Quit Smoking For The Love Of Your Dog
We know about the health risk of cigarette smoking. We also know that secondhand smoke can be just as harmful to all non-smokers—our family members, friends, and colleagues who are consistently expose to those who do.
But do you know that our dogs aren’t spared from this health risk of exposing to environmental tobacco smoke?
Cigarettes and Dogs Don’t Mix
Let me give you three hard facts why secondhand smoke and dogs don’t mix.
- Nose Cancer: According to a study at Colorado State University, it showed that there is a correlation between secondhand smoke and cancer in dog. Dogs who live with smokers has a higher chance of developing nasal-cavity tumors especially those long-nosed dog breeds such as Poodles, Fox Terriers, and Schnauzers.
- Lung Cancer: And if you were thinking your Shih Tzu or Pug or even Papillon is spared of this deadly nose cancer disease, I’m sorry to disappoint you. Unlike long-nosed dogs, these short to medium-length noses breed dogs are more at risk of lung cancer. One possible explanation is that these short-nosed breed dogs have shorter nasal passages in turn are unable to filtering out most of the carcinogens before they reach their lungs.
- Oral Cancer: Dogs, in general, don’t usually groom profusely as cats do. But if they do, they too are in danger of contacting cancer—specifically oral cancer. This is due to the fact that they are licking up carcinogens on their coats.
Symptoms of Dogs Exposing to Secondhand Smoke
Long-nosed dog breeds are prone to:
- Swelling of nose
- Excessive sneezing
- Bloody nasal discharge
Short to medium-length noses breed dogs are prone to:
- Respiratory difficulty
- Chronic coughing
- Weigh loss
- Abnormal fatigue
Why wait for these symptoms to show up then to decide to quit smoking? By then it may be too late for your dog. One, cancer treatments are costly. Two, the progression of cancer is much faster as compare to humans. Even with advance medical technology and medicine, the surviving rate is low, at the very best a year.
So, here is one more good reason to give up cigarettes. Smoking kills, not just you but also your furry companion.
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