The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Non toxic antifreeze advice

I have a new to me 58 Apache I am in the process of putting back together. I'm getting to the point of adding coolant and need some advice. It is my understanding that antifreeze is extremely toxic to dogs and cats yet it is sweet and attractive for them to ingest. I would like to add a non toxic pet safe coolant because my dog hangs out with me in the garage and I don't want him lapping it up if ever coolant were to leak. Has anyone else here done the same and if so what did you use and where did you get it. Thanks for any help.

you should start with plain water until you really need freeze protection, then the best you can do is Propylene glycol

Bill

Years ago, the wife and I lost a 3 year old dog. Not sure how he got into it, but he couldn't be saved. It's pretty much all I use.

After looking at all the local auto parts, I found some at a True Value hardware. Amazon or E-bay may carry it, I have never looked.

RV antifreeze would be better than water for storage. I also use D-Con pellets in my shop, so I don't take the dogs out with me, especially after occasionally finding pellets where I didn't put them.

There are some on line companies that sell "pet Safe " antifreeze at insane prices. It is no different from the Peak product Sierra that you can buy at automotive stores. They are all propylene glycol. The automotive grade or marine engine grade have the same inhibitors as regular antifreeze. Camper antifreeze doesn't.

Propylene glycol is still somewhat toxic in high doses, but is way safer than ethylene.

Side note, about 17 states have passed laws requiring conventional antifreeze to have a "bittering agent" added to make it taste bad, however since it only takes a tablespoon full to kill a medium sized dog, it's still too much of a risk. I don't know if that applies to the safer types but that would be even better.

Thanks all for the advice. I'm looking into getting some Prestone Lowtox as that is what I'm able to find locally, seems to be the propylene glycol stuff. I didn't know if others were using anything else that was perhaps even more safe than the Lowtox stuff. I enjoy working on the truck in the garage with the company of my dog and want to continue that for years to come. It only takes a moment of not watching him and a small puddle for disaster to strike so I want to plan ahead and have the safest kind of coolant just in case of a leak.

Hey 57_Stepside, get rid of the D-con poison. A friend of ours was watching our old dog while we were away and it found mouse poison at his house that he had forgotten about. Needless to say the dog didn't make it. It's a hell of a way to lose a pet.

Thanks again for the help everyone.