Comments on: Living with pets should require obsessive hand washing http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/10/07/living-with-pets-should-require-obsessive-hand-washing/ Blogging by a team of pet-care experts. Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:26:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Susan http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/10/07/living-with-pets-should-require-obsessive-hand-washing/comment-page-1/#comment-476634 Susan Mon, 12 Oct 2009 02:59:50 +0000 http://www.petconnection.com/blog/?p=9346#comment-476634 Gina, I'm so there with you on the dog spit issue...in fact, I'm even worse. You see, Boston Terriers are determined not just to kiss you on the lips, but if they can catch you off guard, they can and will go right on past your lips and get really intimate. At this point, if I haven't developed antibodies to whatever Logan has, I should be dead. After handling raw food or poop, though, out comes the antibacterial soap. Gina, I’m so there with you on the dog spit issue…in fact, I’m even worse. You see, Boston Terriers are determined not just to kiss you on the lips, but if they can catch you off guard, they can and will go right on past your lips and get really intimate. At this point, if I haven’t developed antibodies to whatever Logan has, I should be dead.

After handling raw food or poop, though, out comes the antibacterial soap.

]]> By: Deanna http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/10/07/living-with-pets-should-require-obsessive-hand-washing/comment-page-1/#comment-476630 Deanna Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:55:20 +0000 http://www.petconnection.com/blog/?p=9346#comment-476630 As a physical therapist assistant, I work with a lot of really sick people and am in close physical contact with them. I wash my hands a lot.... at work. (I also see how poorly people wash their own hands and what they touch after using the toilet. Ewww. Piece of advice: let the faucet run after washing in a public restroom and use the towels you've used to dry your hands to turn it off. Then get a fresh towel to open the bathroom door.) Frankly, I'm way more worried about bringing a bug home from work to my dogs and bird than I am catching anything from them! People are way more disgusting than my regularly bathed animals. As for contact with horses, I considered it to be an immune-boosting experience. (Afterall, all sorts of fecal matter is in barn dust — can't avoid it!) If a person is that hung-up about hygiene, horses are not for them! Why is anyone touching the feces of anything directly anyway except by accident? Ewww. Kim, "bots" isn't a disease, but bot flys do lay their eggs on horses' legs. I could explain the whole life-cycle of the bot fly, which includes the horse ingesting the eggs unless the caretaker scrapes them off, but I have a feeling it'd be TMI. :-) Carry on. As a physical therapist assistant, I work with a lot of really sick people and am in close physical contact with them. I wash my hands a lot…. at work. (I also see how poorly people wash their own hands and what they touch after using the toilet. Ewww. Piece of advice: let the faucet run after washing in a public restroom and use the towels you’ve used to dry your hands to turn it off. Then get a fresh towel to open the bathroom door.)

Frankly, I’m way more worried about bringing a bug home from work to my dogs and bird than I am catching anything from them! People are way more disgusting than my regularly bathed animals. As for contact with horses, I considered it to be an immune-boosting experience. (Afterall, all sorts of fecal matter is in barn dust — can’t avoid it!) If a person is that hung-up about hygiene, horses are not for them!

Why is anyone touching the feces of anything directly anyway except by accident? Ewww.

Kim, “bots” isn’t a disease, but bot flys do lay their eggs on horses’ legs. I could explain the whole life-cycle of the bot fly, which includes the horse ingesting the eggs unless the caretaker scrapes them off, but I have a feeling it’d be TMI. :-)

Carry on.

]]> By: Colorado Transplant http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/10/07/living-with-pets-should-require-obsessive-hand-washing/comment-page-1/#comment-476548 Colorado Transplant Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:20:51 +0000 http://www.petconnection.com/blog/?p=9346#comment-476548 I have to use Jason's Satin Soap and Jason's Vitamin E creme or else the skin on my fingers and hands crack and turn red. I do especially wash my hands after touching cat kibble--afraid of salmonella. It is very dry in this semi-arid where I live so my hands would be dry, anyway--especially with winter almost here. I have to use Jason’s Satin Soap and Jason’s Vitamin E creme or else the skin on my fingers and hands crack and turn red.

I do especially wash my hands after touching cat kibble—afraid of salmonella.

It is very dry in this semi-arid where I live so my hands would be dry, anyway—especially with winter almost here.

