Don't Smoke, It's Bad for Your Pet's Health

An anti-smoking campaign urging people to quit by stressing the health risk of second-hand smoke to their pets is being trialled in America. The campaign was launched to see whether pet-owning smokers were more likely to give up after being given information on the effect of passive smoking on cats, dogs and birds.

The trial follows a study in which people claimed they were more likely to stop smoking after being told the habit could shorten the lives of their pets.

Sharon Milberger at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit used an online survey to ask people about their motivations for giving up smoking, or for asking people not to smoke in their homes. Of more than 3,000 respondents a fifth were smokers and a quarter lived with at least one person who smoked. Nearly a third said that realizing second-hand smoke could harm their pet would spur them to give up.

The results of the study, published in the journal Tobacco Control, prompted Milberger to launch the trial.

Published research suggests second-hand tobacco smoke can be as dangerous for pets as it is for the non-smoking partners of smokers. Passive smoking has been associated with lymph gland, nasal, and lung cancers, allergies, eye and skin diseases, as well as respiratory problems in cats and dogs.