The worms crawl in...

The VBB Mailbag has been filling up again with tales of woe from our CBB (colleagues behaving badly...)

Here's one from the harried hands of Dr. CM:

Straight out of school, I started working for Banfield (don’t get me started).  In case you don’t know anything about this amoeba-like monstrosity, Banfield is a corporate run chain of hospitals located inside PetSmart stores.  This creates a weird dynamic between the PetSmart management and the hospital, as clients fail to understand that the two are independent of each other and routinely take their Banfield complaints to PetSmart management.  On the other hand, managers may come to us when faced with odd complaints themselves, as in this one instance.

PetSmart Manager: “Dr. can you talk to this guy?  He is on his way in, and he is on a rampage!  He is claiming the dog food we sold him gave his dog worms.”

Me:  “Sure, send him over when he gets here.”

Guy shows up and I hear him loudly discussing the issue with two of the PS managers.  In about 5 minutes, the original manager heads over to us with a baggy in her hand, angry guy trailing behind her.

She hands me the bag..

PS Manager:  “Here is the worm that Mr. Biofail found in his dog’s stool today.”

Me (taking a quick peek at the “worm”):  “Sir, I can absolutely guarantee that your dog did not get this worm from his food.  In fact, this worm did not come from your dog.”

Mr. Biofail:  “Yes, it did.  It was right there on his poop this morning.”

Me:  “I understand that, but there is NO WAY that this ALIVE, WIGGLING CATERPILLAR came from your dog.  It may have fallen from a tree onto the poop, or was already on the ground and crawled onto…”

Mr. Biofail (voice raised):  “This worm came from the dog food I bought here and I want a refund!!!”

Me:  “Well, you can take that up with PetSmart, but your dog did not eat this ALIVE worm from the food, have it travel all the through his GI tract, and then poop it out STILL ALIVE.  That is not possible.  So I will never say that the food you bought here gave your dog worms.”

Mr. Biofail proceeded to drive to another store with his happily wiggling caterpillar and try the same stunt.  Thankfully, the manager had alerted other local stores…..

Oral Hygiene

Ok, so raise your hands if you have heard that dogs have less germs in their mouths than people? Anyone? That is something I hear all of the time and I honestly have to shake my head. I mean, my dog uses her tongue as toilet paper. I don't want that thing anywhere near me. Seriously, it is almost as gross as someone handing me their cell phone, the one I heard them texting on in the bathroom stall.

However, some people persist in thinking that the germs in the mouths of animals won't transfer to people. And some people do nasty things like this guy who lets his dog drink out of his mouth.

The first time I ran across something like this was back in my college years. I was taking a history on a patient for the vet and the owner told me that she gave her dog steak. I advised that steak is often too high in fat and that it might cause a stomach ache. She told me not to worry...she pre-chewed each piece and sucked the fat off it it prior to giving it to Poochy. Ok, that is weird in and of itself. It smacks of someone that would cart around one of those reborn dolls and insist on changing its diaper. Ms Sally Sharesaliva then proceeded to take a starlight mint out of her mouth and let her dog lick it a few times and then she PUT IT BACK IN HER MOUTH. OMG! I think I just threw up in my mouth a little. No, seriously, I'll be right back.

Ok, did you have a chance to cogitate on that while I was busy scrubbing out my mouth? Feeling ok?

By the next time I heard something like this, the miraculous website, Youtube had been invented (it was sometime after Al Gore invented the internet) and I could torture both my husband and myself with visual proof that common sense is not common. Hence the video above.

So, I am kind of a public health junkie and I love to talk about zoonotic diseases. Those are the diseases that can be shared between humans and other animals. In fact veterinarians are prone to reel off information about these diseases in most exam situations. This is because the clients' health is a concern just is their pets' well being.

One of my favorite public health websites, besides the CDC website, is the Worms and Germs blog on our blogroll. In my preparation for a lecture I am giving, I have been perusing current information and statistics on various diseases. Low and behold I ran across the article, Severe Pasteurella Infections from Palliative Pet Care by Dr. Scott Weese. It has some details of some case reports where humans got a severe form of a bacterial infection from kissing their pets on the mouth/head and/or sharing food. Icky dance!!

The moral of the story...don't let your pet drink out of your mouth. Or use your toothbrush. Or eat off of your fork. I am serious. And please, for the love all all things squirmy and wormy, do not let your puppy lick your child's face.