How Does Radon Gas Impact Pets?As a homeowner, you are concerned about your family’s health and well-being. Perhaps you already know how radon gas can affect your family’s health but never thought about how it can affect your little friends. The Environmental Protection Agency indicates that radon gas causes lung cancer and is responsible for about twenty thousand lung cancer deaths every year in the United States.
According to the EPA, radon is a gaseous radioactive element that’s found in homes across the country. The agency further recommends that homeowners should hire a qualified specialist to help in testing the gas especially when selling or buying a home. You now realize that it’s not only your family that’s likely to be affected by radon gas but your pets, too. Understanding the effects of radon gas on your pets will help you protect both your family and your little friends. Radon Gas is Dangerous for your Family Pets You don’t have to wait until someone shares with you a horrible experience whereby their cats passed away from radon-induced lung cancer. Can that be true? Yes. The interesting thing about radon is that it’s an invisible, tasteless, and odorless gas. We both know that anything that’s out of sight tends to be out of our minds, too. |
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Unlike you and your children, pets love spending most of their time in basements. This is true, especially for cats. Furthermore, your pets have smaller lungs which means they have higher or rather faster respiratory rates compared to humans. While you’re away for work and your kids are out for school, your pets are normally in your home throughout the day and night. When you look at all these factors, you realize that your pets are more susceptible to the effects of the radioactive gas than everyone else in your home.
Your pets are exposed to the decaying particles of the gas for more extended periods of time, and this can result in lung cancer. Exposure to the gas can be more deadly for pets compared to humans. Radon gas often builds up in pockets underground before it begins to seep into basements and crawlspaces through the existing openings and foundation cracks. You might not even realize there’s a problem until your dog or car start showing cancer-related symptoms such as fever, lack of appetite, coughing, excessive throwing up, having a hard time to breathe, lameness, and abnormal swellings.
Pets suffering from radon-induced cancer are less likely to show symptoms of illness as already mentioned. The only time you might identify the problem is when the disease gets severe. That’s probably when it’s in the final stage, and that will be late. However, like humans, if diagnosed early, treatment is possible through an oncologist.
Have your Home Tested as soon as Possible
Testing your residence for radon levels is something that should be done as soon as possible. If the test show radon levels above 4.0 pCi/L, it’s time you took action and installed a radon mitigation system. If the test results show lower radon levels, you gain peace of mind and know that your family and pets are at less risk.
Your pets are exposed to the decaying particles of the gas for more extended periods of time, and this can result in lung cancer. Exposure to the gas can be more deadly for pets compared to humans. Radon gas often builds up in pockets underground before it begins to seep into basements and crawlspaces through the existing openings and foundation cracks. You might not even realize there’s a problem until your dog or car start showing cancer-related symptoms such as fever, lack of appetite, coughing, excessive throwing up, having a hard time to breathe, lameness, and abnormal swellings.
Pets suffering from radon-induced cancer are less likely to show symptoms of illness as already mentioned. The only time you might identify the problem is when the disease gets severe. That’s probably when it’s in the final stage, and that will be late. However, like humans, if diagnosed early, treatment is possible through an oncologist.
Have your Home Tested as soon as Possible
Testing your residence for radon levels is something that should be done as soon as possible. If the test show radon levels above 4.0 pCi/L, it’s time you took action and installed a radon mitigation system. If the test results show lower radon levels, you gain peace of mind and know that your family and pets are at less risk.
