Hands up if you’re guilty of loving your pet pooch so much you could just cuddle them forever? We all love our pet pooches a lot, which normally involves a lot of hugs, pats, belly rubs and kisses from both parties! And though we’ve heard it from doctors and our own mothers a lot before in the past to not let Fido lick our face, there’s some news about the reality of what that could mean for our health that might just change things forever!
According to some facts from a doctor over in the US, kissing our dogs, or more to the point, letting them kiss (lick) us on the face is a bit of a biological no-no because of what it could mean for us down the track!
Doctor Neilanjan Nandi who appeared in an interview with the New York Times recently, said it’s not a wives’ tale about the health risks associated with allowing our pet dogs, or any dogs for that matter get up close and personal with your gob.
In fact, it is potentially one of the most unhealthy things you can do with your four-legged buddy. The doctor – who’s an assistant professor of medicine at the Drexel University of Medicine in the US – says that animals’ mouths are a breeding ground for bacterial danger.
‘[Dogs’ saliva is] an enormous oral microbiome of bacteria, viruses and yeast,’ he said.
In lay mans’ terms, dogs’ saliva contains lots of bacteria to help clean and heal any wounds they may have sustained on their bodies. It’s a physiological throwback to the time when our domesticated house pets would’ve lived in packs, hunted, fought and endured lots of nicks and scratches.
Because of these properties in their mouths and the zoonotic nature of the bacteria – meaning it can be spread from animals to humans – it’s probably best if you keep them away from any moist openings to your body like your mouth and eyes. If your looking for kisses, try sticking to that special someone!