of 22 "standard drinks," according to the Australian government's Department of Health [http://www.alcohol.gov.au/internet/alcohol/publishing.nsf/Content/drinksguide-cnt#spirits].

"For the whole weekend, Charlie had a huge party with us in the Pet ICU," the blog says. "The good news is that Charlie has recovered and is not showing signs of kidney failure."

Even though he was cured, he still went home in pretty rough shape. "He was stumbling around, I'd go to pat him and he'd push me away like a normal drunk person. He was vomiting a little, whining like a drunk," Charlie's owner, Jacinta Rosewarne, told the Herald Sun. "I thought it was hilarious... It was distressing but funny at the same time."

Source: Herald Sun [http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/maltese-terrier-with-ethylene-glycol-poisoning-is-saved-by-vodka/story-fni0fit3-1226847673022], Animal Accident and Emergency


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[TiberiusEsuriens]

For a 5lb Maltese, 700ml of vodka is something like 5000% of it's body weight in alcohol. It should be drunk for a month ^.^

 

[Rad Party God]

This is cute and awesome. This news made my day

 

[omega 616]

Reminds me of House, LL cool j was a prison inmate (keepin' it real!) who was on death row, to kill himself he drank printer ink ... house got him drunk on whiskey and explained the two chemicals will combine to make water that he will just piss out.

I don't know if the science adds up but it seems like the same kind of thing.

Still, that pooch must be Russian to survive that amount of vodka!

 

[FalloutJack]

Save the kidneys. Kill the liver.

Still, I'd party with that pooch any day.

Eh, the liver'll recover. He might go clubbing.

OT: This is both facinating and funny. I'm thinking of...


...but applied logically and to good effect.

 

[Scarim Coral]

From reading the news of the pissed of angry cat to a cute little wasted pup. I'm glad they were able to saved him via an unusal method.

 

[rofltehcat]

Wait, isn't this the same treatment humans get? The treatment is the same for methyl alcohol poisoning (e.g. from inexpertly distilled booze). Though humans probably don't get the alcohol force-fed through their nose, I guess.

 

[ClockworkPenguin]

Reminds me of House, LL cool j was a prison inmate (keepin' it real!) who was on death row, to kill himself he drank printer ink ... house got him drunk on whiskey and explained the two chemicals will combine to make water that he will just piss out.

I don't know if the science adds up but it seems like the same kind of thing.

Still, that pooch must be Russian to survive that amount of vodka!

With anti-freeze, it's that both it and the ethanol in alcohol compete for the same enzyme. When the anti-freeze chemical is processed it makes something really toxic, but alcohol is preferentially processed by the enzyme. Apparently the same treatment is used for humans.

I have no idea how they get the patients to survive that much alcohol though.

 

[The White Hunter]

Thanks to Mr Jack Daniels that puppy will live to chew another slipper.

 

[iniudan]

For a 5lb Maltese, 700ml of vodka is something like 5000% of it's body weight in alcohol. It should be drunk for a month ^.^

Actually 1L of water weight 1Kg, alcohol also has less mass then water and vodka is basically 40% alcohol and 60% water, so your calculation are kind of all wrong. =p

 

[RicoADF]

Thanks to Mr Jack Daniels that puppy will live to chew another slipper.

Dammit ninja'd with the Homer line. Heh trust our vets to think of alcohol to save the pup, they probably went down to the pub afterwards. I'd hate to think what a breath test would come back with. Something tells me he'd be alil over for driving

 

[The White Hunter]

Thanks to Mr Jack Daniels that puppy will live to chew another slipper.

Dammit ninja'd with the Homer line. Heh trust our vets to think of alcohol to save the pup, they probably went down to the pub afterwards. I'd hate to think what a breath test would come back with. Something tells me he'd be alil over for driving

I know the pain of being ninja'd all too well my friend.

 

[Raggedstar]

As some one in the veterinary field, it's definitely a "hurray for veterinary science" moment for me. I haven't seen a live case of antifreeze poisoning (only when it was too late, sadly. Dogs are often attracted to antifreeze, making them the go-to for assholes that want to poison dogs in parks or yards), but it's pretty bad from what I hear. The fact that this was cured with vodka not only makes it a happy story for the dog, but as a bonus also a funny one that almost sounds like an old wives tale. The type of story crotchety old vets will pass on to the next generation. "*waggles cane* In my day, the way you treat antifreeze poisoning was to get a dog piss drunk on vodka. LOTS of vodka. Those were the days..."

Save the kidneys. Kill the liver.

I don't know how far the liver would have gone or how specifics on how booze works with dogs, but if you're gonna damage one organ, safest bet might be the liver. The kidneys will compensate for each other until they weaken and die, but the liver can regenerate after trauma if given the chance and plenty of support. I heard stories of people who donated part of their liver and it regenerated in both the donor and recipient. The liver is a badass organ that way.

 

[thedoclc]

For those interested:

Spoiler: How it works

This is actually a second rate solution. The best antidote to ethylene glycol poisoning is to inhibit the breakdown. See, ethylene glycol isn't the problem. The problem is its metabolic products. Normally, the drug of choice is fomepizole.

Ethylene glycol is broken down by an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase. Alcohol dehydrogenase breaks down many alcohols, which includes ethanol (the alcohol we drink), methanol (wood alcohol, which is very toxic), and others. Fomepizole inhibits alcohol dehydrogenase, slowing the process by which the toxic products of ethylene glycol metabolism forms. But suppose you don't have fomepizole?

Since alcohol dehydrogenase breaks down many alcohols, if there's something else in the blood which wants to bind alcohol dehydrogenase, you can slow down the breakdown of ethylene glycol by having something else it wants to break down on hand. And since ethanol is toxic - but not at the same dose - you can fill up someone's blood stream with ethanol. The ethylene glycol and then the ethanol compete for alcohol dehydrogenase, slowing down the accumulation of toxic byproducts and giving the body a better chance to save itself.

The same thing could be done for methanol.

Isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) is another story. The metabolites of isopropyl alcohol are not too bad, but the isopropyl alcohol is insanely neurotoxic. So you want the alcohol dehydrogenase working at full steam in cases of isopropyl alcohol poisoning.

And now you know. And don't be a fucking idiot and try to self-medicate. Call the emergency line for your nation immediately.

 

[TiberiusEsuriens]

For a 5lb Maltese, 700ml of vodka is something like 5000% of it's body weight in alcohol. It should be drunk for a month ^.^

Actually 1L of water weight 1Kg, alcohol also has less mass then water and vodka is basically 40% alcohol and 60% water, so your calculation are kind of all wrong. =p

I'm guessing you've never heard of the term hyperbole?

 

[Headsprouter]

*shudder* I can't imagine having to rely on downing loads of vodka to survive. I wonder how much it was. Probably enough to cause a lot of pain in such a little pup, hence the whining.