Dogs also suffer the harmful effects of secondhand smoke: this was established by research from the University of Milan coordinated by Debora Groppetti, professor of Veterinary Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic at the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences, and recently published in MDPI.
The dog is a widespread domestic animal that, sharing spaces, habits and food with humans, may be exposed to the same environmental risks and diseases. Over the past two decades, the harmful effects of ETS exposure on children and adults have been widely discussed and highlighted through public health campaigns, but there has been little emphasis on the risks pets may face. “
Until now, cohabitation with smoking owners in dogs had not been shown to induce cotinine, the main endogenous metabolite of nicotine, in their bodies.
As with children, exposure to smoke in pets can occur not only through environmental inhalation, but also through transdermal absorption,” explains Silvia Mazzola, professor of Veterinary Physiology at the same department and coauthor of the study.
The research included 32 (healthy) dogs of both sexes. Depending on whether or not they lived with smoking humans, 16 dogs were included in the ETS-exposed group and 16 were included in the non-exposed group. A hair and blood sample was taken from these dogs, which was necessary as part of routine testing: part of the serum was used to test for the possible presence of cotinine by ELISA, a test based on the use of an enzyme bound to an antibody to detect and quantify the presence of a specific antigen in a biological sample.
