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Pets in the Home and Children - Benefits and Cautions
Dr. Morris Yen discusses how to keep children safe around pets in the neighborhood and in the home.
Featured Speaker:
Dr. Yen currently serves as Chief of Pediatrics at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital.
Learn more about Morris Yen, MD
Morris Yen, MD
Morris Yen, MD graduated with honors from the University of California, San Diego with a degree in biomedical engineering. He spent a year doing research before following his dream of becoming a pediatrician. He then went to the University of Tennessee Medical School and returned for his internship/residency at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.Dr. Yen currently serves as Chief of Pediatrics at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital.
Learn more about Morris Yen, MD
Transcription:
Melanie Cole (Host): Household pets bring so much joy and other advantages to a home, but at the same time it’s important to make sure children are safe around those pets. What steps should you take to ensure your child’s safety? My guest today is Dr. Morris Yen. He’s a pediatrician on staff at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. Dr. Yen, how do we know if our pet, whether it’s a dog or a cat, is safe for children to go near?
Dr. Morris Yen (Guest): Yeah so I think it’s important to know your pet. You want to make sure you know the personality of your pet. Especially with young kids, you want to make sure that the pets get comfortable with the kids initially where they’re not too hyper or too rowdy. You always want to have an adult around the young pet. I think that’s the best thing, just to initiate a very calm and close environment. I think that would be the best thing.
Host: Should you teach your children to approach a pet, whether it’s your own or other people’s pets and how do we do that?
Dr. Yen: Yeah so I think it’s important just to talk to your children before you approach a pet, not approach with too much excitement or being too hyper. You want to be pretty calm and you don’t want to scare pets. You want to come closely and calmly and let the owner of the pet know, whether it’s your own or if it’s someone else’s that you’re going to ask them before it’s okay to come and meet the pet and touch the pet.
Host: I know that I got yelled at once by a friend of mine when she saw that I left my baby in a car seat near our dog. Is there a problem leaving babies and pets alone together? Is that something that we really should not be doing?
Dr. Yen: Yeah so that’s the number one rule is you never want to leave young children and pets alone, even though you know your pet well and you don’t assume anything. They, especially with young children, they – young children can kind of frighten pets sometimes. They can actually intimidate pets. They can take their toys or sometimes they’ll do something that the pet may not like and the pet may snip at them or bark at them and the number one rule is never to leave a young child, especially a baby, with a pet without any supervision.
Host: Well it was 19 years ago, so I guess my friend was right. Now as far as other kinds of pets, Dr. Yen, can animals carry diseases that we can catch?
Dr. Yen: So it’s interesting, you can actually catch salmonella from dogs if you eat dog food and then pets roam outside and then they actually do carry diseases. So if you sometimes – children will take some dog food or accidentally lick their bowl, so some diseases can be transferred that way.
Host: And one of the ways that I’ve heard is being scratched, you know scratched by a cat or even sometimes a dog. Is that true Dr. Yen and what should we do? Do we call our pediatrician if our child gets scratched by a cat?
Dr. Yen: Yeah there is a disease called cat scratch fever. So there’s a specific bacteria that gets introduced by cat scratches and it can cause fever. So it’s pretty rare. More commonly we see just bacterial infections introduced by cat scratches or dog scratches, especially bites we’re always worried about. The best thing to do is keep the area clean, and if you notice any signs of infection such as pus or redness, definitely fevers and you want to notify your pediatrician or your local doctor.
Host: And sometimes Dr. Yen, kids want turtles and lizards and hamsters, hedgehogs and there’s all kinds. I know we had some hamsters with the kids growing up. Do we have to worry about any of those? Because I’ve heard about lizards and turtles and things, that you have to sort of be careful. Have you seen any kind of transmittable diseases or problems when people own those kinds of pets?
Dr. Yen: Yeah, they’re uncommon but we do see bacteria like salmonella or shigella with reptiles, especially lizards and turtles. So you do want to take good care of them as well and keep their cages clean and make sure they’re in good health as well.
Host: One thing Dr. Yen that I sort of worried about a little when I was – had my younger children was petting zoos and I was a little fanatic about the sanitizer when they were done. Is there a problem with petting zoos and farm animals? As a pediatrician would you tell us to keep our kids away from those petting zoos or are they okay?
Dr. Yen: Yeah so petting zoos are fine. The animals are well kept and they’re well taken care of. Again, you do want to wash your hands before and after entering a petting zoo. I think it helps the animals but it also keeps kids from carrying germs, so I think that’s a good idea as well.
Host: I think that’s really smart advice. So back to the safety a bit. Dogs, cats, and little kids. When a dog gets older, some people think that then it’s a little more calm, it’s a little more tolerant. When a dog does get upset or agitated and bites a child, what do you want parents to know? What should they do if their child gets bit by a dog?
Dr. Yen: So first and foremost, dog bites are pretty common. They say that there’s 4 million dog bites a year and even from older dogs. The most important thing is you want to stay calm. You don’t want to scare – it’s a scary situation, but you want to notify your pediatrician. I would actually have your child come in and we can take a look and make sure that there’s no signs of infection and you always want to make sure that your dog’s well cared for and healthy as well. That limits the incidences of dog bites, but I think the best thing to do is stay calm and call your doctor.
Host: Again, that’s really good advice. So if you were to tell parents anything about pet safety and their children, wrap it up for us, what would you like them to take home from this segment about the importance of safety around pets for our children?
Dr. Yen: Yeah so I would say pets are wonderful, but dog bites are very common. The number one thing is I would never leave a young child, especially a baby around a pet without any adult supervision and then when you introduce a new baby or a child to a pet, you want to do it in a comfortable and calm situation, and I think that would be the best thing to do.
