Vodka drip saves puppy's life

MELBOURNE, Australia (CNN/NETWORK TEN) - A 9-week-old puppy has been saved by an unusual "hair of the dog" treatment. The American Staffordshire was put on a vodka drip, after being poisoned by anti-freeze.

Two weeks ago, Cleo, a cute Christmas present, was hours away from fatal kidney failure after licking anti-freeze from a car part.

"She was giving us a bit of a scare because she was really disorientated, she couldn't stand straight, she'd fall over," said owner Stacy Zammit.

During the night, Cleo got worse, refusing food and constantly crying. Zammit rushed her to a vet. The only cure for coolant poisoning? Another staff member's Christmas present: pure alcohol.

"There's toxins in that called ethylene glycol and they're very, very harmful to the kidneys so what we need to do is give them alcohol and in this case, we gave her vodka to try and mop up some of those toxins," said veterinarian Matt Pascall.

The vodka was fed via a drip through her nose and into her stomach.

"It was quite funny, to be honest. Flushing her with vodka to make her better," said Zammit.

Over two days the pup consumed more than a third of the bottle.

"If we put it in human terms, for me it would be the equivalent of having seven or eight shots every four hours," Pascall explained.

The Christmas vodka's since been replaced and Cleo's back to full health.