Avoid getting illness from your pets by...-AVOID GETTING ILLNESS FROM YOUR PETS BY KEEPING THEM CLEAN AND VACCINATED
Q. How can I avoid getting illnesses from my pets?
A. Dogs, cats, turtles, birds and other pets carry germs that can cause infections in people.
Follow these tips to protect your animals and yourself:
* Keep pet vaccinations current. Dogs and cats can get rabies or syphilislike leptosperosis, which can be transmitted to humans.
* After you touch your pet, wash your hands. Turtles can carry salmonella, a leading cause of gastrointestinal diseases.
* Don't allow your dog or cat to lick your mouth, nose or any open wound. Animals can transmit germs such as Pasteurella that can prevent healing of the wound.
* Groom your pets. A clean, well-brushed dog or cat is less likely to be a source of fungal infections and is less likely to have fleas and ticks. * Don't let your pet go into the wild. Housecats are usually healthier than cats that roam outdoors. Outdoor cats will eat mice and birds that carry toxoplasma, the world's leading parasite affecting 2 billion people each year.
* Wash your hands vigorously after handling your cat's litterbox or your dog's pooper-scooper. You can avoid picking up infections, including Toxocara, a roundworm that migrates in the body.
* Don't let a dog or cat play with you to the point that it bites or scratches. Even a housecat, if it draws blood, can transmit cat-scratch disease, which is caused by the bacterialike organism bartonella. It lives in the fleas on cats and can cause swollen lymph glands in humans.
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