NON smokers know that you don’t have to be a smoker for cigarettes to affect you — indeed, second-hand smoke can cause lung cancer, chest infections and heart disease in non smoking humans in the same way that regular smoking does.

And while the smoker may be banished to another room or to the verandah to smoke, what we don’t think about often when we light up is our other family members, the pets that researchers say are just as affected by second-hand smoke as humans.

It’s information that should make every pet owner sit up and take note, and attempt to put systems in place to prevent their pets from getting ill because of the owner’s habits. And if you’re truly a pet lover, it’s reason enough to quit the habit!

Here is some information contained in studies done over the years.

*A study conducted by doctors at Tufts University in Massachusetts, USA between 1993 and 2000 with 180 cats found that people who smoke at home could be putting their pets at risk of cancer. The study linked passive smoking to cancer in cats. The researchers found that cats exposed to second-hand smoke were twice as likely to develop the disease feline lymphoma, which kills the cat within a year of diagnosis. The doctors believed that cats were at risk because they can accumulate the smoke in their fur.

*A study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology linked nasal cancer in dogs to smoking owners. The study was conducted to test the hypothesis that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke increases risk. Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke was evaluated by determining the number of smokers in the household, the packs of cigarettes smoked per day at home by each smoker, the number of years that each person smoked during the dog’s lifetime, and the proportion of time spent indoors by the dog. Data gathered supported an association between environmental tobacco smoke and canine nasal cancer.

*A study at the Colorado State University led by Dr John S Reif, a professor of environmental health, showed that 24 of the 51 owners whose dogs had lung cancer had smoked around the animals.

*Note that the smell of smoke can affect your pet too. It can irritate them, causing them to cough, and it may burn their eyes.

*For pets like cats that groom themselves, they may get ash on their fur, which can also cause problems when they lick it.