Second-hand Smoke and Pets

  Posted on January 10, 2012  by Joy of Living  No comments

Jessie, the conservative dog with the right attitude: I have to confess. I am not a fan of cigarettes.  They smell. They look disgusting. They are hazardous to one’s health…even mine…and I don’t smoke. But if you are  pet owner who does smoke, you can be making your dog or cat sick.

As the number of pets in America outweighs the number of people, it’s pretty obvious that folks love their pets, and those who truly do love them would never consider abusing them in any way, right?  If you smoke, however, you are hurting them….possibly even killing them.

Oral and nasal cancers claim the lives of hundreds upon thousands of animals unnecessarily every year. Take cats, for instance. With the exception of our own Party Marty, they are quite particular about their overall hygiene and bathe frequently by licking their fur and their skin.  When doing this, however, they can ingest the toxins from cigarette smoke. Gross! As such, a high number of cats are developing squamous cell carcinoma, also known as oral cancer.

Dogs are also at risk to secondhand smoke, especially long-snouted dogs that can develop sinus and nose cancer simply because they have a much bigger surface area of exposure to the toxins from cigarette smoke. Dogs with medium snouts are at an increased risk for lung cancer because their sinus passages cannot effectively cleanse the smoke from all of the nasty carcinogens before they reach the lungs.

My advice? Quit smoking if you own a pet that you adore. They will love you for it, and they will be around a lot longer to do just that – LOVE YOU!

Thanks to smokingkills.com for this helpful information.  Some days, I just have to speak my mind, you know?