Toxin sprayed on Christmas trees
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A warning tonight for cat owners. A Stoney Creek woman says a frosted fir Christmas tree she bought, killed her cat and she’s warning others about the dangers of some chemicals that may be used on them.
Many people think that real Christmas trees are safer than artificial ones when it comes to chemicals used on them. But the Coates family says their real tree ruined Christmas for them.
Luna the kitten was only with the Coates family for about a week when she became severely ill. Her owners say it happened after eating part of their real Christmas tree: “She had complete 100 percent renal failure. Her breathing was irregular and laboured. Her vital signs were all over the map and not looking good so we made the decision to put her down because I didn’t want her to suffer.”
Coates says the kitten became ill only three hours after the tree went up. She suspected the tree so she called Home Depot where she bought it. She says they told her the trees come from B.C. and are all sprayed with ethlyne glycol to preserve freshness: “I wasn’t aware the tree had been sprayed with this. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have brought it home.”
Home Depot would not confirm what chemicals they use on their trees but they are investigating. In a statement they said: “I can assure you that we are taking this seriously and our merchants and suppliers are investigating the situation. Although we’ve only had one report of this, we’re moving aggressively to address the matter.”
Experts say ethylene glycol is extremely toxic to cats: “It kills them very quickly. You can start to see clinical signs within 30 minutes of ingestion. It affects their nervous system, their central nervous system so they become uncoordinated. They can seizure, have a coma and die.
The vet who treated Luna said she had renal failure. They are doing an autopsy to determine what killed the cat.
But Elizabeth O’Brien says there are many dangers lurking around the Christmas tree for animals: “Everyone’s heard about tinsel and cats, ribbons, are of concern, chocolate in dogs, all the little ornaments, pretty soon you’re in for exploratory surgery.”
We have to stress that we don’t know for sure what killed Luna. Home Depot says this was a specialty tree product and only three hundred of them were in stores. The autopsy results will take about 42 hours.
