This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Icicle the cat saved by Smirnoff
A cat called Icicle, featured on Channel 4’s Supervet, was saved by a quick-thinking vet and a bottle of Smirnoff vodka after she accidentally ingested anti-freeze.
Icicle the cat made a full recovery
Icicle belongs to practice nurse Steph, who rushed back to specialist vet Fitzpatrick Referrals when the cat started suffering from uncontrollable seizures.
Dr. Colin Driver, a senior neurologist at the practice, diagnosed life-threatening toxicity and came up with an unconventional solution he had only read about in textbooks: administering alcohol intravenously into the bloodstream.
A bottle of Smirnoff was the alcohol nearest to hand, and was given to Icicle via a drip.
The cat was kept in overnight and the vodka treatment miraculously worked.
Icicle isn’t the only cat to have been saved by vodka. In 2014, Missy the cat was left fighting for her life after being fed anti-freeze by thugs, reported the NY Daily News.
Her vet also prescribed vodka, and Missy made a full recovery.
The ethanol in the vodka neutralises the substance in the poison, explained Andrew Millar, a vet from the practice which treated Missy.
Needless to say, alcohol is harmful to animals and should never be given to pets except by vets in exceptional circumstances.