DANGERS OF DOMESTIC PETS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 450, 9 February 1909, Page 4

DANGERS OF DOMESTIC PETS.

k- How to Protect Ciiiidren I from Infection.

I Very many of the lower animals I are dangerous to man from the j. fact that their parasites and clisr eases cau be transferred to him I (says “ T.F.M.” in the London [ Daily Mail). In a double sense I, 1 this is true, of our domestic pets, I, the cat 1 and the dog, because of I . their roaming habits. That they carry diseases, such as diphtheria, from house to house has been coni', clusively proved.

How much ol the sickness ot children may be due to them is unknown, but medical men are coming to believe that they are tesponi sible for a considerable amount. It is desirable to use more care than we commonly do in the matter of domestic pets. Dogs and cats, in the thoroughly hygienic home, should never be allowed to lie on chairs and couches, and,, and where cbil-

dren are in the house these anir mals should not be allowed into ■ any room in which the children sit or play on the floor. To admit cats and dogs to sleeping rooms is a very dangerous practice, for one is exposed all s night, at the lime when least able to resist it, to whatever infection the animals spread around. Above all, the domestic pets should be kept out of the kitchen, and every place where food • is • Stored or prepared. Children should not be permitted to kiss or rub their faces to animals of any kind, and if they touch them with their hands the hands should always be washed before being used for the purposes • of eating. This may seem an unnecessary warning. But it should be remembered that it is only within a comparatively short time we have found the part played in causing disease to human beings by mosquitoes (malaria), rats (plague),

flies (tyhoid fever), cats and fowls (diphtheria), and even cows (tur berculosis and probably diphtheria and scarlet fever). The flea is now under grave suspicion, and this nuisance we owe to the dog, who is its natural host.