]]> By: mare http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/10/07/living-with-pets-should-require-obsessive-hand-washing/comment-page-1/#comment-476537 mare Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:35:17 +0000 http://www.petconnection.com/blog/?p=9346#comment-476537 Interesting. I've always considered my self neurotic about having clean hands but never because of my companion animals unless something gross happened (and gross is gross and ergo can not be neurosis). Even then it was because it was gross and not because it was them. Interesting. I’ve always considered my self neurotic about having clean hands but never because of my companion animals unless something gross happened (and gross is gross and ergo can not be neurosis). Even then it was because it was gross and not because it was them.

]]> By: Phyllis DeGioia http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/10/07/living-with-pets-should-require-obsessive-hand-washing/comment-page-1/#comment-476531 Phyllis DeGioia Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:21:29 +0000 http://www.petconnection.com/blog/?p=9346#comment-476531 Exactly. I'd have to live in the kitchen sink to wash after touching a dog. Exactly. I’d have to live in the kitchen sink to wash after touching a dog.

]]> By: Gina Spadafori http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/10/07/living-with-pets-should-require-obsessive-hand-washing/comment-page-1/#comment-476521 Gina Spadafori Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:15:50 +0000 http://www.petconnection.com/blog/?p=9346#comment-476521 I wash my hands a lot lot lot lot lot. But I would never turn off the tap if I washed when exposed to dog spit. So that ... I takes my chances. I wash my hands a lot lot lot lot lot. But I would never turn off the tap if I washed when exposed to dog spit. So that … I takes my chances.

]]> By: Leslie K http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/10/07/living-with-pets-should-require-obsessive-hand-washing/comment-page-1/#comment-476520 Leslie K Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:55:13 +0000 http://www.petconnection.com/blog/?p=9346#comment-476520 I'm a compulsive hand washer too,I think its just common sense ! All of our grocery stores have wipes by the carts for the handles & seats & sanitizer. They also have it by the meat & fish depts. I also carry wipes & sanitizer in my purse & car.And yes my hands are always chapped. I’m a compulsive hand washer too,I think its just common sense ! All of our grocery stores have wipes by the carts for the handles & seats & sanitizer. They also have it by the meat & fish depts. I also carry wipes & sanitizer in my purse & car.And yes my hands are always chapped.

]]> By: K.B. http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/10/07/living-with-pets-should-require-obsessive-hand-washing/comment-page-1/#comment-476519 K.B. Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:47:52 +0000 http://www.petconnection.com/blog/?p=9346#comment-476519 Washing after feces exposure (such as cleaning the litter box) is sound "germ management". But after exposure to the animal itself? We should wash "after contact with dogs, dog saliva"? Then why have an animal at all? If I washed after every contact with my dog or his saliva, I too would have cracked, bleeding hands, which, of course, actually increases one's chance of getting an infection. Washing after feces exposure (such as cleaning the litter box) is sound “germ management”. But after exposure to the animal itself? We should wash “after contact with dogs, dog saliva”?

Then why have an animal at all? If I washed after every contact with my dog or his saliva, I too would have cracked, bleeding hands, which, of course, actually increases one’s chance of getting an infection.

]]> By: Phyllis DeGioia http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/10/07/living-with-pets-should-require-obsessive-hand-washing/comment-page-1/#comment-476517 Phyllis DeGioia Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:00:28 +0000 http://www.petconnection.com/blog/?p=9346#comment-476517 Washing hands after cleaning up feces is not obessive at all, but smart. It's my OCD preference to wash my hands after eating an apple, touching something slightly sticky, etc that puts me into OCD territory. Glad to know I'm not alone! Grocery carts and public bathroom door handles are a real concern for me. Washing hands after cleaning up feces is not obessive at all, but smart. It’s my OCD preference to wash my hands after eating an apple, touching something slightly sticky, etc that puts me into OCD territory.

Glad to know I’m not alone! Grocery carts and public bathroom door handles are a real concern for me.

]]> By: Kiolva http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/10/07/living-with-pets-should-require-obsessive-hand-washing/comment-page-1/#comment-476509 Kiolva Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:13:00 +0000 http://www.petconnection.com/blog/?p=9346#comment-476509 I'm not frequent hand-washer. I have a cat and I wash hands after him only when I'm going to eat. I’m not frequent hand-washer. I have a cat and I wash hands after him only when I’m going to eat.

]]>