Sick I'm sick; help with piggies!

savannahsatchel said:

I've had the flu for 3 days now. Other than the common sense things like wash my hands before I feed them, don't cough near their cage, etc etc, what other precautions should I take? I'd hate to see my babies get sick because of me.

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The flu is caused by a virus which is species specific so they won't catch it from you. I'd practice good hygiene by washing your hands well before feeding them and still be sure not to cough or sneeze near them in case you develop a bacterial infection which would be transmittable.

Thank you.

Influenza is zoonotic.

But doesn't it usually go the other way? From animal to human, instead of vice versa?

In all my years on these boards, I haven't heard of any pig getting sick from a human disease.

<~looking up zoonotic

bpatters said:

But doesn't it usually go the other way? From animal to human, instead of vice versa?

In all my years on these boards, I haven't heard of any pig getting sick from a human disease.

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Humans rarely transmit anything to animals. I would guess unless you have rabies your animals are fine. I was just pointing out that it's not necessarily species specific.

ETA: I do think they are saying Ebola is likely transmissible from humans to apes and monkeys. But, that's probably for another forum's interests.

My baby Andy had given me dermatitis, so I'm very I guess paranoid about any type of sickness being passed from me to them and vise versa.