Monday, March 23, 2009

Dog Kisses......

Lucy, from the Peanuts cartoon, might just be right.

She always exclaimed, "Yuck, I have been kissed by a dog!"

Some of us find doggie kisses rather cute, and do not flinch when our dog lavishes us with licks.

FACT or FICTION: Is a dog's mouth cleaner than a human’s?
(I will not make you scroll down to the bottom to find out.)

Here is what I found from Dr. Jon, the veterinarian:

FICTION. This misconception regarding the cleanliness of dog's mouths probably originated from the thought that most diseases are species specific. This means that most communicable canine diseases, with the exception of rabies, do not generally affect humans. While it is true that dog bites are less likely to transmit a communicable disease to a human, they are still quite capable of causing an infection.

Dog's mouths are filled with all kinds of bacteria, depending of course upon what the dog had in its mouth recently. When you consider that dogs use their mouths much like people use their hands, the bacteria counts in their mouths can be quite high.

Next time you get kissed, think about what was your dog eating or licking before he placed that kiss upon you?

YUCK! Says Lucy.

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