Everyone wants their pets to live a long and healthy life – but sometimes owners make mistakes that hinder their health. It has prompted a vet to share the small changes you can make to improve your pet’s overall health and wellbeing.
TikTok user Amanda Cern, who says she has worked as a vet for 13 years, urges owners to switch their dog’s food bowl to stainless steel. She simply says: “It minimises bacteria from spreading.” It comes after a study revealed failing to wash your dog’s food bowl on a regular basis could not only affect their health, but yours too.
The research, undertaken by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), investigates dog owners’ feeding habits and evaluates the impact of FDA’s hygiene protocols on dog food dish contamination. They found only 12 per cent of the 417 dog owners surveyed wash their dog’s dish daily, 22 per cent clean it once a week, while another 18 per cent wash it every three months or not at all.
The FDA states this “poses significant health risks to pets and pet owners” as it create an environment where harmful bacteria, such as salmonella and listeria, can thrive. Both salmonella and listeria can cause diarrhoea, fever, stomach cramps or pain, nausea in humans, with symptoms more severe in pregnant women, children, adults over the age of 65, and people with weakened immune systems.
When it comes to food storage and preparation, 43 per cent stored dog food within 1.5 meters of human food, 34 per cent washed their hands after feeding and 33 per cent prepared their dog food on prep surfaces intended for human use.
The study reads: “It was found that the vast majority of study dog owners were not aware of and did not follow FDA pet food handling and storage guidelines. Response to individual recommendations varied, however hygiene-related handling practices (washing of hands, bowl and utensil) showed overall low levels of compliance.
“Additionally, studies in humans regarding self-reported handwashing show an overestimation of hygiene and similar forces, including the effects of social desirability bias, could be expected in this study.
“Exposure to contaminated dog food can have implications for canine and human health. For example, there have been multiple outbreaks of both humans and dogs becoming ill after exposure to dog food contaminated with pathogenic bacteria.
“These risks may be amplified in households with children and/or immunocompromised individuals, which were over a third of respondents’ households.” Commenting on her video, one user said: “I prefer ceramic bowls or glass bowls. We eat out of those as humans so I don’t see why it’s not good for my babies. However, I always make sure there are no cracks.”
Another user added: “My dog eats very quickly so I had to buy a spiral bowl to slow down its eating. However, it’s made entirely of plastic.” And a third user said: “I’ve always used stainless steel for water and ceramic for food.”
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