New Reason to Quit Smoking

From the NY Times comes a new reason to get a dog: to help you quit smoking! A new survey suggests that pet owners who smoke and seem unmotivated to quit, might change their tune if they realized that the second hand smoke was not doing their dogs any good.

"Pet owners in the U. S. are very devoted to their pets," noted the researchers, led by Dr. Sharon Ford of the Henry Ford Health System in Michigan. The dangers of second hand smoke in cats has been well documented (I remember hearing about it when I was researching pets with cancer) so it only makes sense that it would prove equally deadly to dogs and other pets. According to the study, second hand smoke has been linked to lymphomas in cats and nasal and lung cancer in dogs.

The study consisted of an online survey conducted primarily in Michigan that drew responses from 3,293 pet owners. Of these, 27% had at least one smoker in the home. When informed of the dangers their habits were causing their pets, 28% said that the knowledge would make them try to quit. 90% of the smokers said they would ban smoking in the house once they found out it was harming their pets.

So, if you can't kick the habit and live with a pet, this may be all the motivation you need to try once more. And if you do smoke and are thinking about getting a pet, you might want to think about quitting before you do.

"This new source of motivation could be particularly strong for smokers, who aside from their animal companions, live alone," the study noted.