Zoonotic Diseases:
Diseases you could get from your Pet
A service of the FoxNest Veterinary Hospital...Caring for Pets since 1984
Lift Up Your Hearts To The Lord
Zoonotic Diseases:
Diseases Humans can get from Pets:
Luckily this is not a big problem in the United States, partly because of rigorous elimination and vaccination programs over the last century, especially in our food animals, and partly because of our temperate climate which means a limited number of parasites and insect transmitters.
Also take a moment to appreciate what we so often take for granted; clean water and good control of our wastes.
There are three other reasons that the spread of disease from pets to humans is minimal in prosperous countries like the U.S. : We vaccinate our pets. We minimize the parasites on our pets through regular deworming and control of fleas and ticks. And we feed our pets high quality diets as opposed to some countries where pets have to scavenge through dumps, garbage, and animal corpses for their daily meals.
I mention this partly to stimulate you to do your part; go to the effort and expense to keep your pet well vaccinated, dewormed, and parasite free.
Help minimize the stray pet problem by neutering and spaying all pets that you don't want to breed on purpose.
And please donate money to your local shelters so they can keep their programs operating.
You can donate to our no kill shelter by clicking on the donation buttom above. For more information about our shelter, go to www.ARF-SC.org
One more comment before listing and describing some of the diseases that you could conceivably get from pets.
It's natural when reading such lists to think "Oh my God, I'm never touching a pet again!"
Remember that these problems are rare, are easily prevented in most cases, and to say something nice about our government for a change, most of the diseases we need to worry about are well controlled and in many cases nearly eliminated by our vigilant government agencies, many of which are staffed with veterinarians.
Another way to put this in perspective is to imagine that I listed and described all the terrible things that might happen to you from having sex, or kissing, or eating in a public place.
Would you think "Oh my God, I'm never kissing, eating or having sex in a public place again?" Ha. Please don't read too much into my analogy or accuse me of encouraging sex, God Forbid, I'm just trying to lighten things up a little.
I've listed the diseases you can get from pets below and on your left.
Rabies: Everyone knows, of course, that rabies is a deadly disease that you get from being bitten by any warm blooded animal carrying the disease.
What you need to know is pretty basic: Keep your pets vaccinated; the vaccines are very successful and are legally required in the United States.
Another thing to know is that if you are bitten by a pet; first wash out the bite wound well (the rabies virus is killed by most antiseptics) , and if you're not sure if the animal that bit you has a current rabies vaccination, call a physician.
And most of all, be careful in handling wild animals...the biggest carriers of rabies are foxes, coons, skunks, woodchucks, squirrels, feral cats, and bats.
This advice is especially important to all of you kind hearted people that rescue injured and sick wild animals and try to catch wild cats. Be Careful Out There.
For more about rabies disease, please go to our infectious disease section of this site about rabies
For really in depth information on rabies as well as most other zoonotic and contagious diseases, visit the great web site of the Center for Disease Control at www.CDC.gov
Heartworms:
Heartworm and other rarer forms of microfilaria can infect humans.
This is not common.
The parasite is spread by mosquitoes and while most of us have immune systems that successfully fight off the disease, the disease is sometimes the winner.
Immune suppressed people, especially aids and other cancer patients are most susceptible.
The organism is apparently mutating and adapting to other species...we are finding the disease in cats and now in people.
Keep your pets on heartworm preventive. And please visit our page about the prevention and treatment of heartworm disease in pets
Visit our interesting pages of letters and articles on our No Kill Shelter Site. Includes "Pets in the White House",
and The "Cat Man" Story,
On This Page:
Introduction, Comments and Information about the possible diseases you might get from a pet:
Rabies
Heartworms in people
On Other Pages:
malaria, yellow fever, encephalitis, plague, heartworms, Rift Valley Fever, Lymes Disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Tick Paralysis, Monkey Pox, etc
Coccidia; a protozoan parasite causing diarrhea and other problems in puppies and kittens
Giardia; an amoebic parasite causing diarrhea, nausea, and other problems in pets
Cryptosporidia; another parasite that causes diarrhea in pets and humans
Heartworms; a parasite spread by mosquitos that causes severe heart, vascular, and respiratory disease in dogs, cats, and maybe humans.
Denistry: why oral hygiene and health is so important and what you can do about it
Dermatology: How I treat skin diseases in pets
Orthopedics: How I treat arthritis, pannus, hip dysplasia, and other problems of the bones and joints
Ear problems and the miracle treatment Zymox
Ophthalmology: Eye Problems discussed
Metabolic Diseases like Diabetes, Cushings Disease, Addison's Disease, and Thyroid Disease
Cardiology: Heart problems in cats and dogs
History of Veterinary Medicine in the United States
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Ringworm
