Passive Smoking and Your Dog: Do You Know The Dangers?

Those of us who have been exposed to the recent ‘quit smoking’ campaign showing small children inhaling and exhaling smoke will know that the plight of the passive smoker is now a key factor in encouraging smokers to think twice about the habit. It may be common knowledge that smoking is bad for both the smoker and anyone else who happens to be in lung-shot of the cigarette but how many people have considered the effects of passive smoke inhalation on the dogs we share our airspace with?

Tobacco is unique. It’s one of the world’s few legally available products that will actually kill its customers if used correctly. Over 120,000 smoking related deaths per year in the UK alone pay testament to this gruesome statistic.

As a nation of dog lovers we spend time and money keeping our pets fit and healthy. We pay attention to the food they consume and the amount and style of exercise they require. We spend billions of pounds a year on veterinary care, scientifically developed diets, insurance and products to make their lives pleasurable.

So who would have thought, with all this effort to enhance their lifestyle and wellbeing going on, that millions of us could actually be killing our dogs by lighting up in their presence?

[private_Premier]It seems the typically British thing to do nowadays is to import Americana. Where they have Jerry Springer we have Trisha, where they decide to get stuck into a good old fashioned bombing campaign, we follow and so surely will adopt some parts of America’s extreme anti-public smoking legislation. Yes, no doubt we like to follow in the footsteps of our North American allies but unlike the increase in gun crime and identikit coffee houses, this latest American import is likely to be welcomed by millions here in Britain.

That smoking harms you and others around you is well documented and the point need not to be stressed further than to look at the figures for the volume of deaths of both smokers and non-smokers through a variety of smoking related illnesses each year around the world. What’s never really been given much consideration is the damage going on to the critters who live around our feet in our homes.

When a smoker takes a drag on a cigarette they inhale around 15% of the fumes, the rest they pump straight back into the atmosphere. Smoke, being heavier than air, sinks. Slowly. You can probably see where this is leading but consider the bare facts. 85% of the dangerous chemicals available to the smoker is passed on to the surrounding area’s airspace. If you stand anywhere above 3”4 the chances are you’re going to have a small time slot where the 85% is floating around your breathing space. If you’re above 5”5 then you’ve much less exposure to the descending smoke, if, however you stand little more than a couple of feet off the ground then you’re in for the maximum exposure time available, especially if you spend a good proportion of your day taking big whiffs through the highly sensitive smelling tool that’s stuck on the end of your muzzle. It’s stating the obvious to point out that dogs live on the ground below us and tend to use the nasal abilities that God gave them to put most of their time into sniffing some place or another.

We’re looking at facts here. If you smoke in the same place as a dog, there’s every likely hood that he or she could be inhaling more smoke than the person dragging on the cigarette. Quite frightening when you think about it isn’t it? After all, you’d probably kick up a stink (excuse the pun) if a fumigation company came to your house and suggested spraying toxic fumes around the place while Fido was playing in the living room. You’d want him out of the way and he’d be grateful to escape.

In the news, recently, was the story of the woman who had smoked over forty cigarettes a day until she developed Bronchial Carcinoma. It was revealed that two of her pet dogs had died of lung cancer and her cat had suffered from chronic wheezing that resolved when the patient discontinued smoking. Isolated incident, or is this one of the first signs that our pets are dying of cancer more and more through our bad habits?

The problem here is not that insensitive dog owners deliberately inflict disease onto their pets, far from it. Much the same as social smokers cannot be accused of wishing the Roy Castle’s of this world to die slowly of cancer whilst they carry on puffing away regardless. No, the problem here is that health warnings and televised adverts are redundant in their function to inform and nowadays even to shock. We all know what smoking to does to our bodies, and yes, we do care.

Like speeding, taking hard drugs and drink driving, smoking is considered by many to be a calculated risk taken by the participant and rarely is a risk assessment of the countless secondary victims put into question.

Ask any smoker if the idea of going to the nearest dog shelter to poison some of the four-legged residents sounds appealing and they’d probably categorise you as a psychotic. The truth though, is that smoking in an area where other breathing mammals are living is tantamount to poisoning them.

At the University of Queensland, Australia, research found passive smoking was linked to lung cancer in dogs. The Pet Oncology expert with the Animal Cancer Care unit at the University stated that cancer is the most common killer of pets in Australia. Dogs suffering from sinus and nasal cancer or asthma may wish to thank there smoking owners too.

It is hoped this new research linking second hand smoke exposure to cancer in dogs, will empower those who choose, and have the right to smoke, with more information about the effects of smoking on animals. Dr. Moore thinks that there are a lot of dog owners who might not quit smoking for themselves or for their family, but they might for their dogs.

The smoke emitted from the end of a burning cigarette actually has double the concentration of nicotine and tar when compared to the smoke that is inhaled by the smoker through a filter. It also contains three times the amount of Benzopyrene, a known cause of testicle damage and infertility in animals, five times the amount of Carbon Monoxide and as much as fifty times the amount of ammonia, which is found in most household cleaners.

Cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, many of which are known to be highly poisonous and very harmful. Some of these are CARBON MONOXIDE, the poisonous gas in car exhausts, TAR, NICOTINE used in pesticides and also ACETONE, AMMONIA, ARSENIC, BENZENE, BUTANE, FORMALDEHYDE, HYDROGEN CYANIDE, METHANOL, DDT and RADON to name but a few.

Because cigarette smoke is highly concentrated at low levels, dogs, cats and small children are further disadvantaged.

There have been cases of Tracheobronchitis (kennel cough), which is an inflammation of the trachea and bronchial airways, documented as being caused by smoke inhalation. Certain breeds could be more likely to develop problems such as bracheocephalic breeds (dogs with short muzzles) like Boxers, Bulldogs and Yorkshire Terriers.

We’ve become a shock-proof society. Even 1970’s ‘king of shock’ Alice Cooper said recently that he doesn’t even bother trying to shock an audience of rock fans anymore when considering the fact that they will return home from his show to the TV images of war, famine, death and destruction happening around the world.

Just because we’ve developed a numbness to death and disease we need to be educated. The image of a lifeless canine carcass being hauled from a river when its owner decided to drown it shocked millions when it appeared in the national press. The disregard for the dog’s life was obvious. How could anyone do that to innocent dog? How indeed.

If imagery of animal death is the powerful weapon with which to convince people that passive smoking can kill pets too then so be it. Think on and picture your dog’s life being cut short through a habit that someone else hasn’t been able to tame. Stand up for your dog’s rights. They need you to. Most of us are so polite we won’t object when someone confronts us with the famous ‘do you mind if I smoke?’ plea. Next time you hear it or you consider lighting up, re-arrange the words to ‘do you mind if I poison your dog?’ You might have a different reaction.

For more information on quitting smoking pay a visit www.quitsmokinguk.com or www.quit.org.uk, a national charity that helps people to give up smoking, they can also be contacted on 0800 00 22 00. All addicts need an incentive to kick the habit. Could the plight of our pets dying from second hand smoke be the most powerful incentive of all?[/private_Premier]