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PDSA warns smoking around your pet could harm them
PDSA is urging pet owners to quit lighting up around their pets – as it warns the toxic fumes could severely impact their health.
To coincide with World No Smoking Day – Sunday 31st of May – the veterinary charity is urging owners to quit for their pets’ sake.
The detrimental impact of smoking and second-hand smoke on humans is widely known, but the effect passive smoking can have on our pets is something that smokers often underestimate, or might not consider at all.
Research has shown that dogs can be exposed to significant amounts of smoke when living in a smoking household. Cats seem to be affected even more than their canine counterparts. This is because smoke particles settle on their fur and cats could then swallow these when they’re grooming themselves.
PDSA Vet Olivia Anderson-Nathan said: “If pet owners knew the impact that smoking can have on their pets, I’m sure they would want to put measures in place to protect them.
“Vets regularly see the shocking impact of passive smoking on pets, from worsening existing respiratory problems like asthma through to more serious conditions such as certain cancers like lymphoma, which is twice as likely in cats if they are exposed to cigarette smoke.”
Passive smoking in pooches is linked to breathing problems, difficult-to-treat nasal and sinus cancers in longer-nosed breeds and lung cancer in other breeds. In cats, their grooming habits mean that once smoke lands on their fur, they can swallow the harmful chemicals through licking. Cigarette smoke can also be harmful to pet birds and small pets, such as guinea pigs and rats, as they have small and sensitive respiratory systems.
Smoking outside or away from pets will help reduce the risk to pets, but best of all is stop all-together.
PDSA is the UK’s leading vet charity. We’re on a mission to improve pet wellbeing through prevention, education and treatment. Funding from players of People’s Postcode Lottery helps us reach even more pet owners with vital advice and information. www.pdsa.org.uk.
