Anyone considering flushing a car radiator on their own this fall should probably think twice, if they are pet owners.

Dr. Robben Jones, veterinarian who owns the South Whidbey Animal Clinic, tells a tragic tale about one home mechanic who didn’t. Last month, a distraught dog owner brought his Labrador mixed breed to the clinic. The dog was acting drunk, was wobbly and vomiting.

Antifreeze poisoning was the first thought that came to Jones’ mind. She had seen its symptoms before.

Sure enough, the dog owner had left a bucket of antifreeze unattended at his home, and the dog had drunk it. Within days, the dog owner’s mistake turned into a death sentence for the animal. Jones said the dog’s kidneys were “shredded” by crystals of calcium oxalate produced by its system as it tried to process the poison. The dog was in pain and was dying.

“It’s very painful,” Jones said.

Antifreeze poisoning is a common killer among house pets, especially as mechanically inclined car owners prepare for winter by flushing their radiators at home. Sweet tasting and appealing to dogs and cats, antifreeze can cause kidney failure and kill small animals. Most commercial antifreezes contain 95 percent ethylene glycol, a toxic agent rapidly absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract. As a poison, antifreeze has one of the highest animal kill rates among household chemicals.

In this most recent instance of antifreeze poisoning, Jones, who has treated eight to 10 similar cases during her career, stayed at her clinic almost continuously for five days to treat the dog.

Ironically, the most effective counteragent to antifreeze is Everclear, a 200-proof ethyl alcohol. It flushes antifreeze from an animal’s system. Lacking a specific license to administer this treatment, Jones instead gave the dog 100-proof vodka via an intravenous drip. Unfortunately, treatment did not work. The dog had to be put to sleep.

This scenario is not unusual, especially when a car owner decides to make a radiator flush a do-it-yourself job. Even if a shade-tree mechanic keeps drain pans full of used antifreeze out of a pet’s reach, there are a number of other mistakes a person can make that might cost an animal its life.

George Rusch, an independent South Whidbey mechanic, said that after draining antifreeze from a radiator, do-it-yourselfers should cover the drain pan and immediately take it to a hazardous materials recycling facility. On South Whidbey, such a facility is located at the Bayview Transfer Station.

Even though the majority of drained antifreeze might be in a pan, any leftovers allowed to drip or that are washed onto the ground are a hazard.

“Do not run a hose down the radiator and spread the antifreeze-laced water into the ground,” Rusch said.

He recommends car owners have their radiators flushed and refilled at a business specializing in such work. Instead of using new antifreeze, the liquid is pumped out, filtered and replaced in the radiator. Plus, it is never a hazard to animals.

“That’s the speech I give when people ask me about changing their antifreeze,” Rusch said. “It’s also a way to support the environment.”

Those who insist on flushing their own radiators could try a less-toxic antifreeze. Some antifreeze manufacturers make their products less toxic by using propylene glycol instead of ethylene glycol. Propylene glycol lacks the sweet taste of most antifreezes and is not a killing poison in small amounts.

Not currently available on South Whidbey, low-toxicity antifreeze brands such as the brand Amsoil are more expensive than the standard variety. Amsoil retails for about double the price of most antifreezes, which sell for about $7 a gallon.

To find a local Amsoil dealer, call the company at (877) 826-7645.