- Sep 16, 2010
- 5,939
- 336
- Country
- Canada
- Bulldog(s) Names
- The Stig Racecar Driver and (Sweet Angel) Punkin Brutus
Just saw this on an online newspaper I frequently visit. Not really a bulldog-specific article, but wanted to see what you all think.
-----------------------------
Letting sleeping dogs â and cats â lie could make you sick, a paper to be published by a U.S. Centers for Disease Control journal warns.
That pet in your bed could be passing on meningitis, toxocariasis or cat-scratch disease, among others.
âWe donât want to scare people, but especially for children and people with compromised systems, there is a risk,â co-author Dr. Bruno Chomel, a veterinary biologist, told the Star.
âPets are pets, they are not children,â he said. âThere is some confusion in our society, and pets are becoming substitutes for children.â
Sixty per cent of cats and 33 per cent of dogs in the United States sleep on their ownersâ beds; the numbers are even higher in the Netherlands.
In the U.K., 14 per cent of dogs and 45 per cent of cats snuggle onto their ownersâ duvets.
In France, itâs 30 per cent of dogs and 45 per cent of cats.
Chomel knows the warning will be controversial; advance word of it has already provoked hate email. He counters that the study is scientific and raises a small, but significant, public-health concern.
Being licked by or kissing a dog or cat can be even worse, the study said, particularly if a pet licks a cut or open wound or your mouth, nose or ears.
Fending off the risk means keeping a pet healthy, washing your hands or face after a pet licks you and teaching the pet not to sleep on your bed, said Chomel.
âI use an example: If you were licking your fingers and a dog licked your fingers, you wouldnât go back to licking your fingers, would you? Itâs common-sense hygiene.â
The study by Chomel, of the University of California at Davis, and Ben Sun, chief public-health veterinarian with the California Department of Health, examined health reports from around the world that involved diseases transmitted from animals to humans, known as zoonoses.
To be published online Tuesday in the CDCâs Emerging Infectious Diseases journal, the study documents cases of serious pet-transmitted illness and even death.
Although he has none currently, Chomelâs previous pets never slept on his bed, even the cat.
âShe knew this was not the room for her.â
-----------------------------
Letting sleeping dogs â and cats â lie could make you sick, a paper to be published by a U.S. Centers for Disease Control journal warns.
That pet in your bed could be passing on meningitis, toxocariasis or cat-scratch disease, among others.
âWe donât want to scare people, but especially for children and people with compromised systems, there is a risk,â co-author Dr. Bruno Chomel, a veterinary biologist, told the Star.
âPets are pets, they are not children,â he said. âThere is some confusion in our society, and pets are becoming substitutes for children.â
Sixty per cent of cats and 33 per cent of dogs in the United States sleep on their ownersâ beds; the numbers are even higher in the Netherlands.
In the U.K., 14 per cent of dogs and 45 per cent of cats snuggle onto their ownersâ duvets.
In France, itâs 30 per cent of dogs and 45 per cent of cats.
Chomel knows the warning will be controversial; advance word of it has already provoked hate email. He counters that the study is scientific and raises a small, but significant, public-health concern.
Being licked by or kissing a dog or cat can be even worse, the study said, particularly if a pet licks a cut or open wound or your mouth, nose or ears.
Fending off the risk means keeping a pet healthy, washing your hands or face after a pet licks you and teaching the pet not to sleep on your bed, said Chomel.
âI use an example: If you were licking your fingers and a dog licked your fingers, you wouldnât go back to licking your fingers, would you? Itâs common-sense hygiene.â
The study by Chomel, of the University of California at Davis, and Ben Sun, chief public-health veterinarian with the California Department of Health, examined health reports from around the world that involved diseases transmitted from animals to humans, known as zoonoses.
To be published online Tuesday in the CDCâs Emerging Infectious Diseases journal, the study documents cases of serious pet-transmitted illness and even death.
Although he has none currently, Chomelâs previous pets never slept on his bed, even the cat.
âShe knew this was not the room for her.â