HOW PETS SPREAD DISEASE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 570, 24 May 1913, Page 7

HOW PETS SPREAD DISEASE.

ALARMING FaCTS ABOUT CHILDREN'S ILLNESSES. Everyday someone catches a disease from some home pet. Just because a cat or dog or some other pet is well looked after, has its coat brushed regularly, and so 011, it does not follow that it is clean and free from disease.

The sleek, eared-for tabby, for instance, is bound to go wandering over other people's fences and into other people's backyards, however much you may try to confine it. During these visits it comea in contact with dirty, infected cats, which are spreaders of disease.

A cat's fur is a first-class breeding place for germs Baby plays with the family pet—in fact, it is encouraged to do so, and when the little one gets

I diphtheria or measles every causa for | the infection is advanced —except ths | cat!

The reverse occurs, too. It often happen that when a child is ill with diphteria it ia allowed to play with the cat. The animal gets infected, mixed with other cats, and so spreads the disease. Many an epidemic of diphtheria could be traced to puss. It is a known fact, too, that cats carry tuberculosis and give it to human beings. A? one of the favourite ways of fondling a cat ia to pick it up and kiss it or rub it against he face, it is not to be wondered that the dread disease spreads.

Unfortunately, when a house is isolated with scarlet fever, say, no one ever thinks of isolating the cat. It is allowed to come and go just as it likes, and, despite every ordinary precaution, the disease spreads. Ad has been said, a cat's fur is an excellent breeding ground for microbes, and there is little doubt but that the cat is to blame for the way an epidemic starts in many cases. Children think nothing of picking up a stray cat and fondling, it and it is ten chances to one that the animal has beenwandering in all sorts of germ-laden places. Both dogs and cats are subject to ri igworm, and there is no doubt that this disagreeable disease which bo often appears on babies' heads is caught from these pets. Of course, the greatest danger from dogs is babies, a danger which has been thoroughly recognised, and against which precautions have been taken. Forms of diphtheria are known to exist in many animals. Calves suffer from a form of it which infects human beings. They have a habit of licking those who pet them, and spread the disease that way. Chickens, too, are often attacked by this disease, patches appearing in their mouths similar to those in the throat of a child.

Horses are petted as much as dogs or cats, and many people will even caress strange horses in the street. A disease that is rather common to horses is glanders, one of the most terrible diseases man can catch. It has a far worse effect on human beings than it has on horses, literally eating away the jaws and throat, and even the bones. Glanders in human beings, in fact, is worse than cancer, and nearly always fatal. How often have you stroked a horse's nose in the street? A horse suffering from glanders sneezes at intervals and scatters the germ all round. The disease spreads rapidly, and death from glanders is one of the most frightful known. It is never wise to pet a strange horse for that reason alone.

Anthrax is a disease from which sheep suffer. Human beings catch it from infected hides or Woo], and for that reason it is sometimes known as "wool-sorter's disease." It is extremely dangerous, giving rise to a form of blood poisoning. Woolly top animals made from natural wool are not always safe to give a child on that account.

Eye troubles are frequently caught from pets, too. Dogs and cats often have something the matter with their eyes,'but Deople fondle them without any thought o? the consequences. Whenever a pet has an eye affection the eyes should be washed with a strong solution of boracic acid.