If Dr. Doolittle Could Only Really Talk To Animals

If Dr. Doolittle could really talk to animals, he'd tell cats to stay away from children and adults that have strep throat. "Why", you ask? Did you know that cats can carry the germ that causes strep throat and that they get the germ from humans? I found out

the hard way.

One winter, my family had a bad case of strep throat that was just running rampant through the house. I'd get one case of it under control, the house aired out, scrubbed clean and smelling fresh and someone else that had just had it weeks before, would come down with it again. Everyone would get laid low with it. It got to the point that at the local pharmacy, they'd see me coming and just hand me the bag with the antibiotics in it. The Dr's office would just phone it in, the pharmacy would fill it, bag it, and file it away waiting for it to be picked up. One time I went into pick up the prescription and all the employees at the store had put together a care package for the kids. It was a basket with coloring books, crayons, stickers, playing cards, and a $25.00 gift card to be used for any drinks that the kids would like to have. I thought it was a lovely gift, but I did feel a little embarrassed.

I was getting concerned though. I called the schools and asked if the kids there were out with more strep throat than any other regular sickness? I was told that nothing had been noticed out of the ordinary. I called around through my kids friends and spoke to their mother's and asked if they had more than one case of strep throat that season in the family. All of them had said no, except for one mother with four kids. She asked me if I had any cats? I said that we had one cat, Pooh. Why?

She told me to take the cat to the vet because cats can be carriers of the strep throat germ. You'll never know that the cat is sick, because they show no signs of the germ, but that it is passed back and forth between the children and the cat. I was shocked to say the least, but I did what she advised. I made an appointment with our vet for the next day.

I explained to the vet what was going on at my house and that everyone had strep throat more than once and my daughter was coming down with it for a 3rd time in 2 months. I told her about what I had been told about cats and asked was that true? She said "Yes". Even though humans are not likely to catch diseases through their pets, that cats can catch the strep germ through contact with humans that have an active case of it. Diseases that are transmitted through humans to cats are called zoonotic diseases. It was simple enough to keep under control and that was to make sure that the kids kept their hands clean and not to sneeze in the cats face. They weren't to feed the cat any of their food no matter how much the cat was begging for it and not to let the kids clean out the cat box until they were feeling better.

Guess what I walked out with? An antibiotic to give the cat in liquid form. I went to the pharmacy to have the medicine filled. The pharmacist started to panic because he knew that he hadn't heard from the kids pediatrician that day with any order to fill for antibiotics. I just quietly told him that it was for the cat. He didn't believe me and I told him what I had just found out. He was shaking his head as he walked back down behind the counter to fill the prescription. In about 20 minutes the order had been filled. I went to the counter to take it from the pharmacist and noticed that the bag was a little heavier than I had expected. I looked inside and there were two cans of cat food and a get well card for kitty signed by my dear old pharmacist.

That night I had everyone line up for their nightly dose of medicine. My daughter because she was the newest case and then my son because he was finishing up his medicine. In his arms was Pooh. The cat had no idea what he was there for, but after that he spent most of the time in hiding. He did not like the dropper being squirted down his throat with the yucky tasting medicine. I felt so sorry for him, but after that we never had unending strep running through our house and our kitty would run for cover when ever he heard someone sneeze.

DCMerkle