Smoking may be hazardous to your pet's health.

There is a lot of talk about how dangerous smoking is for an individual doing the smoking as well as how dangerous it is for the people around the smoker, but not much has been said about our pets.  There aren't that many studies in today's journals about how breathing in second-hand smoke affects our pets, but the few that are suggest it is just as dangerous to them as it is to any person.  I am going to present some of the studies below for your information.  If you smoke in the house with your pets or know someone that does you may want to reconsider your habits, not only for your sake, but for the sake of your pets.

1. A study done in 1998 looking back at cases of nasal cancer seen at the University of Colorado concluded that long nosed dogs had a higher chance of nasal cancer and short nosed dogs had a higher rate of lung cancer if they lived in the house of a smoker.  Apparently the long muzzle and nasal passages act as a better filter preventing the second-hand smoke from reaching the lungs.  This may be the reason dogs with long noses get nasal cancer more frequently and brachycephalic (short nosed dogs) are more prone to the lung cancer. 
John S. Reif, Christa Bruns, and Kimberty S. Lower. “Cancer of the Nasal Cavity and Paranasal Sinuses and Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke in Pet Dogs.” American Journal of Epidemiology.  1998 Mar 1;147(5):488-92.  

2. In another study done at Colorado State University they found that there is a linear trend in the association between exposure to second-hand smoke and risk of developing lymphoma.  This means that the longer the cat is exposed to second hand smoke the more likely they are to develop cancer (specifically lymphoma).

Elizabeth R. Bertone, Laura A. Snyder, and Antony S. Moore. “Environmental Tobacco Smoke and Risk of Malignant Lymphoma in Pet Cats” American Journal of Epidemiology.  2002 Apr;156(5)

 

3. A study done on Yorkshire Terriers showed that dogs that lived in homes with smokers showed changes in their airway due to the exposure to second-hand smoke.  None of the dogs that lived in homes where no one smoked showed these airway changes.  The importance of this study is to show that breathing in second-hand smoke does have a physiological affect on the dogs breathing it.  This is a first step in determining what the exact effects are.

Marcello Rodrigues Roza; Carlos Alberto Assis Viegas. “The dog as a passive smoker: effects of exposure to environmental cigarette smoke on domestic dogs.”  Nicotine Tob Res. 2007 Nov;9(11):1171-6.

 

4. Chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer may be linked to second-hand smoke.  A preliminary study done in Germany showed that within 12 weeks of exposure to second-hand smoke rats showed morphologic pancreatic damage and inflammation.

Uwe A Wittel¹; Ulrich T Hopt; Surinder K Batra . "Cigarette smoke-induced pancreatic damage: experimental data." Langenbecks Arch Surg. July 2008;393(4):581-8. 62 Refs 

While there is no conclusive evidence as of yet that second-hand smoke is dangerous for your pets, there is evidence that it may be.  It is kind of like knowing that playing in the road could result in getting hit by a car.  If you don't play in the road then there is almost no chance of getting hit.  If you do play in the road then your risk increases.  You may or may not get hit and unlike smoking where the dangers are invisible, you can at least see the car coming most of the time.  Just some food for thought :)