Pets, Genuine Tools of Environmental Pollutant Detection

SIMPLE SUMMARY: “Guardians of health”, our canine and feline companions, emit early warning signals of dangerous lead, cadmium, and arsenic environmental pollution. Many of the epigenetic studies in recent years have investigated the role of these pollutants in the pathogenesis of human diseases by using animal models and analyzing diseases with similar symptoms in pets and people. Not only several cancers (of the bladder, mammary glands, testes, ovaries, lymphomas, mesotheliomas, carcinomas) but also hyperthyroidism, pulmonary structural changes, fertility problems, cardiac and metabolic diseases (like obesity) are at least partly triggered by environmental factors to which we are exposed. Currently, canine and feline hair and other established biomarkers can give information on the pollution or contamination degree, especially regarding heavy metal and passive smoking exposure. ABSTRACT: In a shared environment, our companion animals became unintended sentinels for pollutant exposure consequences, developing even earlier similar conditions to humans. This review focused on the human–pet cohabitation in an environment we all share. Alongside other species, canine and feline companions are veritable models in human medical research. The latency period for showing chronic exposure effects to pollutants is just a few years in them, compared to considerably more, decades in humans. Comparing the serum values of people and their companion animals can, for example, indicate the degree of poisonous lead load we are exposed to and of other substances as well. We can find 2.4 times higher perfluorochemicals from stain- and grease-proof coatings in canine companions, 23 times higher values of flame retardants in cats, and 5 times more mercury compared to the average levels tested in humans. All these represent early warning signals. Taking these into account, together with the animal welfare orientation of today’s society, finding non-invasive methods to detect the degree of environmental pollution in our animals becomes paramount, alongside the need to raise awareness of the risks carried by certain chemicals we knowingly use.