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Bottle of vodka provides miracle cure for dying dog

Vodka was the only antidote available after the pooch licked up some anti-freeze from his owner’s garage floor

Tomas Jivanda
Sunday 09 March 2014 16:12 GMT
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The Maltese terrier was left with a killer hangover following the treatment
The Maltese terrier was left with a killer hangover following the treatment

A critically ill Maltese terrier has been saved from near certain death by getting blind drunk.

Charlie was rushed to pet A&E by his owner after he licked up some anti-freeze from her garage floor in Melbourne, Australia.

Realising he was suffering from Ethylene Glycol poisoning, quick thinking vets began giving Charlie vodka through tubes into his nose a stomach.

The ethanol in vodka alters the chemical reaction that the coolant triggers when broken down in the liver preventing kidney failure, vets at Melbourne's’ Animal and Accident Emergency said.

“In Australia, the only antidote we have is alcohol...In fact for the whole weekend, Charlie had a huge party with us in the Pet ICU,” the team said in a blogpost.

The small terrier was given 70cl - an entire bottle - of vodka over two days, after which he showed no signs of kidney failure. He was however left nursing a big hangover.

“He just slept and slept and slept,” owner Jacinta Rosewarne told The Herald Sun.

“He was definitely drunk,” she added. “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.”

“I thought it was hilarious ... It was distressing but funny at the same time.”

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