We all know that smoking is harmful, but it’s less widely known that secondhand smoke can cause the same devastating effects to the people around smokers. As it turns out, pets aren’t any different. Pets who live with smokers can experience shorter lives and serious health complications as a direct result of their owner’s secondhand and thirdhand smoke. Whether you’re taking care of dogs, cats, birds, reptiles, fish, or any other living thing, smoke particles are a serious threat to their well-being (and yours). That’s why, in this article, we’re going to explore why smoking harms pets and how looking out for their health can help you look out for your own!
Why is Smoking So Bad?
As the FDA writes on its website, the residue of smoke that sits on walls, clothes, and skin, which is referred to as thirdhand smoke, also attaches to pet fur. Since there’s no risk-free level of smoke exposure, smoking around family and pets could also subject them to illnesses and diseases. In people, this can include lung cancer, heart disease, hardened arteries, asthma, ear infections, and sudden infant death syndrome. Let’s take a closer look at how this happens.
As people smoke, the nearly 600 ingredients in unlit cigarettes react with one another and, once burned, release over 7,000 chemicals. Over time, these chemicals layer onto the body, surfaces, and pets. Some of the cancer-causing compounds settle on the floor in a layer of house dust. Others settle on walls in as an oily substance that’s hard to remove. Since children and dogs spend so much time on the floor, they will collect those compounds on their bodies and make contact with their mouths, eyes, and ears. Even if someone goes outside to smoke, they will still bring thirdhand smoke back inside with them, which will settle into seats, floors, and walls. As their pets lick or rub up against them, those compounds will still be transferred to their coats and bodies.
What Does Smoking Do to Pets?
For dogs, the FDA states that smoking affects their airways and lungs similarly to humans. Their thick coats, time spent on the floor, and tendency to groom themselves increases their exposure to harmful smoke compounds. For instance, for dog breeds with longer noses, smoke particles spend more time in their sinuses and accumulate. As a result, long-nosed dog breeds, such as Greyhounds or Borzios, are at double the risk of nose cancer if they’re exposed to tobacco smoke. In breeds with short or medium noses, fewer smoke particles are stopped within the sinuses, and more make their way down into the lungs. As a result, short-nosed dog breeds, like Bulldogs and Beagles, more commonly get lung cancer.
Cats are also affected by secondhand and thirdhand smoke. The FDA points to research that found cats in smoking households were two to four times more likely to suffer from a mouth cancer known as oral squamous cell carcinoma. This cancer is often developed when thirdhand smoke particles collect under the tongue. Because cats are such dedicated groomers, it’s little wonder how those particles get into their mouths.
Of course, the harmful effects of tobacco smoke and smoke particles aren't limited to pets. The people who are smoking the cigarettes that let out these compounds are getting direct and massive doses of these harmful chemicals. And other pets, like fish, birds, and reptiles, can also experience life-threatening effects as a result.
Help Your Pets, Help Yourself
Pets are remarkable at keeping us healthy — they get us off the couch to go on regular walks, give us plenty of love when we need it most, and might even encourage us to watch how we eat as we manage their diet to keep them healthy and think about our own. Let your pets' health motivate you to stop smoking too! As a certified Tobacco Treatment Specialist, I’d be happy to help you and your pet make tomorrow just a bit better than today. Contact me now with any questions you have. I can’t wait to help you along your journey.