Your Pets Need Protection from Asbestos Too

Asbestos is often used in homes for insulation purposes because it is highly heat resistant. However, this particular material is notorious for doing us more harm than good now. It is without a doubt a revolutionary product for what it does but after finding out that it can cause cancer we should definitely look for other methods to insulate our homes. At the end of 20th century more and more research was done on asbestos and its effects on human body. The more studies conducted the more it was proved that exposure to asbestos could cause cancer.

Malignant mesothelioma is a common disease you will hear about in people like employees working for construction companies, veterans, and people working for other industries. After realizing that asbestos could cause such a dangerous and fatal disease people became more cautious about their surroundings. It is now well-understood by people that they have to protect themselves from asbestos exposure. However, protecting yourself is not enough in this particular case. You need to look around you and find out other creatures that can be affected by asbestos too. One of the most important members in your family, your pet, could also get affected by asbestos.

Your Pets Are Not Protected

Mesothelioma is a dangerous disease and when it strikes a human being it attacks the abdomen, lungs and the party of the body under the ribcage including the heart. The patient of this disease might not be able to breathe normally. Lungs might get filled up with fluid and patient might also feel acute pain under the ribcage and around the abdominal area. When such patients are investigated it is nearly always the case that they were somehow exposed to asbestos. They are either exposed at home or environments where they are working.

The bad news is that our pets are not protected from this disease. They can catch this disease from their owners or from the house they are living in. Most homes have asbestos in their walls for insulation and dogs and cats can be exposed to this. If it’s not insulation then these poor animals catch mesothelioma directly from their masters as they come back from work and have their clothes covered with asbestos fibers. Pets are not spared from this disease was proved in 1983 when a study was conducted on 6 dogs. All these 6 dogs had malignant mesothelioma.

When reports were checked after thorough testing it was found out that 3 of the dogs that had the disease also had asbestos present in their body.

The Disease Is Not Curable In Pets Too

The bad news about malignant mesothelioma is that this disease does not have any cure in humans. Even worse is the fact that our pets can’t be protected when they have this disease too. Scientists are doing all they can to find a cure to this disease and a group from Italy has successfully done an experiment that might serve as a ray of hope. The doctors involved in this experiment performed chemotherapy using a drug named as piroxicam. They combined this drug with platinum and performed chemotherapy on dogs and cats. The dogs and cats used in the experiment had malignant mesothelioma. 

The researchers in the studies posted great results to the experiment in a magazine by saying that the combination they used proved to be great in keeping in control malignant effusion that serves as a secondary factor to the disease. They are hopeful of better results in the future and posted that they would further investigate and improve this combination to find a cure to the disease.

What Pet Owners Should Do

There are lawyers who have always shown great interest in researching every topic and providing information on it if it serves humanity in any possible way. EPA has got several guidelines on keeping your loved ones protected from the exposure to asbestos and your pets are no exception. It would greatly pay off if you inspect your house and find out all the items that might have asbestos in them. The first thing to check is the insulation of your house. Make sure that this insulation is intact and no one is exposed to asbestos used in it. 

It is highly recommended that you don’t touch any items in your house that might have asbestos in them. If there is a product you are not sure about, just assume that it has asbestos. If there is asbestos on the ground and if you see that the debris coming out of your house contains asbestos, make sure you don’t touch it. Using a wet mop is the best way to clean the floor and get rid of asbestos. It is best that you take help from professionals when performing renovation in the house to ensure you don’t come in contact with products containing asbestos.