We have all read of other reports of animal companions of multiple types
having health problems related to second hand smoke, but here's a report
which leads me to think that it would make sense to further track this
for ferrets: in the 8/12/2002 issue of U.S.  News and World Report on
page 13 there is a short article about research at Tufts (Sorry, missed
writing down the primary researcher's name when I got called for my
allergy shot.) stating that in cats they have found more than twice the
rate of lymphoma if the cats lived in places where they were exposed to
second-hand smoke.
 
Certainly, from research at MIT we know that there are extremely strong
indications that lympho in ferrets can have a viral trigger and that
this goes a long way to explain at least some clumps, but it would be
interesting to know if second-hand smoke may increase the risk for
ferrets, too, and if the two may act together to have additive or even
multiplicative effects.
 
Ferrets tend to be indoor companions more than cats or dogs as well, so
the effect could easily be increased by that concentration, and by being
animals who require a great deal of energy despite having small lungs --
so many, many breaths required compared to larger or less energetic
animals.
 
Seems like something that vets could track though some smokers may be
defensive about it... (Kind of used to that response -- which makes me
even more angry at tobacco companies -- given that my mother died of a
smoking related malignancy and my sister and some other relatives either
are or were smokers.)
[Posted in FML issue 3867]