Animals / pets & pregnancy
No matter how clean or healthy you think your pet is, it is still possible to catch diseases from animals that can affect your unborn baby. Although such diseases are rare, it is important to take extra precautions whilst you are pregnant. Therefore, the following advice should be followed concerning contact with pets or animals during pregnancy:
- Wash your hands thoroughly after stroking or handling animals.
- Keep pets away from any surfaces you use for preparing food, and preferably out of the kitchen altogether.
- Clean your pets' food dishes separately to your own.
- Cat faeces may contain an organism that causes a disease that can damage your unborn baby. If you have a cat or kitten, keep litter trays clean (soiled litter should be removed within 24 hours). If possible ask somebody else to empty and clean cat litter trays. If this is not possible, and you have to change the litter yourself, always wear disposable rubber gloves. Wrap litter well in newspaper and dispose of it in the dustbin. Finally wash your rubber gloves and your hands thoroughly.
- Always wear gloves when gardening - even if you haven't got a cat yourself, your soil may have been contaminated. Always wash your hands after gardening, even if you have worn gloves.
- Sheep can miscarry or give birth to sick lambs following infection. This can cause infection in pregnant women, harm to the unborn child, or miscarriage. Avoid close contact with lambs and sheep.
- help with lambing
- milk ewes
- handle newborn or miscarried lambs
- come into contact with afterbirth
- come into contact with sheep that have just given birth or miscarried
- handle boots or clothing worn by others during lambing time - these should not be brought into the house, but cleaned outside (by somebody else).
Other ways to have a healthy pregnancy:
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Based on information obtained from the leaflet, "While you are pregnant: how to avoid infection from food and from contact with animals", produced for the Welsh Office by the Central Office of Information.
