Air quality matters for your pets too

You want to keep your family safe and healthy—and your four-legged friends are just as important. Air quality inside the home is an important aspect of good health. Like the human members of the family, dogs, cats, and other pets are also affected by poor air quality. 

Learn how to spot the signs of poor air quality, how it can affect your pets, and what you can do to monitor air quality, including radon, in your home.

What Is Poor Air Quality?

Poor air quality is when any individual or a mix of individual air quality measures such as VOC's, CO2, and Radon, exceed healthy limits, causing potential long term health issues. Often these higher levels are mostly otherwise not detectable and don’t provide easy warning signs such as odors to detect them. Many factors can affect air quality, including temperature and environmental conditions, pollutants in the air, allergens and pollen. Radon, fine particulate matter, and dust can also affect air quality, especially indoors.

How Poor Air Quality Affects Your Pets

Each pet is different, but there are some key symptoms you may notice if your pet suffers from poor air quality. Respiratory issues are the most common, including sneezing, coughing, or wheezing. Your pet’s eyes and nose may also become red, runny, and irritated. Pets may paw at their face or nose or pant in distress. Finally, your pets may become lethargic and not want to eat or drink.

Pets are specifically at risk because they are mostly confined to the home, have smaller lungs, and are often low to the ground floor, which is important to note because in general many pollutants, including Radon, are heavier than air and accumulate there.

What to Do in the Case of Poor Air Quality

If your pet is experiencing symptoms of poor air quality, immediately move them to a well-ventilated room in your home. In severe signs of distress, a trip to your veterinarian or an emergency clinic is best. Small pets and birds are extremely susceptible to air quality changes and should be monitored closely if affected. You will also want to limit your pet’s activity until their symptoms and air quality improve.

Be sure to avoid irritants such as cleaning chemicals, candles, essential oils, and other items that could affect air quality where your pets frequent. In addition, it’s a good idea to change air filters in the home. Regular dusting and cleaning can also help reduce the amount of dust and particulate matter in the air. 

Test for radon, high levels of chemicals, and other pollutants using an air quality monitor and radon monitor. A professional can help clean or improve air quality if it remains poor.

How to Monitor Your Home’s Air Quality

A home air quality monitor is a great way to check your home’s air quality and test for harmful chemicals, radon, and other air pollutants. The lüft® by SunRadon is an air quality and radon monitor that's easy to use. Just plug it in to connect it to your phone.

The lüft offers detailed results about the air quality in your home and notifies you when you need to make changes. Using an air quality monitor lets you know exactly when you need to increase ventilation, check air filters, or move your pets to a safer location. Place a lüft in each bedroom or rooms where pets live and your family spends more time. It only takes a minute to view daily reports and the lüft app lets you see results on your phone, even when you’re not home.

By purchasing an air quality monitor or radon monitor like the lüft, you can ensure your two and four-legged family members stay safe and healthy. Enjoy peace of mind and a happier, healthier home.