Do pets ever get lung cancer when their owner is smoking beside them?

Question

I have a pet cat and a dog beside me when I often smoke.

I may categorize my pets to being a passive smoker, and pasive smokers are the ones at risk for their health.

Answer 1

Cats and dogs can develop asthma from having an owner that smokes, especially if you do it indoors and they are always around it.
I'm sure they could develop lung cancer, but I have never encountered a pet that has passed from lung cancer, and I have been in the veterinary field for a number of years(about 8).
I would recommend that you start smoking outside, and/or quit, for your health and theirs.

Answer 2

When I got my 2 cats, they were both perfectly healthy kittens and purred all the time. My male cat is especially fond of me and use to stay really close to me even when I smoked. A few months after I had him he started "wheezing" whenever he purred, and could not purr very loud at all. Fortunately, he doesn't seem as bothered as I am about this.

6 years later and no longer smoking, and he still does this. His purr is barely audible, as it's mostly just wheezing. I've never had him checked out for it and I have never stopped feeling responsible for thinking I gave him asthma, or some other breathing problem that has affected his ability to purr.

Probably not helpful in answering your question, but a true smokers' story none the less. Good luck!

Answer 3

I think anything with lungs could possibly get cancer.

Once when I was a kid, I had a Parakeet, and this lady came to visit us for a week. The whole week she was there, she would sit near the birds cage and smoke. A day after she left the bird died. I think that it was her smoke that did him in. Before that he was very healthy.

Answer 4

I was just at some seminars recently (one on cancer and one on dentistry) and at one of them we learned that cats who live with smokers can get oral cancer from licking their smoke-covered fur. I presume animals can get lung cancer from secondhand smoke as well.

Answer 5

yes pets get lung cancer - in fact, next to accidents CANCER is the leading cause of death in pets.. not just from smokers but also from ingredients in lower quality pet foods (BHA, BHT, and the chemical pesticided used to preserve by-products) and from the sprays used in the carpets etc... cancer from flea collars, and other forms of cancers

Answer 6

Animals just like humans can get lung cancer.

Answer 7

It's possible, because they can inhale the smoke in, and it's like second-hand smoking, and it's like they're smoking. So you should always be careful if you don't want your dog to die.

Answer 8

dogs are not prone to lung cancer....they prob don't live long enough to get it....but the smoke may cause other health problems for them......and you may die before they do...where will they go then???

Answer 9

it is possible. try to quit smoking. not only it can affect you, it can affect the people and animals around you