Pet Sense (Archives)
All Creatures Animal Hospital
1894 Ohio Pike 797-(PETS)
Pregnant with a Pet, no problem.
We have 5 pregnant woman working now at All Creatures (can you guess who?) Since giving up their pets is not an option, we have some recommendations to avoid potential transmission of disease from your pets to you or your unborn child. Without a doubt, having pets is highly beneficial to the quality of our life. You can easily avoid possible dangerous exposures from pets while being pregnant. . Besides, pet owners are known to have lower blood pressure, less stress and better overall cardiovascular health than people in similar circumstances without pets. However, if you are pregnant and have companion animals, you should take some precautions to avoid potentially dangerous exposures:
1. Wash your hands frequently. This will help limit exposure to fleas, bacteria, irritant oils from poison oak and ivy, and infectious fungus like ringworm (all can be carried on your pet’s fur). To limit their exposure, consider keeping your dogs and cats out of wooded areas while you are pregnant.
2. Apply flea and heartworm prevention monthly. Monthly prevention is by far the easiest and best way to keep your home parasite free. Both cats and dogs can carry intestinal parasites prevented by monthly preventatives like Heartguard, frontline, Advantage Multi, and Revolution (cats). Not only will you be protecting your pet, but you will be protecting your family and newborn.
3. Keep ticks off your pets. Ticks Carry more than Lyme Disease. In fact, the most common tick-borne disease in our county. In fact Clermont County has the highest number of cases in Ohio of this disease. Have u guessed it yet? I am writing about Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF). RMSF is carried by the American Dog Tick, and infections are very common in Clermont counties tick season, between May 1st and July 31st. The tick will attach to pets or people and some will infect them with the RMSF microorganism. While outdoors make frequent inspections for ticks around the ears, armpits, and groin on yourself, all pets, and children.
• Use tweezers and hemostats when removing ticks, and wash-up after doing so.
• Apply a good quality flea and tick topical or collar to your pet on a regular basis and prior to hikes in high grass.
• Avoid high grassy area for your pet and yourself.
• Cut your dogs yard on a regular basis
4. Avoid being scratched by your cat. Cat scratch fever is a disease caused by a bacteria called Bartonella, It can cause swollen lymph nodes, joint pain and fever in people. Cats can be tested at All Creatures to determine if they are carriers of Bartonella.
5. Toxoplasmosis, a protozoan parasite found in soil and occasionally in cats feces, can be contracted through cleaning cat feces from an infected cats litter pan. Developing fetuses are especially at risk for severe disease; infection may result in miscarriage or stillbirth. Toxoplasmosis is located in the intestinal tract and sheds eggs which may pass in the stools. Publicity about this disease increased a few years ago because of the possibility of it being shed in the feces (stools) of the cat. The disease may cause congenital deformities in human infants, if a woman is infected after conception. Toxoplasmosis is transmitted by fecal contamination, transmitted before birth, or by eating uncooked, infected meat, such as by the ingestion of small animals, cockroaches, or birds infected with the disease. The eggs take one to five days to hatch after being produced by the adult stage of the organism.
Toxoplasmosis PREVENTIVE MEASURES:
• Prevent your pet’s access to birds and rodents.
• Feed only cooked or processed meats and other foods.
• Empty the litter box daily. Pregnant women should not handle cat litter boxes, even though there is nothing to worry about as long as the litter box is emptied daily!
• Wash your hands after handling the litter box.. Have your pets checked for parasites such as hookworm and intestinal roundworms - these can be passed from animals to humans through animal feces.
6. Check your pet for parasites. Cat and Dog Intestinal Worms can be transmitted to people. At All creatures we recommend having your pets checked for parasites with a stool sample twice annually. Common parasites such as intestinal hookworm and roundworms can be passed from animals to humans through feces.
