That Harm Our Pets C
HUMAN HABITS by Dr. Kimberly Weiss
arcinogens are everywhere, and each of us would need to live in a plastic bubble to avoid the toxic
world we have created for ourselves—and then there are our pets. Tey can’t avoid most of these toxins. While our heads may be in the clouds, our pets are sucking up tons of tox- ins as they sniff, snort and smell the world around them. According to the
National Institutes of Health, “cancer is a group of more than 100 diseases that develop across time and involve the uncontrolled division of the body’s cells,” with the poten- tial to invade or spread to other parts of the body. Te body, be it man or animal, has a system of checks and balances that regulates cell growth and replication. When the sys- tem is under continual bombardment from stressors, these checks and balances begin to fail. Te instructions that regulate cell reproduction get altered and the cells start to exponentially replicate. Tis is cancer. Common stressors include smoking, drinking, cleaning products, pesticides,
aerosols, car exhaust, coal burning, nuclear waste, various forms of radiation, heavy metals, pharmaceutical products and other chemicals invented to make living easier. Even if we do our best to avoid these stressors, our neighbors might consider it normal to pour chemical fertil- izers on lawns to make them green, or to use pesticides to kill weeds and bugs. Rain then spreads those chemi- cals throughout the neighborhood into our waterways and eventu- ally into our drinking
water. Many botanists concur that the wind blows chemically coated seeds and spores for miles from their points of origin. Oſten, humans don’t realize that our
bad habits harm our pets as well as our- selves. We know that secondhand smoke causes cancer, and now recent research suggests that secondhand vapes do the same thing. It’s proven that pets living in the homes of smokers have contracted several types of nasal and lung cancers. Not only do our pets breathe in the secondhand smoke or vapes, but also the carcinogenic
substances soak into pets’ coats, exposing them topically and systematically when pets lick themselves and swallow. Studies by the University of Minnesota showed nic- otine and other cigarette toxins in the urine of pets living in the homes of smokers. Birds are 10 times as susceptible to
respiratory diseases, such as lung cancer, than cats and dogs. Tis is because their respiratory systems are so much more effi- cient, but it also means that damage occurs at an accelerated rate. Chemicals that we normally think are
beneficial can be deadly to our pets. Past studies done by the Experimental Toxicol- ogy Division at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency linked hyperthyroidism in cats to the fire retardant used in furni- ture. Fertilizers that we use to grow our vegetables and lawns have been linked to sino-nasal and digestive cancers in dogs and cats. Even nonchemical stressors, such as obesity or eating processed foods, can lead to pets developing cancer. Bottom line: It is impossible to avoid
all of the things that can or do cause cancer, both for our pets and ourselves. But we can do our best to minimize exposure. Eating healthily, breathing clean air, using natural products when possible, and decreasing our chemical use in our homes and yards may not completely prevent cancer, but it will reduce it.
Veterinarian Kimberly Weiss owns Healing Hands Veterinary Wellness Center, located at 1916 NW 39 St., in Oklahoma City. For more information, call 405-525-2255 or visit
HealingHandsVetCenter.com. See ad on page 22.
April 2018
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