Conference misery::feline_v1

    Marilyn, remind me never to weigh myself on your scale!!  :^)
    
    I'm sure that 2nd hand cigarette smoke has the same affect on animals
    as it does on humans.  My husband's parents are both chain smokers with
    2 small dogs and I shudder to think what they are inhaling on a daily
    basis.  Just look at what excessive smoke does to inanimate objects
    such as drapes, walls, etc.  Their home is discolored in several places
    (white drapes in kitchen turning yellow, etc.) because of all the
    smoke.
    
    GROSS!!!!!!
    
    --Roberta (an obnoxious ex-smoker!)
    

    
    
       I surely have to agree, especially where 2nd hand smoke is not
      good for humans, I can't help but think of how much damage it
      would do to my little babies whose lungs are much much smaller
      than mine......
    
    
    My 2cents...

    I can't remember where I read it but studies have shown that cats
    living in homes with smokers have a higher incidence of respiratory
    problems and one type of tumor but I can't remember what type or where
    it strikes.
    
    Terry
    

    After seeing what it can do to walls I can believe just about anything. 
    My new house that I am renting was previous owned by smokers.  The
    walls were so yellow you could see where the pictures had been hanging. 
    Those were the only white spots.  GROSS!!!!!!!!
    
    I've noticed that since I stopped smoking 6 years ago, my little
    furballs get colds a lot less frequently.  
    
    Kim
    

    My allergist has a picture on the wall of his waiting room that
    has several cats and a caption of something like "We don't want
    you to smoke".   It's a very nice poster.  I had to look carefully
    at the cats whiskers though, they're a variety of colors (red, blue,
    yellow, etc.)
    
    This is the same guy that keeps blaming my asthma on my cats (even
    though my allergy test says I'm far more allergic to dust, dust
    mites and mold than the cats).
    
    Jan
    

    Well having purchased a house that had belonged to a cigar smoker
    I can also attest to what it does to the walls etc.  After a week
    of non-stop cleaning with bleach and ammonia (not at the same time)
    I was ready to strangle the first cigar smoker I came across!
    
      Nancy (also an obnoxious x-smoker)

TRUE STORY:

when I got Sam and Nick as babies (right from Mom), I was a smoker.  Nicky
had lots of white on his gray body....well, actually by the time he was
8 months old, his white was more a cream color.  I didn't notice it at the
time, but when I quit smoking a few years later, Nicky gradually faded from
a rich cream color to a brilliant, pure white color on his mustache, tummy,
and feet.  My smoking had affected HIS COLOR - I can only imagine what I did
to their lungs...and stomaches, etc.

That was the real clincher in keeping me from starting up again...I will never
smoke again now.  I KNOW about second-hand smoke.

    RE: .5
    
    Jan, I have that poster (matted in a gold metal frame) in my living
    room; It was well worth the $60 I shelled out for it. It is a picture of a
    beautiful Black cat (that looks like my Nikolas) and two mackeral
    tabbies (that are dead ringers for my Spiro). 
    
    Deb (who used to have a no-smoking sign in my car as well as my office)

    Deb,
    
    That's the one!  Where did you get it?  If I ever can find $60 that
    isn't already allocated to some other expense, I'd love to have
    that poster.  Actually, I should probably just ask my doctor's office
    where they got theirs.  After all, they are a wee bit closer to
    me than you are.                      
    
    Jan
    (If I could afford a NO SMOKING sign as nice as that one I'd have
    it in my living room too.)

I can't stand smoking, and a weekend with my Mom and sister (who basically 
chain-smoke getting the urge from each other)  gives me wicked headaches...
But since my parents are self-employed and near-workaholics, they're only 
home a few hours mornings and evenings these days.

We grew up with two cats, Bouffee (all white and odd-eyed) and Bunky 
(mamma was a pedigreed tortise-shell persian and daddy a tiger striped 
alley cat).  Bou's coat definitely yellowed over the years.  Bunky had 
urinary track infections that were fairly frequent  (every other year or so).

Still, as much as I've worried about them, they've lived long, affectionate 
lives.  We just lost Bunky last Thanksgiving not long after she turned 17.
Bou turned 19 last Easter (she looks like an easter bunny!)  and is still
quite the lap cat!

So I figure while smoking causes lots of problems, there's a lot a loving 
home can do to keep a pet happy and healthy.

Tanya
(a new reader)

    re: .10 - I guess its like everything else, Tanya.  There are those
    who smoke and live to be 100.  There are exceptions to every rule.
    
    Welcome to FELINE.
      Nancy DC