Wait–What??? Your Dogs Kisses Can Kill You? Study Says “Yes”
Get ready for this, Berkshire County! I'm speaking to all animal lovers, but more specifically, dog owners. According to a new study, letting your canine companion lick your face could be a super BAD idea!
According to a story from the Daily Mail, recently in Europe, a joint team of researchers at the University of Lisbon and the UK Royal Veterinary College tested stool samples from 85 dogs and found something very surprising.
According to the samples they tested, approximately 17% contained a super strain of E. coli. In other words, a "superbug", that is resistant to antibiotics. BTW, in addition to dogs, researchers also tested cats and humans. Out of the three though, dogs had the largest share of infected poop.
Interestingly, humans didn't fare much better. Around 13% of the human stool samples tested showed the same super strain of E. coli, so let's not look down our noses at our beloved pooches.
Perhaps not surprisingly(at least to cat owners), our feline friends fared the best, according to the study. Compared to 85 dogs, only 18 cats were given the stool sample test, so the numbers are smaller, but only 5% showed any trace of the super strain. That makes cats the most sanitary of the three groups tested.
Also, just so you know, everyone(animal and human) in the study appeared to be healthy, so it may not be that big of a deal. However, considering that cats and dogs not only clean their butts with their tongues, but some of them eat their own poop, experts say it's still a good idea not to let your pets lick your face.
For more on the story, and the study itself, check out the Daily Mail's website here.