How Tobacco Smoking Around Your Pet Can Affect Them Too

Everyone knows that smoking tobacco around children or even other adults can have bad health consequences for them eventually if they are exposed to it long enough. They do not have to smoke the tobacco themselves in order to have illnesses or diseases develop that are directly related to being exposed to secondhand smoke. While people that smoke have for the most part become very conscientious of others when they smoke, that does not necessarily hold true for their pets.

It is easier to forget that the health consequences of smoking around your pets can be just as devastating to them as to humans. Whether you have a cat, dog, bird, gerbil, hamster or whatever, if it lives and breathes oxygen, it can be affected by secondhand smoke. Just because they are not able to tell you that you are choking them to death with your secondhand smoke does not mean that it is not happening.

It is perhaps easier to recognize the affects of secondhand smoke in some small dogs. Many small breeds of dogs are already highly sensitive to some things. They can have allergies to many things. If you smoke tobacco and have a small dog, or even a large one and notice that they wheeze, cough, or have trouble breathing in any way, it could very well be attributed to your secondhand smoke.

If you have a dog that loves to go on car rides when you go out, always make sure to leave the window down enough if you must smoke while you drive. A pet enclosed in a vehicle with a smoker gets far more smoke exposure in that small, enclosed space than they normally would. If you dog gets car sick, it might be your cigarette making him sick instead of the ride!

You should be as kind to any pet you might have in your home as you would be to another human being. Most people really love their pets or they would not have them. It is senseless to endanger their health just because you might not value yours. Be courteous to your pets when you smoke and make sure the room is well ventilated or better yet, only smoke outside where no smoke at all can reach them. Your pet will be healthier and happier and you will likely save money on veterinarian bills and get to have your pet around a lot longer.