Gran’s 30-a-day habit gives her dog lung cancer
WHEN her beloved dog collapsed and had to be rushed to the vet, Heather Goddard was horrified.
The grandmother was left griefstricken when tests showed Clover, an eight-year-old crossbreed, had lung cancer and would have to be put down.
But the biggest shock came when she was told that her dog’s death was caused by passive smoking – the result of being in the house as she and her husband Keith puffed through 30 cigarettes each a day.
Now Mrs Goddard, 61, has quit smoking and is alerting other pet owners to the dangers posed to animals by second-hand smoke.
She and Mr Goddard, 67, of Seaton Delaval, Northumberland, were walking Clover in a park when the rescue dog became ill.
They took her to a veterinary practice in Morpeth, where they were told she had black spots on her lungs and was also suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
The vet said nothing more could be done for Clover, adding that the cause of her cancer was passive smoking.
‘Knowing my smoking was to blame was like somebody had just put a bullet into my heart. It was a nightmare that had come true,’ said Mrs Goddard, a retired cleaner who has another dog, Roger, as well as two cats and a rabbit.
‘Clover was a lovely dog. She was friendly and there wasn’t a bad bone in her body.
‘She showed no signs or symptoms or being ill. We had no idea why she had collapsed until we took her to the vets. It was such a shock.
‘You don’t think about your animals but they are just like us. They can get illnesses like diabetes and cancer the same as us.’
Mrs Goddard says she now regrets exposing her family and her animals to years of cigarette smoke in the house and the car. She added: ‘I think I would have tried to give up earlier if I had known the damage it was doing to my animals. As long as the animals were fed I would be happy to go without food but I had to have my cigarettes. ‘I didn’t connect passive smoking with animals. You don’t realise how much of it they are taking in. My grandchildren are only here once or twice a week but our pets are with us 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.’
It still took her nearly three years following Clover’s death before she managed to quit her 30-a-day habit – and by then she too had been diagnosed with chronic lung disease.
Her husband has also given up smoking, much to the delight of their three children and eight grandchildren.
Mrs Goddard, who had smoked for 40 years, said: ‘I feel a lot healthier now I have stopped.
‘I can walk to the end of the path without getting as out of breath and I don’t use my inhalers as much.
‘My grandchildren tell me they are glad I stopped smoking because I don’t smell of smoke any more. When I gave up smoking that stopped my illness from getting any worse.’
She hopes by speaking out she will alert other animal owners and help protect more pets from the harmful chemicals in tobacco smoke.
‘I would tell anyone who smokes and has animals to think twice,’ she said. ‘I know how difficult it is to give up but they need to think about their animals. Don’t give up trying, even if you have two cigarettes less a day.’
The British Veterinary Association has long warned of the dangers of smoking around pets saying it can lead to incidents of cancer, asthma and bronchitis in cats and dogs.
‘A shock knowing
I was to blame’