Does Passive Smoking Harm My Pet?

Passive smoking means that we breathe in the air which contains the chemical components from burning cigarettes, cigars, or pipes. It is no denying that second-hand smoke is relatively harmful to people’s health, and can cause the same bad effects as the smoker themselves. Therefore, a series of laws are made to ban people from smoking in many places like planes, public places, and cars with under 18s.

However, can second-hand smoke affect your pets? Do they hate smoking? According to studies, pets that live in a smoking home might be exposed to high levels of smoke. It poses a continued cell-damage risk, accelerates weight gain following castration, and has been proven in the past to raise the risk of certain cancers. We assume that you won’t let your pets suffer such a risk. Like cats and dogs, they are likely to carry toxic smoke particles on their clothes and furs, which can be called third-hand smoking.

We sincerely want to keep our loved pets safe. So we’d better take some knowledge of passive smoking and its effects on pets, then we can accordingly as possible to prevent pets from damaging things. And if you’re a switcher from smoking, learning how to safely vape around pets is of great importance. Please read on to get more detailed information.

Why does second-hand smoke affect pets?

The effects of passive smoking on pets

Nicotine poisoning in pets

Will vaping harm my pet?

Tips on vaping around Pets

Pets live with pet owners and they are animals who need to have breath, so it is of big possibility for them to inhale second-hand smoke. Although you try to open your windows and doors to spread the smoke, almost 80% of tobacco smoke is hard to see. It is reported that there are more than 5000 different chemicals many of which are toxic to humans and pets, even they can settle on carpets, furs, and pet clothes. Compare to other peer pets, cats could suffer more damage for the reason that sometimes they prefer to swallow the smoke particles when grooming themselves. In addition, the smoke can be dissolved in water, and pets like fish may get into the trap.

Different pets get second-hand smoke in different ways. Many scientists and research organizations have investigated the effects of smoke on our pets. After a large amount of collecting work, here is a list for your reference.

There is a higher chance of respiratory ailments, allergies, and eye issues while smoking near dogs. Dogs with larger or longer noses are more prone to nasal illnesses, while those with shorter noses are more likely to develop lung cancer. So, the size of a dog's nose can be the greater part of the factor in bad exposure to smoke.

As we know, cats are groomers. They are likely to mistakenly have toxic smoke components. According to studies, cats have a two- to four times higher chance of developing oral squamous cell carcinoma, an aggressive form of mouth cancer. Besides, cats with pets owner who are heavier smokers have three times the risk of developing lymphoma, a cancer of the body’s immune system similar to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in people. What’s more, they are more inclined to get respiratory illnesses including bronchitis and asthma.

Due to birds performing so outstanding to air pollution and loving grooming themselves like cats, they can get more diseases than other pets. Here is a list of them:

Birds that live with smokers can develop:

• Irritated sinuses
• Pneumonia
• Allergies
• Lung cancer
• Feather plucking
• Eye diseases
• Skin abnormalities
• Heart illnesses
• Fertility problems

Among these, pneumonia, lung cancer, and heart illnesses can lead to death. Other conditions, if not live-away smoke, like allergies and feather plucking, can be difficult to heal.

Perhaps it is hard to believe that smoking can do harm to pet fish that lives in the water. But to tell you the truth, it will. There is a simple experiment. Scientists dropped one smoked cigarette butt into a tank of 2-week-old fathead minnows, and within 96 hours, half of the fish died. Smoke poisons easily dissolve in water and the fish inside the tank could be poisoned. They are prone to get muscle spasms, rigid fins, and loss of color, and even die in the end.

Small Rodents like mice, hamsters, and guinea pigs, cannot escape from exposure to tobacco smoke. Take guinea pigs for an example, one study showed that their lungs got microscopic changes like their owners' lungs when their owner smoked for more than 6 months. They are also founded other problems, such as emphysema and vascular disease. In another study, the researchers noted that starting five weeks after being exposed to tobacco smoke, the guinea pigs stopped gaining weight due to harmful effects on their metabolism.

Nicotine is the main component of tobacco products. Many things can be its warm homes like walls, furniture, fabric, carpet, and clothing. Interacting with different chemicals in the air like nitrous acid can create cancer-causing compounds. These compounds also like to stick to surfaces and household dust or go back to the air as gases. Your pets almost spend all day with those daily items, you need to raise an urgent and serious concern over nicotine poisoning.

Pets usually ingest nicotine by eating cigarette or cigar butts, drinking nicotine liquid, or chewing devices that contain nicotine. It is reported that ingesting from 20mg to 100mg of nicotine can lead to the death of dogs and cats. Even at a small dose can your pet be poisoned. Generally speaking, One regular cigarette can carry 9 to 30 mg of nicotine, while one cigar can contain 15 to 40 mg. A dog or a cat can easily get sick by eating several tobacco products.

Symptoms of nicotine poisoning in pets are usually shown below:

• Vomiting
• Unsteadiness
• Drooling
• Tiredness
• Fast heart rate
• Shaking
• Weakness
• Seizures

Bear in mind that, it’s an emergency when you find your pet eats a cigarette, more than one cigarette butt, a cigar, chewing tobacco, a capsule of nicotine, or a liquid refilling solution. You should bring him or her to see a vet as quickly as possible. There is no exact antidote for nicotine poisoning. Your vet may offer supportive care like intravenous fluids and anti-seizure medications that may save your pet’s life until putting the nicotine away from his or her system.

As smoking does harm to people's health, and there is a study that reported that e-cigarettes are 95% less harmful than cigarettes, the government advocated that making a switch from smoking to vaping is a good option. In terms of vaping around pets, does vape harmful to pets? According to Dr. Michael Siegel, who monitored the air quality of a particularly vapour-heavy environment at the California Department of Public Health, the air quality of a small, non-ventilated vape shop with many employees and customers vaping and clouds of vapor visible, is similar to a standard environment, not containing any dangerous levels of exposure to any hazardous chemical. In a house, vapor diminishes quickly after exhaling. The air is less harmful to people and pets.

However, to start to switch from smoking, people would choose vape juice containing nicotine even though there is 0mg nicotine e-liquid available in the market. The nicotine still will stick to the surfaces and risks also exist for your pets.

Pets love eating and playing with things. Store your vape device, e-liquid, and refill pod/tank in a place where your pet is no chance of catching it. And you'd better store your vape secretly to prevent it from trying to find it. It is all for your pet's health.

Regardless of the air pollution is smaller than smoking, the toxic nicotine still likes to settle on the things like walls, furniture, fabric, carpet, and clothes. It is suggested that vaping away from the living area of your pet can be a good way to protect your pet.

If vaping with zero nicotine, it is also vital to shedding light on your pet's reaction. Vaping with certain flavours, your pet may act strange and make them unhappy. You could change another blend when you find that phenomenon. We recommend you use simple tastes like fruit or menthol, which is not likely hated by your pet.

To sum up, smoke and passive smoking are both harmful to people and pets and easily cause serious diseases and even death. To quitting smoking, switching to vaping is a good choice for you and your pet.

At New Vaping, we are always devoted to helping you make the switch, if needy, here are a wide range of vape kit suitable for you to choose from, and feel free to contact us regarding any vaping problems.