A naughty Melbourne puppy has survived anti-freeze poisoning thanks to her quick-thinking owners and a bottle of vodka.

Ten-week-old Cleo's owners noticed her staggering and looking "mentally dull" after licking car radiator fluid off car parts at a friend's garage for half an hour.

If left untreated, the tiny American Staffordshire pup would probably have died.

"It was only a 3kg dog, so it doesn't take much of the anti-freeze for it to become poisoned," veterinarian Scott Hall from Animal Accident and Emergency Point Cook told ninemsn.

"The owners were straight on top of the money.

"They realised straight away that things weren't right and came straight to us."

Dr Hall said ethanol was the best treatment for anti-freeze poisoning, but in its absence vets used vodka from a nurse's car to treat Cleo.

"The alcohol stops a chemical reaction in the liver," he said.

"Stopping that chemical reaction is really important to stop renal failure or kidney failure."

He said she was given a shot of 30ml of vodka through a tube in her nose every few hours.

She drank almost a bottle and a half of the vodka in less than three days.

"She was definitely intoxicated," Dr Hall said.

"I'm sure she would have had a bit of a hangover coming off it."

Cleo stayed at the vet's for about four days before being sent home on New Year's Eve to nurse a sore head.

"As far as we know, she's doing really well," Dr Hall said.

Source: Scott Hall, Animal Accident and Emergency, Herald Sun