A PAIR of 18-month-old cats have been poisoned and killed by antifreeze.

Brighton cats Niles and Frasier were admitted to Grove Lodge Veterinary Practice in Worthing, where they died of kidney failure.

John Colman, 65, a retired property auctioneer who owned the cats, said: “Last week they were two perfectly healthy cats and now they’re dead.

“We had the cats for more than a year. They used to go to sleep with their legs wrapped around each other. My wife is distraught.”

The cats were poisoned by antifreeze. It is thought as little as a teaspoon of antifreeze would have been enough to kill.

Andrew Ash, director of Grove Lodge Veterinary Service, said: “The clinical signs of ethylene glycol [antifreeze] are well understood – it causes fatal kidney failure.

“In the case of Niles and Frasier there is no doubt in my mind that they both received a fatal dose of ethylene glycol or antifreeze.”

It is thought more than 10,000 pets are killed annually in the UK by the substance and a petition to make it a legal requirement for a certain agent to be added to all antifreeze has been put in place.

A spokesman for Halfords, a leading seller of antifreeze, said: “We put a substance called bitrex in our antifreeze, which is the world’s most bitter chemical compound and this makes the person or animal tasting it immediately engage their gag reflex.”

Mr Ash added: “This is a common time of year for antifreeze-related accidents as DIY motorists top up or change antifreeze in preparation for the colder weather.

“Antifreeze spilt and then licked up or licked off fur is sufficient to kill and antifreeze left in a bucket or open container poses an even greater threat to animals.

“Antifreeze should always be disposed of carefully and spills thoroughly washed away.”