We’ve covered the dangers of antibiotic resistance on the the blog many times before.
We’ve covered the dangers of unhygienic pets on the blog many times before.
Now, some rocket surgeons at Glasgow Poly Caledonian University have put the two together with some groundbreaking research:
I hope you are all sitting down, because the advice in this article is pretty shocking stuff, and may make you immediately rethink how intimately you’ve been living your life with your household pet.
I’m talking about near-incredible recommendations like:
Avoid kissing pets on the mouth
Seriously, just avoid kissing pets full stop.
Don’t let them pets lick your mouth or nose
This is basically french-kissing pets. It’s also to be avoided full stop.
And the nose fetish thing? Eww. No.
Pet owners should wash hands after stroking animals, particularly before meals
WHO KNEW?!?!?
WHO?!?!? KNEW?!?!?
Make sure pets eat from their own bowls and don’t use household utensils
I’m going to be a bit sick now.
And this from a guy whose beagle can’t even use a knife and fork anyway.
At least they stopped short of suggesting that you also always use a condom.
(At least, I hope they did: I haven’t read the whole paper yet.)
It really seems like these things shouldn’t need to be said to humans. We’re literally the most intelligent species on earth, and that’s why we really shouldn’t need to be reminded or warned not to snog our canines who were literally chewing on some faeces they found on the pavement just five minutes ago.
It’s also why household pets shouldn’t be allowed into establishments serving or selling food. It’s not about me being mean to your French Bulldog, it’s just about basic common sense and decent hygiene. It’s about your poor choices putting other people’s health at risk.
Honestly, you people disgust me.
Normally, I’d put this sort of thing into the Darwin Awards category: removing oneself from the gene pool through one’s own stupidly reckless behaviour. But that doesn’t work here, because sadly, this might – might – not actually finish you off, but it will lead to the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria which – as I mentioned above – might finish other people off.
Now, thanks to this “new” research from Dr Adele Dickson et al., we’re able to actually demonstrate that your disgusting behaviour is bad for the human race in general.
Thus, for the good health of humanity, please stop this sort of stuff immediately. Ugh.