A grieving dog trainer is urging owners to bin their snow globes as her own pets died just hours apart - after lapping up the liquid when one of the ornaments smashed. Caroline Osbourn had worked hard to puppy-proof her home after welcoming playful 17-week-old labrador Milo and was certain nothing could harm him or her two other dogs.
But the 46-year-old claims she heard a crash coming from her kitchen on Monday and as she rushed into the room Milo and her seven-year-old rescue dog Lexi were lapping up the liquid from a photo snow globe. As she frantically tried to clean up the mess, she noticed the clear fluid felt both 'oily and sticky' and after a quick search online found the spherical trinkets often contain anti-freeze.
According to The Kennel Club, anti-freeze is extremely poisonous to dogs and can cause brain, lung and kidney damage. They note the liquid can taste sweet making it 'irresistible'. After a call with an animal toxicology team, Caroline rushed her two dogs to the vet where they were given medication to make them sick before being put on a drip - with the business owner certain they would be okay.
But the following day, the mum-of-two was forced to say goodbye to both of her adored pets after they died six hours apart. Now, Caroline is urging all dog owners to throw out their snow globes to avoid their own animals facing a similar heartbreaking fate.
Caroline said: "I just can't believe. I really can't. It all happened so fast. I had no idea [snow globes] had antifreeze in them. I wouldn't have them in the house. We've got another snow globe too but I've binned that now.
"As I was tidying it up, the liquid was a weird substance between oily and sticky. I quickly Googled it and it said they can sometimes contain anti-freeze. That snow globe was 15 years old and nothing had ever happened with it before. We went to [a shopping centre] in Thurrock when our children were younger and got the snow globe done with their pictures."
Caroline had put her two dogs in their kitchen diner away from the family's Christmas tree - believing they couldn't come to any harm. ut one of her furry friends jumped up and knocked a snow globe from a shelf and they were both found licking the puddle of liquid as Caroline raced in.
Caroline said: "In our house we have three dogs. One was upstairs asleep. "We've got Milo the puppy and have gates everywhere. They were in our kitchen diner and we've puppy proofed everything.
"The Christmas tree was in the living room and there was nothing I thought they could hurt themselves on. I heard a smash and came running through. It didn't look like Lexi had actually had any but she died first.
"As I grabbed the snow globe and was trying to mop it up, Milo ran to where it fell off the shelf and I saw him licking. There was a big puddle of it there and he'd licked that puddle. I called the vets and they said I had to ring a toxicology helpline. They said I needed to get them to the vets immediately."
After giving Milo and Lexi vodka as an antidote to the anti-freeze they had consumed, the pooches were both monitored overnight and Caroline claims she was sure they would be fine. But the following morning she received the call to come and say her goodbyes to Lexi - before shortly after losing Milo too.
Caroline said: "They had to be put on a drip. We honestly thought it was precautionary because we'd acted so quick. They were transferred to a 24 hour vet.
"I know someone who works there who was giving me updates and they were fine. But I got a phone call at about 11am to say Lexi had crashed twice and did I want to say goodbye. I got in the car and then got another phone call saying Lexi had died and that Milo was hanging in there but he had also started to go downhill too. [He died six hours later]."