Host: Thank you so much Dr. Yen for joining us today and taking the time with us to tell parents about the safety and pets because it is so important. If you found this podcast informative, please share on your social media and be sure to check out all the other helpful podcasts in our library. Head on over to our website at henrymayo.com. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for tuning in.
Melanie Cole (Host): Household pets bring so much joy and other advantages to a home, but at the same time it’s important to make sure children are safe around those pets. What steps should you take to ensure your child’s safety? My guest today is Dr. Morris Yen. He’s a pediatrician on staff at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. Dr. Yen, how do we know if our pet, whether it’s a dog or a cat, is safe for children to go near?
Dr. Morris Yen (Guest): Yeah so I think it’s important to know your pet. You want to make sure you know the personality of your pet. Especially with young kids, you want to make sure that the pets get comfortable with the kids initially where they’re not too hyper or too rowdy. You always want to have an adult around the young pet. I think that’s the best thing, just to initiate a very calm and close environment. I think that would be the best thing.
Host: Should you teach your children to approach a pet, whether it’s your own or other people’s pets and how do we do that?
Dr. Yen: Yeah so I think it’s important just to talk to your children before you approach a pet, not approach with too much excitement or being too hyper. You want to be pretty calm and you don’t want to scare pets. You want to come closely and calmly and let the owner of the pet know, whether it’s your own or if it’s someone else’s that you’re going to ask them before it’s okay to come and meet the pet and touch the pet.
Host: I know that I got yelled at once by a friend of mine when she saw that I left my baby in a car seat near our dog. Is there a problem leaving babies and pets alone together? Is that something that we really should not be doing?
Dr. Yen: Yeah so that’s the number one rule is you never want to leave young children and pets alone, even though you know your pet well and you don’t assume anything. They, especially with young children, they – young children can kind of frighten pets sometimes. They can actually intimidate pets. They can take their toys or sometimes they’ll do something that the pet may not like and the pet may snip at them or bark at them and the number one rule is never to leave a young child, especially a baby, with a pet without any supervision.
Host: Well it was 19 years ago, so I guess my friend was right. Now as far as other kinds of pets, Dr. Yen, can animals carry diseases that we can catch?
Dr. Yen: So it’s interesting, you can actually catch salmonella from dogs if you eat dog food and then pets roam outside and then they actually do carry diseases. So if you sometimes – children will take some dog food or accidentally lick their bowl, so some diseases can be transferred that way.
Host: And one of the ways that I’ve heard is being scratched, you know scratched by a cat or even sometimes a dog. Is that true Dr. Yen and what should we do? Do we call our pediatrician if our child gets scratched by a cat?
Dr. Yen: Yeah there is a disease called cat scratch fever. So there’s a specific bacteria that gets introduced by cat scratches and it can cause fever. So it’s pretty rare. More commonly we see just bacterial infections introduced by cat scratches or dog scratches, especially bites we’re always worried about. The best thing to do is keep the area clean, and if you notice any signs of infection such as pus or redness, definitely fevers and you want to notify your pediatrician or your local doctor.
Host: And sometimes Dr. Yen, kids want turtles and lizards and hamsters, hedgehogs and there’s all kinds. I know we had some hamsters with the kids growing up. Do we have to worry about any of those? Because I’ve heard about lizards and turtles and things, that you have to sort of be careful. Have you seen any kind of transmittable diseases or problems when people own those kinds of pets?
Dr. Yen: Yeah, they’re uncommon but we do see bacteria like salmonella or shigella with reptiles, especially lizards and turtles. So you do want to take good care of them as well and keep their cages clean and make sure they’re in good health as well.
Host: One thing Dr. Yen that I sort of worried about a little when I was – had my younger children was petting zoos and I was a little fanatic about the sanitizer when they were done. Is there a problem with petting zoos and farm animals? As a pediatrician would you tell us to keep our kids away from those petting zoos or are they okay?
Dr. Yen: Yeah so petting zoos are fine. The animals are well kept and they’re well taken care of. Again, you do want to wash your hands before and after entering a petting zoo. I think it helps the animals but it also keeps kids from carrying germs, so I think that’s a good idea as well.
Host: I think that’s really smart advice. So back to the safety a bit. Dogs, cats, and little kids. When a dog gets older, some people think that then it’s a little more calm, it’s a little more tolerant. When a dog does get upset or agitated and bites a child, what do you want parents to know? What should they do if their child gets bit by a dog?
Dr. Yen: So first and foremost, dog bites are pretty common. They say that there’s 4 million dog bites a year and even from older dogs. The most important thing is you want to stay calm. You don’t want to scare – it’s a scary situation, but you want to notify your pediatrician. I would actually have your child come in and we can take a look and make sure that there’s no signs of infection and you always want to make sure that your dog’s well cared for and healthy as well. That limits the incidences of dog bites, but I think the best thing to do is stay calm and call your doctor.
Host: Again, that’s really good advice. So if you were to tell parents anything about pet safety and their children, wrap it up for us, what would you like them to take home from this segment about the importance of safety around pets for our children?
Dr. Yen: Yeah so I would say pets are wonderful, but dog bites are very common. The number one thing is I would never leave a young child, especially a baby around a pet without any adult supervision and then when you introduce a new baby or a child to a pet, you want to do it in a comfortable and calm situation, and I think that would be the best thing to do.
Host: Thank you so much Dr. Yen for joining us today and taking the time with us to tell parents about the safety and pets because it is so important. If you found this podcast informative, please share on your social media and be sure to check out all the other helpful podcasts in our library. Head on over to our website at henrymayo.com. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for tuning in.