A recent article published on the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions Emerging Infectious Disease says that sleeping and exchange mucous with your pet (kissing on the mouth) increases the risk of diseases and infections. The people most at risk are young children, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems like those with HIV or diabetes.
Many people may scoff at this idea or think it's absolutely ridiculous but there have been documented reports and events that prove that transmitting zoon tic agents (sicknesses transferred from animals to humans) is in fact true. You can get serious and life threatening conditions.
Getting sick from a family pet is rare but once you do get sick rare doesn't mean anything to you. According to the CDC, over 60% of human pathogens may have been transmitted from your cat or dog. As well as 100 out of 250 cases of zoon tic diseases have been transferred by a domesticated pet.
Over 50% of dog owners allow their pets to sleep with them in their beds.
It's not just dogs that may transfer these diseases, cats can too. In fact, more cat owners allow their pet to sleep with them on their bed. This may explain why there are more reported incidents of people getting infected with bacterial infections like Cat Scratch disease (Bartonelllosis) and Salmonellosis. Over 20,000 people (according to the CDC) in the U.S are diagnosed with Cat Scratch disease. Other infections you can get are protozoal infections, parasitic infections and fungal infections. A viral infection that can be transmitted from your cat is rabies.
Kissing Pets
If your pet kisses you, diseases can be easily transferable through their saliva. Especially if they kiss on open wounds and sores. The scariest thing is that over half of the victims affected by zoonotic diseases were children. Kids have the tendency to put their hands in their mouths without washing their hands after playing with the family pet.
What to Do
This doesn't mean you have to stop sleeping with your pets. If you take the extra measure to keep your pet healthy, the lower the risks is for infectious diseases to spread. If your child or have someone in your household with a compromised immune system, avoid having them sleep with the cat or dog. Keep your best free from parasites, fleas and worms. Regularly take your pet to the vet to get checked out to see if their healthy.
Just know that the risk of getting sick from your family pet is there, if you take good care of your pet's health, you can help reduce the risk of anyone else in your family getting sick as well.
Morgan Montgomery currently lives in San Francisco, training dogs and enjoying time spent with her family and friends. On her spare time she also enjoys yoga, cooking, traveling, eating delectable dishes, finding quirky restaurants and playing the piano.
