Helen Earp had just returned home after the school run and glanced outside when she noticed something was seriously wrong. Leo, the family's five-year-old black and white cat, was lying lifelessly in the garden of their Northampton home. When Helen picked him up, his breathing was laboured and his body was limp. Within hours, his condition had deteriorated, so her husband James, a 37-year-old teacher, rushed him to the vet where he was kept in overnight. But, by the time James got home, Kitty, their other cat, was showing similar symptoms. James turned round and rushed back to the vet with the tabby, but nothing could be done. Leo and Kitty had to be put down. Like many cherished pets, Leo and Kitty had been a huge part of the family, which includes Jack, four, Thomas, three and Charlotte, 22 months. Their shock at the sudden deaths was compounded when Helen and James were told by the vet that their cats were victims of anti-freeze poisoning. Helen Earp (left) with surviving cat Taz had to have two cats put down due to being poisoned by antifreeze while Nicky Stephenson was thankfully able to save her cat Missey (right) who ingested the toxic chemical . Leo and Kitty are just two of a staggering 50 cats killed in Britain every month by anti-freeze, commonly used in countless car engines and to de-ice thousands of windscreens in winter. Yet it's no longer just being used to defrost vehicles, there's a growing trend among the green-fingered for adding anti-freeze to garden water features to prevent pumps and jets from frosting up and to keep the water flowing. Cats are then drinking from these ornamental pools and ingesting the de-icer. Many brands contain sweet tasting chemical ethylene glycol which is attractive to small mammals but, extremely toxic, even in small doses, and can rapidly lead to kidney failure and often a painful death. In the first four hours after being poisoned — like Leo and Kitty — cats can appear wobbly on their feet, and start drinking and urinating to excess as dehydration sets in. Cats can also become overly sleepy. As the toxin sweeps through the body over hours and sometimes days, cats will stop eating, possibly vomit and be unable to stand. If that stage has not already proved fatal, kidney failure then kicks in. According to the Veterinary Poisons Information Service, which offers vets specialist advice about poisoned pets, 90 per cent of cats who swallow anti-freeze die as a result. The number of cats dying from ethylene glycol poisoning has risen so sharply in recent years, according to Cats Protection . According to the Cats Protection charity, the number dying from ethylene glycol poisoning has risen so sharply in recent years, it has become little short of an epidemic, and the charity has been joined by other animal welfare organisations, vets and politicians in voicing concern. The problem was debated in the House of Commons earlier this month, with Environment Minister George Eustace calling for products containing ethylene glycol to be labelled with clear warnings that they could be harmful to pets. The alerts could prove a powerful deterrent for garden-lovers who are unaware that by using the substance to defrost their water features they could be inadvertantly poisoning local moggies and wildlife. The Commons debate was called by Mark Spencer, the Tory MP for Sherwood, after at least 22 cats died in Calverton, Nottinghamshire, because of it. 'The problem of anti-freeze poisoning is becoming increasingly widespread, and I can't over-emphasise what a horrific death it is for a small animal,' says Mr Spencer. While the use of anti-freeze in ornamental garden features is being blamed for a sharp rise in anti-freeze poisoning among pets in winter, some distraught cat owners — including those in the mining village of Calverton — harbour suspicions that their pets were poisoned deliberately. What is certain is that hundreds of owners, like the Earps, are being left traumatised after watching their cats dying an agonising death. 'What happened to Leo and Kitty was a terrible shock,' says Helen, 31, a full-time mother. 'I was in tears because Leo didn't want to eat or drink and was very floppy. His eyes rolled back, as though he couldn't see, which was distressing to watch. James took him to the vet, who mentioned possible anti-freeze poisoning, which shocked me. My first thought was: 'Who could do this?' 'We have another cat, Taz, and she's been fine, so it's possible it was an accident, but I don't let her out of my sight at the moment.' There's a growing trend among the green-fingered for adding anti-freeze to garden water features to prevent pumps and jets from frosting up and to keep the water flowing - which is then being ingested by cats . According to Professor Rachel Dean, of the University of Nottingham's School of Veterinary Science, accidents happen easily because it takes only a tiny amount of anti-freeze to poison cats. 