There is no question that tobacco smoke is harmful to human health. We have looked at what risks and dangers exist when dogs smoke passively.There are many good reasons to stop smoking. In the first place, of course, is your own health. However, motivation is often also the intention to create an environment for one's children that is as free of pollutants as possible. Which problems does it bring however with itself, if dogs smoke passively?
Passive smoke as a risk factor for pets
By current scientific realizations most humans know already that health-polluting materials, which develop with smoking, do not only arrive when inhaling, but also over the skin into the organism and damage these. When tobacco is burned, substances are released that are otherwise only used in batteries, rat poison or cleaning agents. What many smokers are not aware of, however, is that passive smoke not only harms fellow smokers, but also their beloved four-legged friends.
But it is not only Bello who is troubled by the blue haze. Cats and birds, which rarely or never leave their homes, are particularly at risk. Because with them the poisonous vapors in fur or. If the animals drop their feathers, the chemicals contained in them are absorbed through the mucous membranes in their mouths during grooming.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 600 people worldwide die of cancer every year.000 deaths can be attributed to the effects of passive smoking. In this country, about two to three people are exposed to it every day (. ), while the Austrian Society for the Protection of Animals estimates that thousands of cats, dogs and birds are killed by their owners' cigarette smoke every year.
Also the risk evaluation of experts regarding heavy diseases let with animal friends the alarm bells ring: Thus dogs in households, in which smoking is, are exposed to a cancer risk increased around approximately 60 per cent than quadrupeds in smoke-free environment.
Toxic cocktail weakens immune system
Although dogs generally spend more time in the fresh air than, for example, canaries or hamsters, passive smoking often comes at a high price for them too: problems with the eyes, heart and skin are not uncommon. In addition, the cocktail of toxins can lead to fertility problems in both female and male dogs in the long term. The most common causes of death attributed to tobacco smoke in dogs are pneumonia and lung cancer. However, the chemicals contained in smoke do not generally have a favorable effect on the body's defenses.
In 2017, the Messerli Institute at the Vetmed University in Vienna found that the acrolein contained in smoke suppresses the immune system in humans and animals in such a way that malignant tumors grow more quickly. The substance damages the genetic material not only when inhaled, but also when it comes into contact with the skin. This means that living creatures can be harmed by residues not only during the actual smoking of it.
In another study, it was found that dogs that are regularly exposed to tobacco smoke have a significantly lower regenerative capacity than their non-exposed peers. For example, healing processes for injuries to ligaments or bones take significantly longer in affected animals due to the severely impaired immune system.
Higher cancer rate when dogs smoke passively
But are our pets really as susceptible to damage from cigarette smoke as we humans are?? According to the Austrian Animal Welfare Association, the risk of lung cancer for dogs and cats is even higher than for the smokers themselves, which is one of the reasons why they advocate always going outdoors to smoke.
In addition, to protect pets from additional negative effects, hands should always be washed after smoking. This is to prevent toxic nicotine and acrolein residues from entering the organism of the animals through petting or licking off.
Despite all the precautions: The best and most lasting health measure for mistresses, masters and fur noses remains, nevertheless, simply to stop smoking. Not only does it eliminate the regular dose of 4800 chemicals, 250 of which are toxic and at least 90 of which are carcinogenic, but it also gives you and your pets more time together in life.