Should sleeping pets be let lie?

Cuddling up with your pet may be good for your emotional health, but what about the physical risks, asks ALANNA GALLAGHER

WHO SHARES your bed? If your answer includes a pet, there are health risks to consider as well as overcrowding and rivalries. But it also has its rewards: unconditional love.

Sharing your bed with a pet has its upsides, says Sophie Flynn Rogers. As a bedfellow, her Cairn terrier Riley doesn’t snore and doesn’t have bad breath. His presence is very comforting and protecting to the dog lover.

That may be so, says Dr Ranbir Kaulsay, medical allergist at the Clontarf Allergy Clinic, but asthma, allergic rhinitis and sinusitis can all be exacerbated by pets.

Of the patients he treats, he estimates 40 per cent to be allergic to cats, 25 per cent allergic to dogs and 10-20 per cent allergic to horses.

Groomer Stephanie Byrne, of the Beauty Pawlour in Bray, Co Dublin, owns three dogs: two Griffon Bruxellois, Henry and Snarf, a hairless Chinese crested canine, Fabio, and a ferret called Mimi. Mimi’s cage comes with a hammock but when she’s let run around the house, she climbs under the bed covers.

In contrast, Henry is a permanent fixture on the bed that Stephanie shares with her boyfriend Damien. Henry moves around to suit us, she says, explaining their menagerie a trois. “Sometimes he’s at our feet, which is warming in winter. Sometimes he sleeps in between us.”

Often at weekends, the couple will let all three dogs onto their bed. Ocasionally, Mimi joins the fray. That can get kind of crowded, Stephanie admits.

Despite the busy bed, Stephanie says it has no negative impact on her health: “I am just never sick.”

The HSE has no figures relating to the numbers of people sharing their beds with pets. According to Dr Paul McKeown, specialist in public health medicine at the HSE Health Protection Surveillance Centre, pets, cats and dogs in particular, can, uncommonly, pass on a range of diseases to humans.

“With proper hygiene [keeping pets clean and washing hands every time you touch your pet], pets are safe, fun and can be important family members,” he says.

Multiple dog owner Ann Stewart, who works at the Canine Country Club and Cattery in Sallins, Co Kildare, has reached a happy compromise. Each of her five dogs gets to sleep in turn on her bedroom floor, but from a hierarchy point of view she won’t let them up in the bed.

“If the dog gets to lie on the bed, then the dog is in charge,” she says.

She also takes preventative measures by dusting the house with flea powder and flea spray every six months.

A strong hygiene regime is crucial, agrees Kaulsay, who owns two dogs which he regularly shampoos to reduces their allergen transmission capacity. He also uses an anti-allergen spray.

The truth about cats and dogs sleeping on your bed is that it increases the risk of diseases being passed on, McKeown says.

“As some of these diseases are particularly dangerous to more vulnerable people – young children under the age of five, for example – and immunocompromised people, they should avoid sharing their bed with their pets.

“Companion animals should be regularly inspected by your family vet to make sure they are not carrying any chronic diseases.”

Dogs can carry a variety of germs that can make people sick, he explains. “Some of these germs are common and some are rare. For example, puppies may pass the bacterium Campylobacter in their faeces. This germ can cause diarrhoea in people.

“Puppies and some adult dogs often carry a variety of parasites that can cause rashes or illness in people.” Some cat-related diseases that make people sick are common, such as cat scratch disease (or cat scratch fever). Toxoplasmosis is a disease that can come from cats, but people are more likely to get it from eating raw meat or from gardening.

But the emotional balm pets offer seems to far outweigh the health hazards. Touching, human or otherwise, raises levels of oxytocin in the body, creating feelings of contentment.

A Dublin mother of four says their dog is a great unifying factor in the family.

“She seems to be able to figure out who needs her and she responds to their needs. She offers unconditional love and is a great emotional release, especially for her teenagers.

The family also has a pet rabbit who is “a great laugh and is very tactile”, but doesn’t elicit the same response. For her, the dog is now essential to rearing her children. “It makes a house a home.”

Having a pet sleep on your bed may pose problems with would-be suitors. Flynn Rogers admits that her dog Riley thinks of her bedroom as his territory. “There might be a battle if George Clooney comes to stay,” she says.

Clontarf Allergy Clinic: Tel: 01-8338207, clontarfclinic.com.

Mutt Ugly: Tel: 01-4759449, muttugly.com