'They need a much smaller dose than dogs to cause problems,' she says. 'It's possible that a cat just walking through a pool of anti-freeze and then cleaning its paws may be enough.' It's common for cats with anti-freeze poisoning to become ill so quickly that there isn't time for treatment, says Prof Dean. A lucky few can be treated with an ethanol, or alcohol, drip which acts as an antidote, although she warns: 'The earlier a cat can be treated the better, but even if treatment starts early the kidneys can still have problems.' Vets were unable to save Kerry Newlyn's 11-month-old tabby kittens, Bonnie and Clyde, when they were poisoned in July. One Sunday, Kerry, 47, who lives in Herne Bay, Kent, with her partner David Edwards and three children Nathan, 17, Aidan, 15, and Phoebe, 14, noticed Bonnie's back legs weren't working properly. Clyde also had a strange odour, which Kerry put down to him walking in fox mess. The next day, hospital worker Kerry was called by Nathan, at work, to say he was worried. 'I told him to take a taxi straight to the vet. In the afternoon, they called me to say they believed the cats had anti-freeze poisoning. They said they could try to save them, but we'd be looking at £700 per cat and it would only prolong their agony, because their kidneys had failed. 'I told the vet to put them to sleep. He said it was strange, because anti-freeze poisoning never normally happens in summer. He also said they were the fourth case they'd treated over the weekend. So I don't know what happened.' Fran Benson went through a similar ordeal with her black and white cat Cleo in October. Fran, 46, a writer from Liphook, Hampshire, was at home with her husband Ian, 46, a golf professional, and their children, Sam, 12, Jack, seven and Poppy, six, when Cleo became ill. 'I found Cleo lying on the doormat, panting for breath and retching. I knew instinctively she was dying. I realised there wasn't time to get her to the vet, and I didn't want her to die in the car, so I made her as comfortable as I could.' Twenty minutes later Cleo was dead. 'It was awful because there was nothing I could do', says Fran. 'She kept convulsing and bit through her tongue.' Later, Fran looked up her symptoms online and found they matched anti-freeze poisoning. Nicky and Paul Stephenson's kitten Missey is one of the lucky few to have survived anti-freeze poisoning. When she came home one night in October soaking wet, the couple from Redcar, North Yorkshire, towelled her dry. But next morning she was sick so they rushed her to the vet. 'They told us it was anti-freeze poisoning and they didn't think she was going to survive,' says Nicky. 'We didn't want her to suffer, so agreed to put her down. 'But a visiting vet suggested trying a vodka drip, because the ethanol can neutralise the poisonous effects.' Missey was transferred to a surgery in Middlesbrough, where the alcohol was administered over two days. 'She was noticeably drunk, with her eyes out of focus, but it worked. After a few days in intensive care we were allowed to take her home with tablets to combat the damage to her kidneys,' says Nicky. 'It was touch and go for about ten days, but now she's back to normal.' The £2,000 cost was met by their pet insurance. Experts advise anybody who thinks their cat might have ingested anti-freeze to seek veterinary help as soon as possible — but it's clear that a better solution needs to be found. Mark Spencer is campaigning for the Government to make it mandatory for anti-freeze products to include Bitrex — a substance which makes harmful products unpalatable. But Cats Protection point out that there's no evidence to suggest cats would be put off by a bitter taste. 'Bittering agents are not the answer, or at least not the whole answer,' says their advocacy manager, Jacqui Cuff. 'We are concerned that seeing the addition of a bittering agent on an anti-freeze label may give pet-owning purchasers the false impression that the product is safe. 'In the longer term, we'd like to see anti-freeze manufacturers developing alternative non-toxic products.' In the meantime, says Prof Dean: 'If you use anti-freeze, don't use one with ethylene glycol in it and tell others about the risks.' Her words would no doubt be echoed by owners of cats that have perished in this horrific way.
Helen Earp lost two cats in one night after they drank the toxic chemical .
Cat deaths from anti-freeze have risen to almost epidemic proportions .
Sweet taste is attractive to animals but can lead to kidney failure and death .
Environment Minister is now calling for products to carry warning labels .
