If you’re thinking of insuring your dog or you already have dog insurance, then it stands to reason that you are conscious of their health concerns. One of the most common questions we get asked here at Top Dog Insurance is do dogs suffer from passive smoking?

Those of us who have been exposed to the recent ‘quit smoking’ campaign showing small children inhaling and exhaling smoke will know that the plight of the passive smoker is now a key factor in encouraging smokers to think twice about the habit.

It may be common knowledge that smoking is bad for both the smoker and anyone else who happens to be in lung-shot of the cigarette but how many people have considered the effects of passive smoke inhalation on the dogs we share our airspace with?

Tobacco is unique. It’s one of the world’s few legally available products that will actually kill its customers if used correctly. Over 120,000 smoking related deaths per year in the UK alone pay testament to this gruesome statistic.

As a nation of dog lovers we spend time and money keeping our pets fit and healthy. We pay attention to the food they consume and the amount and style of exercise they require. We spend billions of pounds a year on veterinary care, scientifically developed diets, insurance and products to make their lives pleasurable.

So who would have thought, with all this effort to enhance their lifestyle and wellbeing going on, that millions of us could actually be killing our dogs by lighting up in their presence?

It seems the typically British thing to do nowadays is to import Americana. Where they have Jerry Springer we have Trisha, where they decide to get stuck into a good old fashioned bombing campaign, we follow and so surely will adopt some parts of America’s extreme anti-public smoking legislation.

Yes, no doubt we like to follow in the footsteps of our North American allies but unlike the increase in gun crime and identikit coffee houses, this latest American import is likely to be welcomed by millions here in Britain.

That smoking harms you and others around you is well documented and the point need not to be stressed further than to look at the figures for the volume of deaths of both smokers and non-smokers through a variety of smoking related illnesses each year around the world. What’s never really been given much consideration is the damage going on to the critters who live around our feet in our homes.

When a smoker takes a drag on a cigarette they inhale around 15% of the fumes, the rest they pump straight back into the atmosphere. Smoke, being heavier than air, sinks. Slowly. You can probably see where this is leading but consider the bare facts. 85% of the dangerous chemicals available to the smoker is passed on to the surrounding area’s airspace. If you stand anywhere above 3”4 the chances are you’re going to have a small time slot where the 85% is floating around your breathing space.

If you’re above 5”5 then you’ve much less exposure to the descending smoke, if, however you stand little more than a couple of feet off the ground then you’re in for the maximum exposure time available, especially if you spend a good proportion of your day taking big whiffs through the highly sensitive smelling tool that’s stuck on the end of your muzzle. It’s stating the obvious to point out that dogs live on the ground below us and tend to use the nasal abilities that God gave them to put most of their time into sniffing some place or another.

So there you have it, for smokers consideration to their dogs health must be given as dogs can indeed suffer from second hand smoke. Maybe we may even see dog insurance companies asking whether the dog they are about to insure lives in a home with a smoker?