Photo: GEOFF PUGH

A survey found that more than one in four smokers, 28 per cent, would be motivated to try to quit if they thought that their habit was harming their animal.
The study of more than 600 smokers also found that another 11 per cent would think about quitting for the same reason.

Second-hand smoke can be harmful to a pet’s lung, causing respiratory problems and even cancer, in much the same way as it is to humans.

But few smokers realise what impact their habit is having on the health of their pets, according to the researchers who led the study, published in the journal Tobacco Control.

The study, by the Henry Ford Centre for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, in Detroit, surveyed more than 3,300 pet owners.

Public health advertisement campaigns should highlight the dangerous effects of second-hand smoke on pets, the study recommends.

• Living with a smoker can increase the risk of suffering a heart attack, a new study suggests.

Researchers from University College London and St George’s, University of London, measured the levels of cotinine, a toxin carried in the blood, in 2,125 non-smokers.

Between 1978 and 1980, 73 per cent of the men had levels above a rate linked to a 40 per cent increase in the chance of a heart attack.

By 1998-2000 that proportion had fallen to 17 per cent, the study, funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and published in journal Addiction, found.

Of these, however, half lived with a partner who smoked, and their cotinine levels were almost eight times higher than levels of men whose partner did not smoke.

Dr Barbara Jefferis, from University College London who led the research, said: “The decline in smoking together with restrictions on smoking in public places has created an environment where people are exposed to far less tobacco smoke.

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