HOME TREATMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 68, 22 March 1933, Page 13

HOME TREATMENT.

DOGS AND CHILDREN. (By PERITUS.) "Doggy" persons are usually childless, and for that reason are apt to regard the friendliness of their pets for the children of other people with a tolerant eye. Children are often unwarned of the danger of too close association with dogs, and a puppy frequently gets mors caresses than a teddy bear. There are several parasites communicated to children by dogs, some very dangerous. The prevention of hydatid disease can be readily secured by the destruction of all offal. Dogs should not be allowed to enter slaughter-houses, nor eat uncooked offal. Dog kennels and areas where dogs are chained up should be scalded at intervals with boiling water, which easily kills the eggs of the tapeworm. The excreta of (logs should be regularly collected and burnt. Ownerless and useless dogs should be destroyed. Do not allow dogs to enter the house, play, with children, lick the hands or face, and never feed them at one's own meal time nor from utensils used by human beings. Prevent dogs from access to any water which is used for drinking by man, and never drink any water from unprotected ponds or streams unless it has been boiled. Keep dogs, away from kitcheu gardens. If salads are required, wash thoroughly all such vegetables leaf by loaf in running water. It is safer to avoid salads from unknown and unprotected sources. The dog and the horse are the best animal friends of man; but always they arc of less value than any child. If the child must have a living pet to play with, a rabbit or guinea pig, or monkey, is safer, and your own dog is not necessarily cleaner internally than your neighbour's. Dogs on our beaches are a definite danger, particularly when on that part unwashed regularly by the tide. Keep your child away from sand where dogs have been, and do not roll in it yourself when "sunning" after I bathing.