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The same bitterant has been used in anti-freeze for about a decade now to help prevent poisonings of children and animals. It is also used in air duster cans,
by ortusdux 5y ago
The same bitterant has been used in anti-freeze for about a decade now to help prevent poisonings of children and animals. It is also used in air duster cans, which I've found annoying because it can go from your keyboard to your fingers.
- KennyBlanken 5y agoGiven my friend's dog licked up a bunch of antifreeze a couple months ago, I'd say it doesn't work very well.
- ortusdux 5y agoIt's the most bitter compound know to humans, with a detectability down to 0.05 ppm, and average aversion dosing around 10ppm. Lab tests show that some animals require 100,000 times the dose before detection. This discrepancy is leveraged for another application - making rat poison repulsive to children without reducing its efficacy. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031938403003007?via%3Dihub https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00319...
- jakear 5y agoI take small pride in the idea there’s something I can taste better than my dog. All I ever hear is how their senses are orders more heightened than our own. Do you know if there are any smells that humans can detect better than dogs?
- brian-armstrong 5y agoMore likely is that dogs can taste it fine, but it doesn't bother them. It's a matter of perspective.
- KennyBlanken 5y agoAnd yet I know a vet who routinely gets "rat poison dogs"
- duderific 5y agoI've seen dogs eat cat poop, so maybe they're not the target audience. Not sure what it would take to make a dog not eat something.
- disillusioned 5y agoIronically, while my dog is happy to eat his own shit, _citrus_ is a bridge too far, for him and most dogs, which is why citronella is used as an anti-bark collar component.
- criddell 5y agoI think air duster cans for cleaning firearms does not have the bitterant in it.
- cultofmetatron 5y ago> It is also used in air duster cans obligatory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-jp3bgyUCo&ab_channel=A%26E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-jp3bgyUCo&ab_channel=A%26E
- klyrs 5y agoWindshield wiper fluid, too. I got a little on my fingers once, and didn't notice for a few hours, when I licked a finger... what is that flavor... probably licked it a dozen times before I remembered. Whoops. Problem is, I like bitter flavors, and that one was just fascinating.
- burnished 5y agoOh makes sense, I seem to recall that anti-freeze supposedly tastes sweet?
- ortusdux 5y agoYes, very sweet. The lethal does is also quite low - ~2.5 fl oz of pure (CH2OH)2 for a 200lb adult. A very similar chemical, propylene glycol, is FDA GRAS and used in foods, drinks, and inhalers. It is also an effective anti-freeze, so there is a push to have it replace ethylene glycol.