A zoonosis (zoh-oh-NOH-sis) is an infectious disease that people can catch from animals and vice versa. Regular veterinary visits, preventative vaccinations and medications, and good hygiene can help prevent them.

 Below are details about common zoonosis, their symptoms, how it's transmitted, and how to prevent them. Check with your veterinarian to make sure your pet is protected against zoonotic diseases.

 

 

 

Roundworms

Large (3-to 18-cm) worms that are usually tightly coiled when passed and look like spaghetti.

 Signs

Puppies & kittens: Failure to gain weight, poor hair coat, pot-bellied appearance: puppies of 4 to 6 months of age with heavy infections mat expel a large mass of worms in their vomit

Adult dogs & cats:Vomiting

People:Pneumonia-like symptoms, skin staining from damage to internal organs, and irritated retinas from damage to the eyes

 How it's transmitted

Puppies & kittens: Crossing through the placenta from the mother, and ingesting effs in feces

 Adult dogs & cats: Ingesting effs in feces and in infected animals like rodents

 People: Ingesting effs through feces in soil or on pets and ingesting items contaminated with infected feces

 People most at risk

• Children

 How to prevent it

• Deworm puppies and kittens every two weeks until they can receive a monthly control product.
• Promptly treat infected pets to prevent shedding of eggs, which are hardy and long-lived.
• Promptly remove animal feces from the yard and litter box.
• To help prevent ingestion of infected animals or feces, keep dogs on leashes or in fenced yards and keep cats indoors.
• Monitor children playing outside in sandboxes and parks.

 

Hookworms

Short [6 to 12-mm], thick worms that are whitish to reddish brown with a hooked front end.

 Signs

 Puppies & kittens: Anemia and pale mucous membranes, failure to gain weight, poor hair coat, dehydration, and dark and tarry diarrhea

Adult dogs & cats: Usually few signs; often source of infection for puppies; can cause severe anemia, diarrhea, and weight loss in extreme cases

People: Red, itchy, serpentine lesions on the skin

 How it's transmitted

 Puppies & kittens: Crossing the placenta and through the mother's milk

Dogs, cats & people: Ingesting them in feces and from the worms Penetrating the skin (often from infected soil)

 

People most at risk

Farmers, gardeners, landscapers, sunbathers lying on sand, plumbers, electricians, exterminators, and children playing in potentially contaminated areas

 How to prevent it

• Promptly remove animal feces from the yard.
• Cover children's sandboxes when not in use.
• Wear shoes and gloves while gardening.
• Wash hands thoroughly after playing outside or exposure to soil (especially dirt under the fingernails).
• Deworm puppies and kittens every two weeks until they can receive a monthly preventive and control product.
• To help prevent ingestion of infected animals or feces, keep dogs on leashes or in fenced yards and keep cats indoors.
• Monitor children playing outside in sandboxes and parks.

 

 

Toxoplasmosis

 What it is

Toxoplasmosis involves a protozoan parasite that infects virtually all warm-blooded vertebrates.

  Signs

Cats: Rarely causes clinical signs, but may cause coughing, shortness of breath, fever, weight loss, and lethargy

People: Rarely causes clinical signs, but may cause flu-like symptoms; in people with deficient immune responses it can lead to death, congenital malformation, or mental retardaion

 How it's transmitted

Cat's:  Ingesting oocysts (egg cells) in feces and in infected animals like rodents

People:  Ingesting uncooked meat and being exposed to infected cat feces

 People most at risk

Everyone is at risk, but especially immunosuppressed people, including pregnant women, fetuses, and children

  How to prevent it

• Keep cats indoors to prevent ingestion of infected animals and feces.
• Avoid feeding uncooked meats to cats.
• Remove feces from litter box daily.
• Wash litter boxes with scalding water or steam.
• Allow only non-pregnant people with uncompromised immune systems to clean litter boxes.
• Wash hands thoroughly after exposure to soil, sand, raw meats, and unwashed vegetables.
• Wear gloves when gardening.
• Cover children's sandboxes when not in use.

 

Lyme disease

 Signs

Dogs, cats & people: Fever, shifting leg lameness, swollen joints, lethargy, depression, and anorexia

 How it's transmitted

Dogs, cats & people: From the bite of an infected deer tick

 People most at risk

Everyone

 How to prevent it

• Strict monthly tick control for all pets.

Avoid tick-infested areas.

Keep grass closely clipped to discourage both tick populations and wildlife that often harbor ticks.

Consider vaccinating dogs exposed to infected ticks.

 

 

Tapeworm Infection

Worms with a flattened, ribbonlike appearance.

 Signs

Dogs & cats: Anal discomfort and itching that often results in pets dragging their hind ends across the floor

People: Most are without symptoms, but diarrhea, abdominal pain, and anal itching are possible

 How it's transmitted

Dogs & cats: Ingesting infected fleas and tissue of infected animals like mice and rabbits

People: Ingesting infected fleas

 

People most at risk

• Children under 8 years old

 

How to prevent it

• Make sure all family pets receive strict monthly flea control.