CIGARETTE SMOKING AND YOUR PETS

     Has your veterinarian told you that secondhand smoke is dangerous to your pet?  For many pet owners becoming a nonsmoker will be better not only for their own health but that of their pets as well.  If you need another reason to stop smoking, wanting your pet to have the best chance at a long, healthy life may be it.

     The toxins in secondhand smoke can cause malignant lymphoma in cats and cause lung cancer in dogs.  If your pet already has some pre-existing problem, the dangers are even greater.

     A Web-based survey done in 2009 of 3,293 adult pet owners found that 48% were either smokers or living with smokers.  Love of their animals would encourage 37% to quit or ask the people they live with to quit if there was clear evidence that smoking is harmful to their pets.  That evidence would encourage 14% of the responders to only smoke outside, away from their animals.

     Check sites like the ASPCA and the ASPCA's Animal Poison Control Center and the American Legacy Foudnation to learn more about the dangers of secondhand smoking to your animals.  If you are considering stopping smoking, protecting your pets is another reason to make that choice.