Our grandpeep was a lifelong smoker. The last year of her life, while she was in treatment for smoking-related cancer, she and her two cats (including Cousin Earl) moved in with Aunt O. It was months of their living in a smoke-free home before anyone could snuggle one of those cats and not have them smell like an ashtray.
Cousin Earl smelled like cigarettes for months after arriving in a nonsmoking environment
That odor on a smoker’s cat’s fur is just like what you smell when a smoker shares an elevator ride with you on their way back from a smoke break. It’s something that American Journal of Pediatrics was the first to call third-hand smoke, residual tobacco smoke contamination that remains after the cigarette is extinguished. This residue can be on clothing, hair, furniture, carpeting, or even in your cat’s fur. A cat living with a smoker has 14-15 cigarette’s worth of toxins in his fur, and of course, the cat never smoked a cigarette himself. It’s all third hand smoke.
Have you ever gotten home from a party and smelled cigarette smoke on yourself? You probably tossed your clothing in the laundry and washed your hair. Cats don’t have the luxury of doing that. Their fur is their clothing, so they clean themselves the way they always do, grooming with their tongue. This exposes the delicate skin of their mouth and tongue to all of the toxins they are trying to clean off, and of course they ingest it, too. This on top of the secondhand smoke they breathed while the cigarette was burning.
A 2007 Tufts Veterinary School study showed linked oral cancer in cats to living with smokers. Cats living with more than one smoker and cats exposed to environmental tobacco smoke for longer than five years had even higher rates of this cancer. Second hand smoke was also linked to cancer in cats in a 2002 Tufts University study, with cats living with smokers twice as likely to develop malignant lymphoma as cats in nonsmoking households.
How can you Keep your Cat Safe from Toxins in Cigarette Smoke?
The most obvious way to prevent this health impact to your cat is to quit smoking. It’s healthier for you and your cat. If you don’t think you can quit without help, many employers now offer free smoking cessation programs because it’s better for their insurance bottom line, so take advantage of them if you need them.
Not everyone is ready to quit. If you can’t, the ASPCA recommends that you “take it outside” to smoke so that a large share of the smoke particles remain outside and don’t impact your indoor cat.
Wash your hands after you smoke and before you touch your cat. If you only smoke once or twice a day, consider changing your clothes to prevent transferring toxic residue from your clothing to your cat when you snuggle.
Be mindful that your choices don’t just impact your own health, but your cat’s health, too, and both of you can have longer, happier lives together!
Reference
Environmental Tobacco Smoke and Risk of Malignant Lymphoma in Pet Cats, American Journal of Epidemiology.
Expression and Environmental Tobacco Smoke Exposure in Feline Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Veterinary Pathology
Beliefs About the Health Effects of “Thirdhand” Smoke and Home Smoking Banks, Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics
Black Cat Cigarettes photo courtesy Antony Stanley on Flickr
Pawsum posty. Sowwy fuw yous loss.
Luv ya’
Dezi
My human used to smoke when she had the cat before me – and the cat before me HATED it! She would wrinkle up her nose and scowl at my human every time she lit a cigarette. Eventually she quit, and I have never seen my human with a cigarette.
BC (Before Cats), Mommy did smoke, but very very rarely and always outside the house. Whisky was the only one who witnessed Mommy at her smelliest. The funny thing was, Whisky would avoid Mommy after she had a smoke and would only approach after Mommy had her shower. Even then, she would sniff at Mommy’s fingers (that held the cigarette) then look at Mommy sadly which made Mommy sad. So she stopped smoking and has never touched a cigarette since (more than 10 years ago).
Those poor kitties! If their fur was that bad, just imagine their poor little lungs. I feel very blessed that I was never even tempted to smoke. My kitties have the luxury of living out their lives in a smoke-free environment. Smoking is so bad for people and pets alike. Great post.
People are protected at work against passive smoking, but kitties and children are not protected at home : we really live in a strange world… Purrs
What a good post! Thank cod the mom and dad-guy don’t smoke.
We’re lucky that nobody smokes here!!
The Florida Furkids
Great post! I don’t think I have ever seen smoking addressed related to pets…
Mum doesn’t smoke and so we’re lucky that we don’t breathe in those horrible aromas.
Luv Hannah and Lucy xx xx
That smoke does make everything really stinky. It is so much better for everyone and every cat to not smoke. Hope all of you have a great day.
This is a great post packed with very important information about cats and cigarette smoke. We subscribe to Tuft’s Cat Nip newsletter, it’s the best.
Very informative! My mom quit some time ago, but when she was still smoking, she would smoke outside. Thank cod, right?
Mom has been noticing the commercials on TV using children talking about how many cigarettes they ‘d had based on the second-hand smoke. Now someone needs to make one with kitties, woofies and other house pets. Mom’s sister smoked (a lot), and she had kitties. Mom wouldn’t stay with her sis ’cause of the smoke, which she is allergic to and can’t stand. At the time she never imagined just how bad it was for the kitties. Excellent post…hope any smokers reading it heed your warning. XO, Lily Olivia, Maurico, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo
if you can’t quit for yourself, do it for your kids or your pet 🙂
This topic needs to be shared because I don’t think (like myself) most people have given it the thought it deserves. Thankfully our kitties have never been exposed to smoke. We hope more become aware of this very important issue with smoking and pets.
That was such good info and we hope everyone is paying attention!
When Mommy was still smoking her kitty died of cancer. Hmmmmm. Maybe not a coincidence? Anyway, she hasn’t smoked for years and no more kitties died of cancer in her home. And this year housing said no smoking anywhere on the property. Including the parking lot! Hooray!
We were so very shocked to learn about this at BlogPaws – it’s not something people talk about with regard to their pets! And I’d always thought it was a secondhand/inhaling issue. When she told us about the 14-15 cigarettes’ worth of smoke I just about fell off my chair!(except I was sitting behind you on the floor 😉
Smoking is one habit I’m glad I never took up. My mom’s a heavy smoker and smokes in her own house. It’s hard to believe I grew up with that; once I was on my own, I never allowed smoking inside my home. I’m glad Nicki and Derry haven’t been exposed to smoke, can’t imagine Nicki’s coughing/health issues if he was!
BTW, thanks for the suggesting re: the furnace filters, it’s something I can ask about. My furnace probably will be replaced in the next few years too.
Great article! I never would have thought of this. I’m not a smoker, though my mom was for years! Great information – thanks for this. Sharing.
very interesting! we realized the danger of second hand smoke to pets but hadn’t thought of third hand smoke and it’s impact to kitties grooming! we are very thankful our mom isn’t a smoker.
Big high-paws to the kitty pawrents that have commented they quit 🙂 just pawsome, and a pawsome post!
Pip, Smidgen, Minnie, Hollie
I did a Blog the Change about this topic last year but this is a subject that bears repeating. So many cat owners smoke. Every time they smoke and then pet their cats, they’re transferring nicotine to the cats fur which the cat than licks. Going outside to smoke doesn’t solve the problem. Excellent post.