It’s week 2.0 of 2012. Some of us are already tired of the resolutions we made on January 1. But if you put “Quit Smoking” on your list of resolutions, don’t give up. Make this the year that you quit. You know smoking is bad for you, it’s bad for your family … and it’s bad for your pets.

Have you ever heard the phrase “a canary in a coal mine?” Coal miners used to carry caged canaries down into mine shafts to warn them of dangerous gases, including carbon monoxide, one of the main components of cigarette smoke. Birds are particularly sensitive to these gases and the miners would know that if the canary died, it was time to get out. If you smoke, your pets are like the canaries in the coal mine, suffering the effects of your second-hand smoke.

Recent studies have shown that the second-hand smoke from cigarettes—long known to be dangerous for non-smokers in a smoking household—is also toxic for pets. Second-hand smoke contains thousands of dangerous compounds, including: benzene, carbon monoxide, cyanide, formaldehyde, and lead.

Animals are even more vulnerable to these toxins than humans, and the smaller the animal, the more likely they are to be affected by it.

There is good news:

• It’s never too late to quit.
• One of the best ways to keep your kids from smoking is to quit.
• Recent studies show that people who understand that smoking affects their pets are three times more likely to quit.
• If you’re having trouble getting pregnant, quitting smoking can improve your chances of getting pregnant and having a healthy outcome.
• Smokefree.gov offers a variety of free resources to support your efforts.

So if you needed just one more reason to help you quit, consider the health and well-being of your pets. They’re counting on you. Good luck. Let 2012 be the year you escape the smoking trap. And if you need help talking to your children about resolutions or the dangers of smoking, here are a couple of picture books to share with them.

Related Picture Books

Squirrel’s New Year’s Resolution by Pat Miller
Smoking Stinks by Kim Gosselin

Photo credit: TRAP3
© Grzegorz Wolczyk | Dreamstime.com

Susan Bearman also writes at Two Kinds of People, Mike&Ollie: 24-weekers Who Beat the Odds and The Animal Store Blog, as well as being a regular contributor to The Chicago Moms and Technorati.