Our pets are there for us in good times and bad. They do not judge us, they rarely get angry with us, and they are always anxiously awaiting our return home. According to the American Pet Association, there are 62,965,745 pet dogs and 76,688,522 pet cats in America. And boy do we love our pets! At Christmas time 31,589,887 dogs get a visit from Santa, as well as 39,091,999 of our feline friends. On top of that, 13,455,002 cats get a birthday celebration! If we love our animals so much, why do we choose to force them to die a slow and painful death?
An article published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, August 2002, states that cats living in homes where people smoke cigarettes are more than twice as likely as other cats to acquire a deadly cancer, lymphoma. Dogs have a higher chance of developing certain types of cancers if their owners smoke as well.
“Smoke has devastating consequences for cats,” says Antony S. Moore D.V.M who was involved in the study and is also director of Tufts University’s Harrington Oncology Program. He continues saying, “The reason we looked at lymphoma was that it is so common and our ability to treat it is just not very good. Twenty-five percent of cats [that have it] live no more than a year with chemotherapy.”
For the study, researchers tried to cover as many variables as possible. They tested many things that could potentially alter the cats’ likelihood of contracting cancer including age, sex, grooming, breed, diet, spay or neuter status, the use of flea control products, shampoos, even home characteristics but only one factor was repeatedly associated with cancer; smoking.
Pet owners, or pet guardians in San Francisco, are increasing their pets’ chances of forming cancer, even if they choose not to smoke in the vicinity of the animal. Environmental tobacco smoke more than doubles cats chances of lymphoma as compared to a feline not exposed. As duration and quantity of smoking rises in owners, so do cats’ chances of getting cancer. If exposed for 5 or more years the risk triples. When two or more smokers are present, the risk quadruples!
Smoking is not a healthy habit for anyone to start, but we need to make sure we keep our pets safe from harm. They do not know the risk they are taking when they decide to get cuddly while you have a cigarette in hand or even shortly after the cigarette is gone. We make sure they have the right toys, food, and anything else they need for their well-being, so let us not fall short when it comes to their health.
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