This is a bit long...but I felt it was important and needed to be addressed. If you have time..and especially if you smoke - I hope you will take the time to read this.
I am here to confess that I have been a horrible mommy to my cats. Oh my heart has been in the right place -- I love them all dearly and there is no amount of money or time I wouldn't spend to take care of each and every one of them. It's not that. It's something deeper and more sinister: my nicotine addiction. Thirty-three years of nicotine addiction (it began at age 11....not the best age to make decisions that will drastically effect your life and health and that of those around you (it's not my parent's fault...I take full responsibility). I have been nicotine-free for seven days now and it is the hardest thing I've ever done. Yes, I am psychotic...but I can still support myself. ;-) There is no logic to addiction....if there were...nobody would smoke. If you've never smoked...for God's sake and your own - don't. The power of addiction is totally underrated and it is more dangerous than you know. I'm taking this new drug - Chantix - and without it, I doubt I would have been this successful. That and a lot of support from friends, family, my cats, and coworkers - and visualizing that the cravings are coming from outside of myself...and I am surrounded by violet light that burns the cravings away as they try to attack. Visualizations are so powerful...but I digress. How have I have been such a bad mommy? Well...if you've ever smoked...inside your car or your house...you know how this ugly brown film builds up on the windows and your curtains, your upholstery, etc. If you smoke in your house...well...that nasty brown film goes right on your cat's fur. Your cat is a fastidious groomer and ingests that smoke particulate. Would you feed nicotine resin to your dear kitty? Didn't think so...God forbid! But I did..and I didn't even realize it at the time. How dumb could I be? Oh I've been very conscious of my horrible habit...I have three ionic breeze air purifiers...never smoked in the bedroom where they cats sleep...always had doors open and a breeze coming through when I smoked...opened the chimney flu and tried to blow the smoke up there and keep fans going. Who was I kidding??? The other morning I woke up and thought....what IS that smell??? It smells like cookies. What was it? Only an unlit scented candle in the next room. I thought you had to pick up those things and hold them to your nose to smell them. Not smoking has really opened my eyes to how stinky my house is and how I was really doing NOTHING to protect my dear children. Now that I have been nicotine-free for a week...Mama Kitty...my FeVL+ kitty who would only come inside in bad weather and when it was cold and rainy...now wants to stay inside with me even when the weather is nice! She would stay in my lap or on my shoulder constantly..loves me so much...and the other seven kitties are sticking so close to my side. It's like we're all being introduced to each other for the first time. The kitties have been more supportive than anybody -- it's like they know exactly what is going on and they totally approve. It's like they really know and understand what I am going through and want to help. Call me crazy if you want...I know what I'm talking about ;-) Let me just leave you with this interview I found at http://amos.indiana.edu/library/scripts/catcancer.html and a few links to articles. And thank you very much for listening....and I ask you to please forgive me for not taking better care of my dearest babies. [image: O] n this Moment of Science Don and Yael discuss another reason to stop smoking. D: Time once again for What You Didn't Know. This is where we tell you a fact that many people are already aware of, and then surprise you with the follow-up. Ready? Y: Ready. D: Smoking causes cancer. Y: Well, stop the presses. Tell me something I didn't know. D: In your cat. Y: What? Smoking causes cancer in your cat? But Mister Wuffles doesn't smoke! D: But you do. Y: No I don't! D: Play along. Y: Oh . . . oh, yeah, I guess I do smoke. D: Well, if you smoke, then your cat smokes second-hand. Y: Second-hand smoke. I always thought that was no big deal. D: Think again. Second-hand smoke is a serious risk. And, if you are smoking regularly inside your home, your cat is breathing in all that smoke, too. Beyond that, your cat is ingesting smoke every time it grooms. Y: Ingesting smoke? D: Tiny particles of smoke float in the air and stick onto things they come in contact with. That includes your cat's fur. Then, when your cat licks its fur, it eats those particles. These are very unhealthful things. Y: Come on. What's the worst that can happen? D: A survey done on hospitalized cats at the Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine found eighty cats that came from smoking environments had developed smoking-related diseases, including malignant lymphoma. It was found that cats who lived with a smoker had between two and four times the chances of developing cancer. Y: Poor kitty! That's it, I'm going cold turkey. D: Good for you. And Good for Mister Wuffles. More info (there are many more links than what I've listed) http://www.moggies.co.uk/articles/lymphoma_risk.html http://www.tobacco.org/news/102059.html http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/156/3/268 http://www.cvm.uiuc.edu/petcolumns/showarticle.cfm?id=473 http://www.cancer.org/docroot/NWS/content/NWS_2_1x_Second-hand_Smoke_Puts_Pets_in_Peril.asp
