HOME HEALTH GUIDE

Putaruru Press, Volume XXI, Issue 1239, 17 July 1947, Page 2

HOME HEALTH GUIDE

CATS AND DISEASE (By Department of Health) Are cats safe -pets for little children? The answer is in the affirmative. Cats are fairly resistant to many of our human diseases. Very raroly indeed they have been found tuberculous, but thi a has been traceable to tuberculous infected! meat or milk fed to 'the cat. They, can gut undulant fever if fed on infected- -milk. -You -need net worry about risks of these diseases from! cats. But they do get ringworm, and, if so, readily infect anyone handling them. And they do get a few worms, some of which affect human beings. You can guard- against transmission o-f these two troublas. As to worms and possible infection, keep food for human consumption safely shut away from the cat, and teach children to wash hands after playing with the animal and (before eating food. This will keep any risk i"om worms down to a very small l one. As regards ringworm, inspect the cat’s fur and skin at reenjlar intervals. If the fur is shiny, and the skin soft and supiple without scaliness or dry patches with lustreless and broken hairs, the chances are that all’s wall. . At the first sign of a ringworm in the children look to the cat. If yon , keep these two points in mind, B cat is a fair enough pet for a child. You have to taka -some risks in life, and it would be a shame to deny animal pelts to children because of. disease risks. -Better to know the risks, take steps to overcome them and have the children learn kindliness to and the care of animals. As a matter of fact, keeping pets and -breeding them is an excellent lead in to sex educatioQl for town children. Rural children observe nature’s breeding methods’ and usually have a sane approach to sex. Town children can get the same matter-of-fact and normal -altitude by observing and breeding pets. Lastly, cats do not transmit) diphtheria. .