Unfortunately, it’s not just dogs which die at the hands of antifreeze. In the old days, we use to set bowls of antifreeze in the shop specifically to kill the mice.
Ethylene glycol is the ingredient that makes antifreeze taste good. Every year about 90,000 animals and 4,000 children ingest the toxic fluid. If not treated immediately, the consequences of the poisoning can include renal or cardiovascular failure, brain damage, and death.
There is an antifreeze called SIERRA that replaces ethylene glycol with propylene glycol (PG for short). PG is non-toxic but does cost more than ethylene glycol. SIERRA antifreeze can be purchased at Checker Auto Parts, Murrays Auto Parts, most NAPA stores, and most ACE Hardware stores. There are some other brands that use PG such as Amsoil, Chevron, Texaco, and others. Pretty much just read the label and look for PG antifreeze.
Oregon and California both require that antifreeze manufacturers add a bittering agent to their antifreeze to make them unpalatable to pets and children. New Mexico has also just passed a similar measure. Congress is currently considering a bill “The Antifreeze Safety Act” that would mandate the addition of denatonium benzoate to all antifreeze containing more that 10 percent ethylene glycol.
Fortunately, cars do not leak antifreeze like the cars of older yesteryear. New cars have closed coolant systems and nothing is really overflowed out of the car. The primary source of ethylene glycol in the environment is from run-off at airports where it is used in deicing agents for runways and planes. This also kills the small varmints (raccoons, possums, skunks, etc.) around the airport and thus keeps them off the runway.
