Pets and our Environment!

THE BREGMAN VETERINARY GROUP 

www.BregmanVetGroup.com

Human’s and their pets may share more qualities than one may initially think. Both can be; loving, happy, excited, and even sad. Unfortunately, one shared quality that many pet owners may not be aware of is that, pets also share our diseases. Obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and asthma are all diseases that dogs and cats suffer from, along with humans.

Pets are in our environment with us. What people do not realize is that since we share an environment, we are also exposed to the same pollutants. For example, if we mop a floor with chemicals and use carpet cleaner on our living room carpet, our pet, who might be lying on the floor, is going to breathe in and be exposed to all the chemicals. These are the same chemicals that would make us sick if we breathed in, and may even kill us if we ingested them.

Since cats wind up ingesting a lot of dust on their fur due to their grooming habits, they are potentially at risk for overactive thyroids. This is because the ingested dust could contain chemicals from around the house. This may be a potential bigger issue. Toddlers usually spend a lot of time crawling around floors and rugs. They are being exposed to the same type of potentially dangerous dust particles!

You may be thinking, well, my dog spends a lot of time outside, so this does not really apply to me. But, you may not actually be clear from danger. Lawn and garden pesticides have been shown in studies to increase cases of canine lymphoma and bladder cancer. In a 2004 study by Purdue University veterinarians, Scottish terriers exposed to certain herbicides (including common weed killer), were more than four times likely to develop bladder cancer compared to yards that had untreated lawns.

While our pets unfortunately live relatively short lives, researchers can actually use this to their advantage. Researchers can gather a lifetime of information in a dog’s accelerated life as compared to people. This is important information because the functions of certain human genes are actually very similar to dogs. So, some of the information learned from environmental diseases in dogs and how we treat them, can actually help find treatments and cures in humans as well.

So next time you smoke a cigarette or spray some pesticide around your pet, know that you may potentially be harming them as well as yourself. A clean environment can benefit all species!