Can sleeping with your pets make you sick?

[RockaFowler]

http://www.wptv.com/dpp/lifestyle/pets/can-sleeping-with-your-pets-make-you-sick-wews1295351088080

Now I don't let the dogs sleep with us, but they do kiss us. Now I'm scared . . .

[sakabatou]

1. No, but if they have ticks/flease...

[undeterred]

2. I think you can catch worse stuff sleeping with human beings.

:hide:

[mike_c]

16. bingo-- I'll worry about sleeping with my cats when they're the most LIKELY source...

...of disease transmission in my bed!

[hunter]

3. I'm happy sleeping with dogs.

Most of the genes we carry around belongs to bacteria anyways.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=gut-bacteria-gene-complement-d

Might as well share. Makes everyone stronger.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Not sleeping with pets might make me sick, or at least sad.

Cats have been allowing me to sleep with them for the last 35 years and I wouldn't have it any other way. And we never got any diseases from each other.

[nolabear]

5. It is very, very unusual to catch something from your cat or dog.

Vaccinate them. The one thing they mention that might cross the species barrier is leptospirosis and it's in the vaccine they get. If you're pregnant stay away from the litter box and maybe use a little caution because toxoplasmosis can compromise a pregnancy and cats can carry it. But it's still rare.

Cats' claws and teeth carry a lot of bacteria and bites can go bad in an instant (my poor husband had to go to the ER a couple of years back when a friend's cat bit him) but how often does that happen? Dogs' feet and mouths come in contact with all kinds of things we'd best not think about but we are tough a a species and are a much greater danger to ourselves than animals are to us.

I say this as a former wildlife rehab person who also worked for vets and needed to know this stuff. I actually don't sleep with my pets but it's just because they bug me.

[Codeine]

6. I slept with a dog in my bed every night

from the time my bed was a crib until I was 16. Never a problem beyond dealing with a bed-hogging chihuahua. :)

[Kablooie]

7. Depends what kind of pet. Certain bacterias make very dangerous pets.

[MiddleFingerMom]

8. Some people said that sleeping with my grandmother made me sick.

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You shoulda heard 'em when we tried to make it legal and get married.
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[bluesbassman]

9. You now owe me a new keyboard!

:spray: :rofl:

[TreasonousBastard]

10. My outdoor cat came in with a tick that gave me Lyme, then...

she rolled around in poison ivy before curling up on my arm while I was sleeping.

She is now an indoor cat.

[hunter]

13. Ouch. I forgot about the poison ivy/oak

Our dogs have done that. If there's even a chance they've been romping through the poison oak they have to have a bath.

They don't get that at all. Or after rolling in dead things and they think they smell so nice.

[dembotoz]

11. allergies

I have a mild? allergy to cats. If i have to spend the night at where the kids live and my favorite cat snuggles up for the evening (allergies more of a problem now than before) i do find that i have a rash and sometimes need my asthma inhaler by morning.
So i guess the cats make me sick.

[AngryAmish]

12. Schizophrenia may become manifest when one is exposed to cat feces

Shred of truth to the "crazy cat lady" stereotype.

(and yes, I am making huge jumps past the science to make a gratuitous slur against cat owners)

[Ptah]

14. I heard somewhere that

sleeping with the fishes is not a healthy situation.

[xchrom]

15. my Effie sleeps with her head on the pillows.

just like a person -- and she has to have her back touching me.

it's aggravating but at least she doesn't snore.

'"Unless the dog sleeps right up on the pillow and breathes in your face constantly or licking your face constantly, and I doubt whether you could sleep that way anyway," Dr. Ferguson said.'