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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on October 23, 2010 at 11:33pm

No they can't. Viruses (and sometimes bacteria) are very species specific. There are very few illnesses that a cat can pass to a dog, let alone a human to a dog. The illnesses that are zoonotic (that can be passed) are mostly parasites and those are passed in feces which means it is pretty much impossible for your dog to catch something. There has only been one case of Swine flu passing from human to dog (or it may have been a cat) and that had to have been in a high exposure situation (i.e. at home with pet sleeping on bed near humans head, etc). Another thing to note, if somebody had an illness that was airborne they would be kept in an isolation unit to prevent exposure of other patients to the illness, and patients in nursing homes are often suffering from nothing more than old age. Actual hospitals rarely, if ever, allow dogs because they need to keep a sterile environment. Therapy is an awesome idea and your dog (and the patients) will only benefit from that type of work.

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Permalink Reply by Diane Burda on October 23, 2010 at 11:44pm

Thanks so much for the reply. I appreciate the feedback.

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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on November 1, 2010 at 11:36pm

Dogs can get rabies from people -- I believe rabies can infect any mammal -- but it usually goes in the other direction, hence the immunizations (rabies was the first vaccine devised, by Louis Pasteur himself).
Hospitals do have some problems with certain bacterial infections.
But we are, after all, talking about animals who snack out of the cat box and compost heap. I'm not much worried about *Al* catching anything from *me*.
Lori, my wife, did pet therapy with our first corgi, Siri. An old Welshman came down once, when he heard there was going to be a corgi in the nursing home. You'll love it, esp. if Gunny is a love-hog like Al, and you enjoy showing him off.

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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on October 23, 2010 at 11:46pm

I actually had the same question and am going to ask my vet as we have a person at work that initially we thought had MRSA but she has some other bad germ instead as I was going to take Sage to work with me. I do still plan on working toward therapy dog with her but we are only in her 2nd obedience class so we have a ways to go:) I'm not so worried about nursing homes.

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Permalink Reply by Ellen Andersen on October 24, 2010 at 7:59am

My Nimh is a therapy dog and we go to our local VA hospital weekly, mostly to the Nursing Home area but other areas, as well. He's got a HUGE fanclub up there and he's even invited to their Halloween party (I'm just the dope on a rope, so I guess I can go too, lol). Anyways, we've been doing it for a couple years now and we've not had any issues with picking up any of the infections. I think the bigger danger is for you, so be careful about hand hygiene and all that stuff. Your pup, though, will be fine, and the patients will love it.
The pooches really work wonders. When a patient speaks to or touches the dog that hasn't moved or said a word for days (or more)...it's just magical. The dogs are non-threatening, non-judgemental, and so giving. Please pursue the therapy dog training.

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Permalink Reply by Diane Burda on October 24, 2010 at 7:19pm

thanks for the encouragement. .

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Permalink Reply by Avery on October 26, 2010 at 10:18pm

I actually went to a veterinary lecture recently on therapy dogs in medical settings. If he is immunocompromised in any way, like elderly, poor immune system, or open wounds, you wouldn't want to take him. But otherwise, you don't have to worry about him getting something. Now, MRSA is widely spread across hospitals and nursing homes alike, and they do now recommend disinfecting dogs feet between visits with patients with something like chlorhexidine. But that is to protect the human patients' health. I believe that would be a wonderful thing to do with your dog as it seems to help some people so much!

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Permalink Reply by Beth on October 26, 2010 at 10:29pm

We go to nursing homes and have no problems, though some small studies seem to indicate that dogs who go to health care facilities are more likely to shed certain pathogens (MRSA being one of them) than dogs who do not.

I have some immune suppression from arthritis drugs I take and I don't go in the winter between Jan and around March, in the height of flu season. Otherwise I just don't touch anything myself, since many germs are spread by physical contact. Your dog should be fine, and if you have cause for concern you can stick to visiting libraries and stuff.

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