Seems while so many of us DVMs and other veterinary professionals were meeting, sharing and learning at the North American Veterinary Conference in Orlando this week, our MD colleagues decided to grab the stage and tell you that pets aren’t really that good for you after all. One story says you should be more worried about your pet than bedbugs; another declares that sleeping with your pet can kill you. Yes, kill you. And no, I’m not making that up: That was the headline, and the story didn’t bother to note that having a tree fall on your house or a car crash through your window can kill you, too, and it’s probably about as likely.
Only in one story does the writer get around to mentioning that a few basic precautions will minimize any problems to the point of being of little to no concern at all. And even that’s at the end. The basic precautions mentioned are nothing more than routine advice from veterinarians.
As I like to put it to the pet-lovers I talk to: Lose the risk, keep the pet. Even on the bed, and I am sure it won’t surprise you to know that pets are on the bed in my home.
But of course, telling you that your healthy, well-mannered pet presents little disease risk to you wouldn’t make headlines, would it? Nor would pointing out that while bedbugs have no “up side” — unless you’re in the business of exterminating them — pets always do. The body of work showing the many ways sharing our lives with pets helps us being happier and healthier is not only incontrovertible but it’s also growing all the time. I would love to do a new edition of my best-seller “The Healing Power of Pets” just to update with all the pet-positive new information that has come out since it was published.
So should you worry?
There is a small point of importance to all these scary non-stories, and it’s that preventive care is important for your health as well as for your pet’s.
Did you know that veterinarians are charged with protecting the public health as well as animal health? It’s true: Here’s the Veterinarian’s Oath. And that’s why we’re often in a better position to advise on how keeping pets healthy protects people, too. Because let’s be honest: Not many people are going to toss their pets off their beds. And in the majority of cases, you don’t have to, as long as your pet is healthy. That means regular check-ups to catch illness early and veterinary-recommended parasite control as needed — no fleas, ticks or worms. That means clean pets frequently bathed, and it means keeping picking up after pets and keeping the yard and litter box clean, too.
Unfortunately, a study released at NAVC says pet-lovers are cutting back on preventive care for economic reasons. That’s just plain bad medicine, and it’s a trend that needs to be reversed.
Pets aren’t going anywhere, and it’s long past the time for public health experts on the human side to give up any idea that they will — or they should. Instead of spreading dire scares through the sensational media machine, I call on my colleagues in human medicine to embrace pets, as their patients already have. And to continue to work with veterinarians to keep both animals and people safe, for the good of us all.
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