Helen Earp had just returned home after the school run and glanced outside when she noticed something was seriously wrong. Leo, the family's five-year-old black and white cat, was lying lifelessly in the garden of their Northampton home. When Helen picked him up, his breathing was laboured and his body was limp. Within hours, his condition had deteriorated, so her husband James, a 37-year-old teacher, rushed him to the vet where he was kept in overnight. But, by the time James got home, Kitty, their other cat, was showing similar symptoms. James turned round and rushed back to the vet with the tabby, but nothing could be done. Leo and Kitty had to be put down. Like many cherished pets, Leo and Kitty had been a huge part of the family, which includes Jack, four, Thomas, three and Charlotte, 22 months. Their shock at the sudden deaths was compounded when Helen and James were told by the vet that their cats were victims of anti-freeze poisoning. Helen Earp (left) with surviving cat Taz had to have two cats put down due to being poisoned by antifreeze while Nicky Stephenson was thankfully able to save her cat Missey (right) who ingested the toxic chemical . Leo and Kitty are just two of a staggering 50 cats killed in Britain every month by anti-freeze, commonly used in countless car engines and to de-ice thousands of windscreens in winter. Yet it's no longer just being used to defrost vehicles, there's a growing trend among the green-fingered for adding anti-freeze to garden water features to prevent pumps and jets from frosting up and to keep the water flowing. Cats are then drinking from these ornamental pools and ingesting the de-icer. Many brands contain sweet tasting chemical ethylene glycol which is attractive to small mammals but, extremely toxic, even in small doses, and can rapidly lead to kidney failure and often a painful death. In the first four hours after being poisoned — like Leo and Kitty — cats can appear wobbly on their feet, and start drinking and urinating to excess as dehydration sets in. Cats can also become overly sleepy. As the toxin sweeps through the body over hours and sometimes days, cats will stop eating, possibly vomit and be unable to stand. If that stage has not already proved fatal, kidney failure then kicks in. According to the Veterinary Poisons Information Service, which offers vets specialist advice about poisoned pets, 90 per cent of cats who swallow anti-freeze die as a result. The number of cats dying from ethylene glycol poisoning has risen so sharply in recent years, according to Cats Protection . According to the Cats Protection charity, the number dying from ethylene glycol poisoning has risen so sharply in recent years, it has become little short of an epidemic, and the charity has been joined by other animal welfare organisations, vets and politicians in voicing concern. The problem was debated in the House of Commons earlier this month, with Environment Minister George Eustace calling for products containing ethylene glycol to be labelled with clear warnings that they could be harmful to pets. The alerts could prove a powerful deterrent for garden-lovers who are unaware that by using the substance to defrost their water features they could be inadvertantly poisoning local moggies and wildlife. The Commons debate was called by Mark Spencer, the Tory MP for Sherwood, after at least 22 cats died in Calverton, Nottinghamshire, because of it. 'The problem of anti-freeze poisoning is becoming increasingly widespread, and I can't over-emphasise what a horrific death it is for a small animal,' says Mr Spencer. While the use of anti-freeze in ornamental garden features is being blamed for a sharp rise in anti-freeze poisoning among pets in winter, some distraught cat owners — including those in the mining village of Calverton — harbour suspicions that their pets were poisoned deliberately. What is certain is that hundreds of owners, like the Earps, are being left traumatised after watching their cats dying an agonising death. 'What happened to Leo and Kitty was a terrible shock,' says Helen, 31, a full-time mother. 'I was in tears because Leo didn't want to eat or drink and was very floppy. His eyes rolled back, as though he couldn't see, which was distressing to watch. James took him to the vet, who mentioned possible anti-freeze poisoning, which shocked me. My first thought was: 'Who could do this?' 'We have another cat, Taz, and she's been fine, so it's possible it was an accident, but I don't let her out of my sight at the moment.' There's a growing trend among the green-fingered for adding anti-freeze to garden water features to prevent pumps and jets from frosting up and to keep the water flowing - which is then being ingested by cats . According to Professor Rachel Dean, of the University of Nottingham's School of Veterinary Science, accidents happen easily because it takes only a tiny amount of anti-freeze to poison cats. 