Sensible Exclusions

While I understand how much families love their pets, I've seen some truly hair raising activities that violate my cleanliness standards.

I saw a child share a lollipop with the family dog. Yes....child took a good suck on the candy then prsented it to the dog. The dog took a coupl eof healthy licks and the child returned the candy to his own mouth. EEEEYEW!

In another instance, a 6 month old baby was allowed to lie on the family room floor while the family dog, who had just been outside, licked the child's face and mouth. The child later developed diarrhea and the doctor said the illness was from a parasite the child got from the dog.

These instances rank right up there with taking medication without reading the directions and warnings, to me. Aren't manuals or books addressing "best practices" available for new pet owners?

Do you have a mental list of "sensible exclusions" or activities that pets never share with their human family?

None of that stuff you listed bothers me at all. We try too hard to keep our children in a sterile environment and thats not good. Children and adults get diarrhea from time to time. It's part of life.

I wouldn't encourage my children and my dog to share food, but I wouldn't freak out if it happened accidentally. My grandma used to say 'you have to eat a peck of dirt before you die' in other words we shouldn't be too fussy. That sort of attitude hasn't done me any harm and my children thrived without me stressing too much about such things.

As for things that my kids (they are older now) and pets didn't share, we have never had pets in the bedrooms, but other than that all I can think of is toys. We had a nasty incident with a Lego brick once when my toddler son tried to post it into the wrong end of a cat! All survived unharmed, but only because I supervised the children closely especially when the pets were around.

They are part of my family, all the family have rules to live by and that applies to the pets too. They do not go on the beds, they do not jump on the table or the worktops, they have their own bowls and anything they eat is put in their bowls in their feeding place, they are never allowed to eat off plates or to beg when we are eating. I know it sounds strict but really we are very relaxed about most things and I tend to agree with kernow about not stressing too much about occasional lapses in hygiene standards. I also agree with Kernow about the need to supervise children and pets closely when they are playing together.

It's a little like kids will be kids. How many little kids play in the dirt, find bugs and eat them? I'm not all that bothered about it either unless there is some obsessive behavior associated with it.

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Originally Posted by Sagemother

Do you have a mental list of "sensible exclusions" or activities that pets never share with their human family?

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Yes, no dog kisses for half an hour after they have been fed - they are raw fed and I don't want their meaty/fishy licks thanks, particularly being a vegetarian - YUK!

For the same reason [being veggie] I never let the dogs lick the human plates, bowls, cooking pots or cutlery either - I know it can all be washed etc but I just don't want their meaty tongues on my plates - YUK. The dogs have their own dishes, cutlery, storage containers etc., just for their raw meaty things they can lick those out no problem. They all get washed up separately too, in their own dog washing up bowl........

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Originally Posted by Sagemother

In another instance, a 6 month old baby was allowed to lie on the family room floor while the family dog, who had just been outside, licked the child's face and mouth. The child later developed diarrhea and the doctor said the illness was from a parasite the child got from the dog.

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I am with Bill in this one but this instance I think wouldn't happen here - mostly as we have cats and boths dogs have occasionally chomped on their poop!