One Thing Illinois Dog Owners Should Stop Doing Immediately

Do you have a dog that loves to give kisses? You might want to shy away from them after reading the results of this health study.

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I am 100 percent a dog person. Here are my three babies, Brooks, Montgomery, and Gentry...

I am also 100 percent the person who gives her dogs way too many kisses and never shies away from a sloppy dog kiss on my lips either.

Is that nasty behavior? 💯

Do I realize what gross things my dogs lick and eat on a daily basis (like cat litter and their butts)? 💯

Will I continue to ignore the nastiness and keep on kissing my dogs on the lips? Maybe not after reading this...

Health Experts Say Dog Kisses Can Be Deadly

We've all heard that dogs carry nasty bacteria in their mouths, but so do humans, and until today that bacteria never worried me enough to stop receiving doggy kisses.

Foxillinois.com reports that a study from the University of Lisbon and the UK Royal Veterinary College has found that pet kisses can contain a superbug that is resistant to antibiotics and can be deadly to humans!

Owners can attain the bacteria by letting their pets kiss them on the mouth, and by not washing their hands thoroughly after dealing with pets' excrement.

Turns out this nasty bacteria is not limited to only dogs, cats can carry it too. Fox Illinois' article also says;

Out of 85 dogs in the study, 14 had the superbug, according to the New York Post. Fifteen humans out of 114 in the study also reportedly tested positive for the superbug, and only 1 out of 18 cats in the study was confirmed to have it.

This antibiotic-resistant bacteria transmitted by a pet licking you may not make you sick on its own, but it can make simple infections, wounds or sicknesses typically treated by antibiotics untreatable, and that can lead to big problems.

As a pet owner, these findings are disturbing. After reading more I discovered this disclaimer at the end of Fox Illinois' article;

Phys.org provided a disclaimer on the study, saying it was an "observational study" and "cannot prove" for certain owners letting their pets kiss them on the mouth causes "colonization with antibiotic-resistant bacteria," but rather only suggests the effect is a possibility.

Whew. I feel a little better now, but will I become more cautious about my pets' kisses? Maybe, but probably not.