Pets/ hand washing

jaysgirljulie · May 2010

I was just reading the post below about pets. I'm so glad to hear we are not the only ones unintentionally neglecting our critters.

I was wondering though, do you still let them sleep w/ you (if you did before)?

Also, do you wash your hands after petting them every time? DH insist on this and that we don't hold our dogs anymore so their hair is not on our clothes. They are not allowed on the couch anymore either. I want things how they were before but I don't want to make my LO sick or cause allergies. Anyway, how is it in your house?

lola808 · May 2010

Lola has never been allowed on our furniture, but she does still sleep in our room every night. Now, though, she spends a lot of the day in the yard (when it's just me caring for baby).

We don't usually wash our hands after touching her, but we do if we're going to feed or immediately handle the baby. (I try to do that regularly, anyway) She's also allowed to greet him with a sniff/lick whenever she comes in the house. We are trying to act as normally as possible, while still playing it safe. And so far, she's adjusted extremely well.

HulaLove · May 2010

we don't was our hands after we touch Jackson. He's primaily an inside dog so we have hair every where because I don't make time to vacuum like I did before.

I also let Jack up on the couch/bed when Elyse and I are chilling out in attempts to get more snuggle time with them both.

Married2MrWright · May 2010

Our bedroom and Libby's room are now pet-free zones (we started in January, before she was born) but every other place in house they freely roam.

And they are allowed on our furniture (except the table....although Regina likes to test that rule daily!)...we pet them all day long and don't wash our hands after it. Libby pets them too. And they sniff her ears/neck or lick her feet sometimes. As for allergies, studies show that LOs raised with pets don't have allergies to them.

Since Libby's been born we actually stopped buying antibacterial handsoap since we don't want to suppress her immunity. We keep the house clean, practice diligent hand-washing, good food prep practices, etc. but we're not overly concerned with germs from the pets, etc. We steam clean our floors once or twice a week and vaccumm every other day.

redshoegirl · May 2010

I don't worry about hand washing unless the dogs have licked my hands or if they're unusually dirty (but like I posted before, I've been neglecting the poor things so much that I'm not even petting them much lately *sigh*). Our dogs aren't allowed on the furniture anyway, but our cats are, and the cats still sleep on our bed.

Oh, and I don't worry about allergies because of this:

Married2MrWright:
As for allergies, studies show that LOs raised with pets don't have allergies to them.

mrspresley · May 2010

the dog we stopped letting sleep in the bed a long time ago, not b/c of germs but b/c she became a bed hog

the cats we still let sleep in the bed w/us. we don't wash our hands after each time we touch the pets but i always do if i've been petting them a lot before holding her. we're not super paranoid about it...though i refuse to let the dog lick her anywhere just b/c i know what else she licks when she is bored

Married2MrWright · May 2010

mrspresley:
the dog lick her anywhere just b/c i know what else she licks when she is bored

Yeah, I suppose if our pugs could reach those areas I wouldn't let them lick Libby's feet. Their little smooshed faces prevent them from being able to reach those places on themselves. They do love to lick their toys and the furniture though!

sanae78 · May 2010

Married2MrWright:
We steam clean our floors once or twice a week and vaccumm every other day.

Wow. How in the world do you find the time? I'm embarrassed at how infrequently we do these things. Good thing Ellie doesn't shed.

We always wash our hands or use hand sanitizer after petting the dog and before touching the baby. That's kind of why I rarely pet Ellie anymore...I don't want to have to constantly wash my hands.

Married2MrWright · May 2010

sanae78:

Married2MrWright:

We steam clean our floors once or twice a week and vaccumm every other day.

Wow. How in the world do you find the time? I'm embarrassed at how infrequently we do these things. Good thing Ellie doesn't shed.

My mom lives with us. Wink

That extra pair of hands makes all the difference. Usually, I'll vaccumm while wearing Libby (she likes it actually and she'll usually fall asleep from the sound and motion) and then my mom will bust out the steam cleaner. We have primarily hardwood and tile floors, so the steam cleaner is awesome for that!

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