Where has the meaningful word'caution' gone !

[Bellbird]

There was once a time when the word 'caution' was given when kissing animals, birds, in fact it was discouraged especially kissing them on their face or they licking yours was a real no no, for obvious reasons. It is a well known fact, or it should be, that our 'pets' and any other animal/bird, can carry disease.
So many animals are treated like humans these days with no thought to the fact you could be putting yourself at risk to catch a disease from them. While some of these diseases are not transferred to humans, not yet anyway, there are a few that are.
One such case was right on my doorstep, a friend called one day and we duly leaned on the fence to watch the steers grazing. they were used to humans so it was nothing for them to come up. Friend was eating a banana and decided he would feed it to a steer, he was warned not to that they did carry disease if you were bitten or their saliva touched your skin.
It wouldn't happen to him he reckoned, he felt the steer's tooth when it was grabbing the banana skin, thought nothing of it, within days his arm was swelling and his hand was up like a balloon and he himself was sweating profusely. To cut a long story short he was hospitalised for over 2 weeks, the surgeons were looking at cutting his hand off to prevent the disease from spreading any further. As it turns out he was very fortunate that modern medicine was able to contain the disease after his hand was opened up and inside was 'scraped'. We know it was the steer because the xrays showed a tooth imprint on his fingers.
While we love our pets they are animals after all.

 

[Em in Ohio]

There was once a time when the word 'caution' was given when kissing animals, birds, in fact it was discouraged especially kissing them on their face or they licking yours was a real no no, for obvious reasons. It is a well known fact, or it should be, that our 'pets' and any other animal/bird, can carry disease.
So many animals are treated like humans these days with no thought to the fact you could be putting yourself at risk to catch a disease from them. While some of these diseases are not transferred to humans, not yet anyway, there are a few that are.
One such case was right on my doorstep, a friend called one day and we duly leaned on the fence to watch the steers grazing. they were used to humans so it was nothing for them to come up. Friend was eating a banana and decided he would feed it to a steer, he was warned not to that they did carry disease if you were bitten or their saliva touched your skin.
It wouldn't happen to him he reckoned, he felt the steer's tooth when it was grabbing the banana skin, thought nothing of it, within days his arm was swelling and his hand was up like a balloon and he himself was sweating profusely. To cut a long story short he was hospitalised for over 2 weeks, the surgeons were looking at cutting his hand off to prevent the disease from spreading any further. As it turns out he was very fortunate that modern medicine was able to contain the disease after his hand was opened up and inside was 'scraped'. We know it was the steer because the xrays showed a tooth imprint on his fingers.
While we love our pets they are animals after all.

Do you know what disease he had?

 

[Murrmurr]

Dog and cat saliva destroys almost all bacterium harmful to humans. Viruses are a different story.

Cat's claws can pose a serious danger, though - especially outdoor cats - because they use their paws to bury their excrement.

 

[Remy]

My tabby gave me an attention bite right after she had eaten. She didn't mean it to go that far but I heard it snap as it punctured my skin. I cleaned the area but it got infected. I went to prompt care, antibiotics, a tetanus shot and I was OK. She's never done that again but I'm cautious.

I knew of a young man who got in a fist fight with another guy over a girl. They both ended up in the ER but lied about the cause. The one got a severely infected hand, when they operated, they found a tooth fragment. In the end he was OK but it was a long process and could have been avoided if he had told the truth.

 

[JaniceM]

I agree. My cats were always "little furry family members," but I always acknowledged they had germs. Even indoor cats use litter box, sleep on floors, etc.

I'm not sure if anyone would agree, but I also agreed with older relatives about not kissing little children or babies on the lips. People carry germs, too!!

 

[Judycat]

On TV commercials they sometimes show a dog profusely licking someone's face or someone kissing a cat. People really have to make the connection to where the dog's tongue has been and how a cat grooms itself. I said something online about never having kissed a cat and the whole forum hammered me into the ground. These are probably the same people who find nothing wrong with cleaning the litter box while eating a snack or never wash their hands after using a public bathroom. Ick.

 

[win231]

Well, I guess I've been lucky. Animals have been kissing me for almost 70 years. The only illnesses I've had were caused by people.
I've played rough with cats; I love making them crazy & my hands & arms have been bloody countless times.
My Yellow Lab liked to wrestle & he'd grab my hand & shake it.
Once when I fed my Boa Constrictor, I didn't get my hand out of his enclosure quickly enough. He was really hungry & he grabbed my hand instead of the rat. A 12-foot Boa has 80 large, sharp teeth & that's how many punctures there were. I had to wait until he realized his mistake & let go & apologized.
Never had any infection from any animal.