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Journalism of Courage
MUMBAI, June 9: How well do you know your dog or your cat or for that matter even your parakeet? If you’re wondering why your pet bird pecked all the feathers off his chest, chances are that he is lonely or just bored. Or if your pet cat is drinking less water than she usually does, it could be a symptom of constipation, and all you need to do is feed her a spoonful of liquid paraffin or olive oil.
“There is gross ignorance among pet owners about the diseases animals can pass on to humans,” said Dr S Jagadish, head of department of medicine & pharmacology. Dogs and cats are both a reservoir of zoonotic diseases – animal diseases which can be transmitted to humans – said Dr A A Sherikar, professor of microbiology at the BVC. “These diseases, not exhibited by them when in good health, manifest themselves when the animal is under stress.” Although dogs and cats were domesticated some 60,000 years ago in Europe and Asia, little was known of the diseases they are capable of passing on to humans until the beginning of this century. Today, 276 diseases are recognised as zoonotic, and a majority of them are contributed by both dogs and cats. For instance, toxoplasmosis, a common disease in cats is especially harmful to pregnant women.
Experts noticed that even basic obedience training for dogs is largely neglected by pet owners. Dog trainer Abhijit Chitnis attributes this to a communication gap between owners and their pets. “Many people give up on their dogs in frustration after a few months. Some realise that their choice of breed was wrong. However, in a majority of cases, the owners fail to communicate with their pets effectively,” he remarks.
He pointed out that few know that birds have a poor sense of smell and taste, and that the colour of their food plays a key role in their eating habits.
