She sits by the window of her third story apartment hovered
in a small corner of the room smoking a cigarette and
thinking about Jack Daniels.
No, Sarah Billings is not a closet smoker or alcoholic but a
pet owner who cares deeply for Jack, her 5-year-old
hound-dog mix. She has known Jack for his whole life and is
concerned about how her secondhand smoke may affect him.
"Dogs age almost seven times faster than us," Billings said,
a junior majoring in psychology. "Secondhand smoke can cause
problems fast. I take Jack (to the vet) frequently and he
appears to be fine," Billings said. "But they don't do any
specific tests to see early signs (of secondhand smoke)."
Billings said she has smoked cigarettes around Jack for half
of a year and worries about his sporadic wheezing, coughing
and hyperventilating around cigarette smoke.
"I am close with my dog," Billings said. "I would never
forgive myself if I caused his early demise."
Billings, along with other pet owners, is slowly becoming
aware of the effects of secondhand smoke on pets. Two
studies were done at CSU's Veterinary Teaching Hospital
headed by John Reif, professor of epidemiology, and the
department chairman for environmental and radiological
health sciences, and associates that helped to bring
awareness of secondhand smoke to the public.
In 1992, Reif conducted a study entitled, "Passive Smoking
and Canine Lung Cancer Risk." Reif also headed the second
study of similar interests, in 1998, titled "Cancer of the
Nasal Cavity and Paranasal Sinuses and Exposure to
Environmental Tobacco Smoke in Pet Dogs."
"These studies are really the first to make us aware of
secondhand smoke on animals," Reif said. "They are the first
of their kind."
There were several factors taken into consideration during
the studies, such as number of smokers in the home, number
of packs of cigarettes smoked in the home per day by the
heaviest smoker, the time the dog spent inside the home, and
the age, sex, body size and skull shape of the dog.
"All these factors involved are important," Reif said. "All
exposures are contributing factors."
According to the study, a dog that has exposure to a smoker
in the home is 1.6 times more likely to develop lung cancer
than a dog that is not exposed to a smoker.
The study found that skull shape had an effect on the
estimated risk of lung cancer in dogs. Dogs with long noses
(like German shepherds) have a higher risk for nasal cancer
and dogs with short noses (like pugs) have a higher risk for
lung cancer, Reif said. This is because, in theory, a dog
with a long nose has an extra filtering system in its nose,
so it is more likely to develop nasal cancers, Reif said.
"Both studies are important because they show exposure to
secondhand smoke has an increased risk for cancer of
respiratory system in dogs," Reif said.
He said some of the warning signs of lung cancer in dogs
include chronic coughing, weight loss and abnormal fatigue.
Warning signs of nasal cancer include swelling over the nose
or sinus area, sneezing and bloody nasal discharge, Reif
said.
The only real prevention for these cancers is to not smoke
around your pets, Reif said.
"Obviously people are encouraged not to smoke," he said.
"People who choose to smoke should do so away from pets,
outdoors."
Although the public is slowly becoming aware of the effects
of secondhand smoke through studies like these, the concept
is still unknown to many. Out of 20 random practicing
veterinarians called in the Fort Collins and Loveland yellow
pages, not one of them knew a lot about any studies done
about the effects of secondhand smoke and pets. Also, none
of these veterinarians are currently talking to their
clients about secondhand smoke's potential negative effects.
This lack of awareness may not be so prevalent at the CSU
campus this coming spring, however. The new approach to the
subject of secondhand smoke affecting pets was an
inspiration for a new campaign in the tobacco cessation
program headed by Jerusha Hall with the assistance of Andrea
Boone at the CSU Hartshorn Health Center.
"The whole campaign started because as a smoker I was
looking for a different approach to tobacco education," Hall
said, a senior animal science major.
She said the approach to tobacco cessation has been seen in
the same light for too long and finding a new twist might
help to reach more people. Hall said she takes better care
of her dogs then she does herself in some ways and knows she
is not alone in this behavior.
"To me it was an approach that I hadn't seen before and
maybe it is something that would connect for some other
smokers," Hall said. " The process of cessation is so
difficult and maybe just looking at things differently may
help."
The major goal of the pets and health campaign, which starts
later this spring, is for people on campus to gain some
awareness on the tobacco issue, Hall said.
This project will include a poster campaign with resource
numbers, Web sites and a tentatively scheduled dog day on
campus which will include health checks for dogs, Frisbee
and bandana giveaways, getting your dog's photo taken with
Mr. Butts (a speaker on secondhand smoke and your pet) and a
raffle for t-shirts.
This event is tentatively planned for April 23, with the
posters coming out a week or two before the event.
