Epidemiologic considerations of ethylene glycol intoxication in small animals

Using necropsy records and a practitioner survey, data for certain epidemiologic parameters on EG intoxication in dogs and cats were collected and analyzed. The practices surveyed reported diagnosing 150 cases/year in the 7-county metropolitan area of Minneapolis/St Paul, MN, compared with 32 cases reported in a nationwide survey done a decade earlier. Analysis of necropsy records showed that the annual number of post mortem cases had quintupled over the past decade, with the majority of cases occurring the colder months of the year. Cases involving dogs were twice as common as those involving cats, and males appeared twice as often as females in both species. Young male dogs, under 24 months of age, were the most frequently represented, with female dogs less than 12 months old the next most frequent group.