Smoking and Pets and Strays

[KristinLynne]

I did a quick search and didn't see anything posted, but it was quick! All those with pets that smoke, do you think or know of any adverse reactions to your pets? Does smoking effect them negatively, positively or have no effect on them at all? With all the negative info on smoking from many different sources, it is difficult to know how the smoke truely effects any of our 2D friends.

And my next questions is about strays. Depending on where you live, you may come into contact with quite a few animals who have been lost, abandoned or feral depending on the species. While I truly understand you can"t save them all or even very many, what do you all do if you are in an area where there are so many animals needing help? With food and vet care being so very expensive, I am struggling to take care of the ones I have.

 

[SevenFeathers]

And my next questions is about strays. Depending on where you live, you may come into contact with quite a few animals who have been lost, abandoned or feral depending on the species. While I truly understand you can"t save them all or even very many, what do you all do if you are in an area where there are so many animals needing help? With food and vet care being so very expensive, I am struggling to take care of the ones I have.

I live in a rural area where dumping of dogs is common. Somehow, the dumper seems to think that the dogs will magically be taken care of. There is no animal control/shelter for the county, so no where to take them. I have taken in several dogs over the years and luckily found homes for them.

I am in a bad situation right now because I have allowed two sheep guard dogs to hang around my property. They ran away from the sheep ranch across the road from me because they were runts and were routinely beaten up by the bigger dogs and were starving due to same issue of bigger dogs getting all the food. (The way the dogs are fed over there is that someone drives around the property and dumps a pail of dog food on the ground. Of course, the alpha dogs eat first and the others get little to no food. ) I had talked to the owner of this property several times and he promised to come talk with me, but never showed up. These dogs are semi-feral, not pets, bark a lot, and run into other peoples' yards. So now I am told "you better keep your dogs out of my yard or I'll shoot them". However, no one wants to have a civil conversation about what to do with these dogs, as well as other dogs running around, OR the issue of the irresponsible sheet ranch owner. They just don't want them on THEIR property.

I totally understand what you are saying about costs. I am giving these minimal kibble of low quality because that is what I can afford. But it's better than watching them starve. I don't really know the answer to your question about what we can do. It is a very hard situation when you are the only one who seems to care.

 

[Nem]

I am only smoking outside the house, so surely that is less of an issue if someone regularly lights a cig inside the house but since I got my sheltie when he was a few weeks old I have been smoking near him daily.

For example, while sitting on the porch together, while petting/combing him etc. He is two years old now, healthy and strong, and sincerely I've never noticed any breathing issues or sneezing or him getting somewhat upset by it. If I would notice such kind of symptoms, I would try to avoid it. I don't consider smoking negative per se for people but of course for our more smell-sensitive friends it can be otherwise.

I need to watch out to not let any hot ash get into his fur tough! He once learned by experience to not try to eat it from the ground

 

[Alejo]

I usually try not to smoke with my dog to the point where I can see it's bothering him.

From what I understand, the benefits of tobacco to humans comes from the metabolization of smoke directly from the combustion of the tobacco leaf, not sure if that extends to the inhaling of the exhalation, so I usually try not to smoke around him.

And on your second one, I live in a rather urban area, so a lot of the stray animals I come in contact with are mostly vermin, so they look after themselves, same thing with the cats that hang around the house. But I do know a few people around here who have a magnetic thing with animals, and when they can't adopt them anymore, they usually contact shelters and so on, some of them arrange caring for some animals while they get adopted.

 

[KristinLynne]

Thank you for the replies. I have often thought about whether the smoke that is exhaled is harming out pets and even though I am not home for work most of the day, my roommate is and she smokes the menthol Marlboro's. The only breed that seemed to have trouble with it was my bulldog Gus because of his flat face and restricted breathing. The others seem okay, but you never really know until the problem presents.

As for strays dogs, the shelters and rescues are full and taking on the job of finding, kind caring homes for the animals becomes a full time job in and of itself. Like Nancy's situation, there are many people who will abandon their dogs, or some get lost and travel far. With everything so expensive now, pets have become a luxury and I see many on the sites where the owners are looking to rehome. It is becoming an even bigger problem and I think I might just have that animal magnet you speak of. :)

 

[T.C.]

My wife and I are both smokers and we have two cats who sit and lay in the same room with us while we smoke. We’ve never noticed any adverse effects on them.

Regarding strays, we don’t have a stray dog problem in the UK. Around here if there are any strays then they’re cats, and seeing to them does fall on regular folks. There’s a number of women across a few towns who have a network, some have set up as charities, and they work together to catch stray cats, take them in, take them to the vets to get them chipped and neutered, and foster and either privately re-home them or find them places in shelters.

 

[SevenFeathers]

I think I might just have that animal magnet you speak of. :)

Same here.

the shelters and rescues are full

A rescue woman who helped me with previous dogs is now taking care of 150 dogs and cats by herself. It is a full time job for her and she is constantly tired. In addition to the animal care, she has to try and raise funds for the work.

 

[seek10]

And my next questions is about strays. Depending on where you live, you may come into contact with quite a few animals who have been lost, abandoned or feral depending on the species. While I truly understand you can"t save them all or even very many, what do you all do if you are in an area where there are so many animals needing help? With food and vet care being so very expensive, I am struggling to take care of the ones I have.

When I moved to the current location, I registered to the nextdoor social media site. On the site, it will force us to choose the neighbor hood location. I registered it to know about the neighbor hood news. One of the common networking item is about missing or found pets, wild animals, traffic conditions etc. There, people gets replies to the similar questions with local information on what to do with found animals and leads on what to do, which shelter to take, how to give away the animals and precautions to take while giving away animals etc.

 

[KristinLynne]

When I moved to the current location, I registered to the nextdoor social media site. On the site, it will force us to choose the neighbor hood location. I registered it to know about the neighbor hood news. One of the common networking item is about missing or found pets, wild animals, traffic conditions etc. There, people gets replies to the similar questions with local information on what to do with found animals and leads on what to do, which shelter to take, how to give away the animals and precautions to take while giving away animals etc.

I also have nextdoor and it is there I often see many of the animals needing rehoming in addition to the lost ones. I have worked with a few rescues over the years and know the conditions they work under too. They use all kinds of social media to help these animals find home, foster and vet care of course. They are overwhelmed with the sheer amount of animals needing care, homes and fosters.

I was just wondering how ya'll handled stray animals if you were in a location where there are many and are animal lovers too! :)

 

[bianca etezete]

well, every vet tells you, you give your pets cancer when smoking in the same room. Thing is, i am a smoker of 40 years now, always hat pets, never one of them (cats, birds, dog) got cancer. I never vax my pets, my cats and my dog were already one time vaxed when i got them.

All the pets I knew who died of cancer (i am a dog groomer) were those who got their vax yearly...