Puppy saved by hair of the dog

A bottle of vodka has saved the life of a 10-week-old puppy poisoned by anti-freeze. Cleo, the American Staffordshire pup, was struck down with deadly ethylene glycol poisoning after licking radiator fluid off spare car parts in a garage last week. Within 30 minutes the playful pooch was swaying on her feet, rejecting food and at risk of kidney failure.

Owner Stacey Zammit, 27, from Truganina, Australia, rushed Cleo - a Christmas present - to the vet. The pup was only hours away from renal failure and alcohol was the only antidote. "The vet had a bottle of vodka, which was a gift, so they just hooked her up," Ms Zammit said. "The next time I saw her I asked if she was wasted and the vet was like, 'yeah'.



"Cleo had really bloodshot eyes and she was pretty unsteady. She couldn't move around much because she was so wasted." The pup was given vodka every six hours for two days though a tube in her nose, drinking almost a bottle and a half in less than 72 hours. Animal Accident and Emergency Point Cook vet Dr Yenny Indrawirawan said the "hair of the dog" treatment, which cost more than $2100, was rare but effective.

"The alcohol stops a chemical reaction in the body," Dr Indrawirawan said. "Without the vodka, Cleo was likely to develop renal failure." Ms Zammit said the pup had recovered and beaten her hangover the same way we do. "She slept a lot and she was eating a lot, but she seems really happy now."