Zoonotic Diseases

Enjoy Your Pet!  There are so many health benefits of owning a pet and their companionship can brighten anyone’s day.  Pets are family members and they bring so much enjoyment to our lives.

 Keep Your Pet Healthy!  Whatever type of pet you have, providing regular life-long veterinary care is part of keeping your pet healthy and your family too.  It is important to keep your pet’s vaccines up-to-date, along with regular deworming, and tick and flea control.

 Keep Your Family Healthy!  Your pet can carry germs that can spread to family members.  Pets who host ticks can spread serious diseases like Lyme Disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.  Have your veterinarian treat your dogs and cats, especially young animals, regularly for worms.  This is especially important if your pet spends time outdoors where they may become infected again.  Rabies can sadly take your pet’s life and be deadly to humans as well. Get your pet, especially dogs, cats, and other mammals, vaccinated for rabies by a licensed veterinarian.

 The Center for Disease Control recommends

•  Households with children under 5 years of age should not own reptiles, such as turtles, or amphibians, such as frogs.
• Pregnant women should avoid contact with pet rodents to prevent exposure to lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, which is a virus that can cause birth defects.
• Pregnant women should avoid adopting or handling stray cats, especially kittens. They particularly should not clean litter boxes to avoid getting toxoplasmosis(http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/prevent.html) from them.
• Immune-compromised persons and persons with HIV(http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/brochures/pets.htm) infection or AIDS should take extra precautions when choosing and handling pets.

Practice Good Hygiene Around Your Pet!

• Always wash hands upon leaving areas where animals live:  chicken coops, barns, stalls, and any pet bedding.  Even if you did not touch an animal, wash your hands prior to using the restroom, before eating and drinking, and before preparing food or drinks.
• Make sure to remove your dog’s feces from your yard or public places by using a device or bag, and dispose of in proper areas.  Dog feces contain many types of bacteria, some of which can be harmful to people.
• Make sure to clean your cat’s litter box daily and dispose of properly.
• Keep young children away from areas that may contain dog or cat feces to prevent the spread of roundworms and hookworms.  Also, cover sandboxes so cats don’t use them as a litter box.

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