'They need a much smaller dose than dogs to cause problems,' she says. 'It's possible that a cat just walking through a pool of anti-freeze and then cleaning its paws may be enough.' It's common for cats with anti-freeze poisoning to become ill so quickly that there isn't time for treatment, says Prof Dean. A lucky few can be treated with an ethanol, or alcohol, drip which acts as an antidote, although she warns: 'The earlier a cat can be treated the better, but even if treatment starts early the kidneys can still have problems.' Vets were unable to save Kerry Newlyn's 11-month-old tabby kittens, Bonnie and Clyde, when they were poisoned in July. One Sunday, Kerry, 47, who lives in Herne Bay, Kent, with her partner David Edwards and three children Nathan, 17, Aidan, 15, and Phoebe, 14, noticed Bonnie's back legs weren't working properly. Clyde also had a strange odour, which Kerry put down to him walking in fox mess. The next day, hospital worker Kerry was called by Nathan, at work, to say he was worried. 'I told him to take a taxi straight to the vet. In the afternoon, they called me to say they believed the cats had anti-freeze poisoning. They said they could try to save them, but we'd be looking at £700 per cat and it would only prolong their agony, because their kidneys had failed. 'I told the vet to put them to sleep. He said it was strange, because anti-freeze poisoning never normally happens in summer. He also said they were the fourth case they'd treated over the weekend. So I don't know what happened.' Fran Benson went through a similar ordeal with her black and white cat Cleo in October. Fran, 46, a writer from Liphook, Hampshire, was at home with her husband Ian, 46, a golf professional, and their children, Sam, 12, Jack, seven and Poppy, six, when Cleo became ill. 'I found Cleo lying on the doormat, panting for breath and retching. I knew instinctively she was dying. I realised there wasn't time to get her to the vet, and I didn't want her to die in the car, so I made her as comfortable as I could.' Twenty minutes later Cleo was dead. 'It was awful because there was nothing I could do', says Fran. 'She kept convulsing and bit through her tongue.' Later, Fran looked up her symptoms online and found they matched anti-freeze poisoning. Nicky and Paul Stephenson's kitten Missey is one of the lucky few to have survived anti-freeze poisoning. When she came home one night in October soaking wet, the couple from Redcar, North Yorkshire, towelled her dry. But next morning she was sick so they rushed her to the vet. 'They told us it was anti-freeze poisoning and they didn't think she was going to survive,' says Nicky. 'We didn't want her to suffer, so agreed to put her down. 'But a visiting vet suggested trying a vodka drip, because the ethanol can neutralise the poisonous effects.' Missey was transferred to a surgery in Middlesbrough, where the alcohol was administered over two days. 'She was noticeably drunk, with her eyes out of focus, but it worked. After a few days in intensive care we were allowed to take her home with tablets to combat the damage to her kidneys,' says Nicky. 'It was touch and go for about ten days, but now she's back to normal.' The £2,000 cost was met by their pet insurance. Experts advise anybody who thinks their cat might have ingested anti-freeze to seek veterinary help as soon as possible — but it's clear that a better solution needs to be found. Mark Spencer is campaigning for the Government to make it mandatory for anti-freeze products to include Bitrex — a substance which makes harmful products unpalatable. But Cats Protection point out that there's no evidence to suggest cats would be put off by a bitter taste. 'Bittering agents are not the answer, or at least not the whole answer,' says their advocacy manager, Jacqui Cuff. 'We are concerned that seeing the addition of a bittering agent on an anti-freeze label may give pet-owning purchasers the false impression that the product is safe. 'In the longer term, we'd like to see anti-freeze manufacturers developing alternative non-toxic products.' In the meantime, says Prof Dean: 'If you use anti-freeze, don't use one with ethylene glycol in it and tell others about the risks.' Her words would no doubt be echoed by owners of cats that have perished in this horrific way.
Helen Earp had just returned home after the school Taz had to have two cats put down due to being who ingested the toxic chemical . Leo and Kitty glycol which is attractive to small mammals but, rapidly lead to kidney failure and often a month, with Environment Minister George Eustace calling for products containing ethylene glycol When she came home one night in October soaking