The dangerous reason why you should never let your dog lick your face

We know that a dog is a human’s best friend. Full of unconditional love for humans, they often show a lot of attention and particularly like to lick the faces of their masters. But this gesture, which may seem quite innocent, can be very dangerous for your health.

A dangerous gesture

Indeed, their saliva can carry many germs. Your dog's tongue is an ideal environment for the proliferation of bacteria, because they tend to put their muzzle everywhere they walk: on the ground, in the forest, on other dogs, etc.

It is therefore advisable to be careful when a dog licks a part of your body and to wash your hands right afterwards to make sure you clean up any potential bacteria. However, even with all this, there are rare cases that show that dog saliva can be dangerous.

Alarming facts

In the United States, some alarming events have taken place. A young American boy contracted tuberculosis from his dog – but that's not all. In another case, a 48-year-old man had all four limbs amputated because of a bacterium called 'capnocytophaga canimorsus', a bacterium of the gingival flora of both canine and feline species.

In France for example, 4 people have already died from this germ since 2017. Each of the cases involved the saliva of a pet. Even if these diseases remain fairly isolated, we still need to be very vigilant with our fur balls, which remain very cute of course.

This article was translated from Ohmymag FR.

Read more:

⋙ This is why your dog gets the 'zoomies', according to a vet

⋙ My cat is licking me. Does it think I need a bath?

⋙ This is why you should never flush a goldfish down the toilet

Sources used:

People: 'Man Who Had Limbs Amputated Due to Dog Lick Leaves Hospital, Reunites with His Dog'