“Researchers warn against kissing pets - East Valley Tribune” plus 1 more

Researchers warn against kissing pets - East Valley Tribune

Posted: 26 Jan 2011 10:25 PM PST

They give you joy. They give you loyalty. They give you sloppy kisses.

But before you allow Fido or Fluffy to climb into bed with you at night, as an increasing number of Americans are doing, know that they can also give you something else: zoonoses.

A University of California, Davis, veterinary professor has penned an article for a scientific journal showing that people who allow their pets to lick them, give them "kisses" or sleep with them are at risk for a variety of diseases known as zoonoses. The conditions can range from the mundane to the life-threatening.

Bruno Chomel and his co-author, Ben Sun, emphasize that pets provide many health benefits, including stress relief, and they stop short of recommending that people abstain from smooching their pooches. But in reviewing reports from several countries, they argue that such interactions carry some risk, particularly among infants and people whose immune systems have been weakened by disease, chemotherapy or other medicines.

"The risk is not huge. But the trend is that more and more people are sharing their environments with pets, allowing them in their beds, kissing them like crazy," Chomel said in an interview. "They need to know that a risk does exist" from bacteria that live in the mouths of felines and canines.

In their article, to be published in next month's edition of the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, Chomel and Sun note that pets are becoming increasingly popular in urban households and "have conquered our bedrooms."

According to a recent survey by the American Pet Products Association, nearly half of pet dogs and 62 percent of cats sleep with their humans.

Among the bacterial, parasitic and viral conditions they may be bringing with them are plague, cat-scratch disease and staphylococcus infections, Chomel and Sun report.

The researchers reviewed literature about diseases transmitted from animals to humans. In Japan, a study found evidence of zoonoses in pet owners who kissed their animals regularly, but not in those who abstained, according to the paper. Some of these bugs cause mild symptoms, but others can morph into daunting illnesses, such as meningitis.

In the United States, the most common parasitic zoonoses associated with dogs are caused by hookworms and roundworms, which in humans can cause gastrointestinal symptoms, anemia and other conditions. Pasteurella multocida, an infection commonly caused by pet licks, can cause everything from mild respiratory symptoms to serious conditions including endocarditis.

None of those issues are scary enough to keep Lesley and David Kirrene from doting on their pets.

The Kirrenes, who live in Sacramento, Calif., share their bed every night with Austin, a 60-pound Australian shepherd, and a portly tabby, Sammy. Their other pooch, Reba, has no interest in joining them.

Until recently, David Kirrene had adamantly opposed the sleeping arrangements.

"To me, it just seemed like a sanitary thing. Animals in the bed? Would you start smelling like an animal?"

But Kirrene has changed his tune. Austin is his running partner, after all, and helps keep everyone warm on cold winter nights, he reasoned. "Now I call him up on the bed," he said.

The Realtor and his spouse are less keen on engaging in full-on smooches with their pets.

"I'll allow a little kiss on the face," Lesley Kirrene said, but she knows where to draw the line.

The Sacramento SPCA, where Lesley Kirrene works, holds an annual fundraiser that features a "kissing contest" involving animals and their owners, and some participants go overboard in the name of competition.

"Sometimes it's truly embarrassing," she said. "It's really hard to watch."

Chomel advises against such behavior.

Those who do choose to share bed and lip space with animals can avoid disease transmission by hand-washing, tooth-brushing, regular veterinary care and good overall hygiene, he said.

"Certainly I am a pet lover, but my pets have never been in my bed," said Chomel. As for doggie and kitty licks and kisses, he said, "You could do it, but I'm not sure your husband will want to kiss you after that."

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Pet or paramour? - Columbia Daily Tribune

Posted: 30 Jan 2011 04:55 AM PST

Your sweetheart or your pet: Who would you choose to dump if one had to go?

Most current pet owners said they would hold on to their spouse or significant other (84 percent), but a sizable 14 percent picked their pet, according to an AP-Petside.com poll.

Put Sally Roland, 53, of Omaha, Neb., down in the dog-first column. "I'm divorced, so that might explain it," she joked.

The unmarried, like Roland, are more apt to choose their pet over their mate — 25 percent among unmarried pet owners versus 8 percent among the married.

Count Fidel Martinez, 30, of Akron, Ohio, as forever loyal to Killer. That's his mix-breed, 100-pound rescue dog.

"I would absolutely give up my girlfriend for him," Martinez said. "I know it sounds insane, but I've had numerous relationships with women. My dog has never let me down."

For the record: Martinez and Killer have been together for seven years. Martinez and his girlfriend have been together for four. The two-legged pair have no immediate plans to cohabitate, he said, but she does like the dog a lot.

Women are far more apt than men to say the human-pet choice would be a tough one (40 percent among women compared with 26 percent among men).

Both genders were equally likely to go with their spouse or significant other, according to the poll conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications.

There also was no difference between dog and cat owners: 35 percent of each said the choice would be a hard one, and more than eight in 10 would choose their spouse.

Urban dwellers (47 percent) are more apt to say they would have a difficult time choosing than did suburbanites (35 percent) or rural residents (25 percent).

Giving up a pet for any reason can be really tough — unless you are the owners of Princess, the canine escape artist.

David Rosenthal and his family in Missouri City, Texas, were ready with what they considered an ideal fenced backyard when they welcomed the 2-year-old American Eskimo from a shelter. Then things went from pretty good to not at all.

"She kept getting away," he said. "She'd dig underneath the fence, sneak out through every little crack. It would usually take about an hour or so to corral her."

Even worse, the 49-year-old Rosenthal discovered the hard way that the bushy sago palm plants in the backyard were poisonous to dogs — and humans, too. Princess sampled them and nearly died. Treatment cost about $2,000.

"Plus she was nipping at kids," said Rosenthal, who has three. "We were told it was friendly to kids." So off Princess went, back to the shelter after a year. "It was sad, but we knew there was already somebody there to adopt her."

The family now has two other rescue dogs.

About six in 10 adults (57 percent) have had to give up a pet at some point in their lives, with current pet owners (64 percent) a bit more likely to have done so.

The most common reasons had to do with the pet's health: 69 percent said their pet was too sick to live on, 52 percent too sick to be cared for at home. But there are other reasons as well, including about one in 10 (9 percent) who, like Rosenthal, said their animal was too dangerous to keep.

One-third (34 percent) of current pet owners said it would be "extremely" or "very" difficult if they were forced to choose between a pet and a family member who became allergic. Another 20 percent would find the choice somewhat difficult, and 46 percent said it would be "not too difficult" or "not difficult at all."

Christopher Hampton, 67, in Bellingham, Wash., has loved Pembroke Welsh corgis since he was a kid. He had a 5-year-old he had raised from a pup when he and his wife realized 40 years ago that their year-old son's asthma was dangerously exacerbated by their pet.

"I couldn't give up my son, so that was it," Hampton said.

The AP-Petside.com Poll was conducted Oct. 13 to 20 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. It involved landline and cell phone interviews with 1,501 adults nationwide, including 1,000 pet owners. Results among all adults have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points; for results among pet owners, it is 4.0 percentage points.

This article was published on page E4 of the Sunday, January 30, 2011 edition of The Columbia Daily Tribune. Click here to Subscribe.

Pets Zone

Sunday, January 30, 2011