Is dog's mouth cleaner than human's?
People say "Dog's mouth is cleaner than human's" and, "Dog's licking help heal the wound faster", but I have to wonder if it really is true judging from dogs' fascination for cats' poop, licking their own genital area etc..
Dog's mouth is cleaner than human's??
Recently, I came across an article about this subject written by jackinabox at hubpage. She thinks that the notion of "Dog's mouth is cleaner than human's" could stem from the fact that when the dogs lick wound, it seems to help them heal faster.
According to her article at hubpage, dog's wound licking behavior makes the infected area clean, and help removing the dead tissue, and dog's saliva help loosen the scab on the wound.
When I cut my finger, I wrap my finger with band-aid, so our dog "Palette" has not had a chance to lick my wound and I do not know if her licking my wound could help heal faster or not. However, jackinabox states in the article that if dogs lick the wound on your body, it heals faster because their saliva has special enzyme that has antibacterial substance.
To read full article by jackinabox at hubpage,please click here .
Another article written by jackinabox at squido page points out that there is a study done on dog's saliva and researchers found out that the dog's saliva has special enzyme that prevent "Streptococcus" and "E. coli" bacteria from growing. Therefore, when dogs lick the wound, this enzyme act like mild antibiotic and disinfect the wound and help heal them faster.
To read full article by jackinabox at squido page, please click here .
What enzyme in dog's saliva act like antibiotic exactly?
According to article written by Aileen at Dogreflection website, the enzyme that is in dog's saliva and act like antibiotic is called "Lysozyme", and it is an enzyme that lyses and destroy harmful bacteria.
Aileen states that another reason why dog licks their wound is to stimulate tissue and blood vessel around the wound. She states that licking helps to increase the blood flow, and blood brings the white cells,platelets,growth factors and other natural healing agents to the wound area.
To read full article by Aileen at dogreflection website,please click here.
On the talk of dog's saliva, there is another project done to find out whether dog's mouth is cleaner than human's.
The project is from California state science fair and done by Lauren Palmer. She swabbed saliva from 25 dogs, 25 humans and checked bacteria growth on dish in incubator for 72 hours. She found out that dog's saliva had lower bacteria growth than human's. Bacterias in human's saliva reached to highest category by day 3 but 28% of dog's saliva had no bacteria growth by day 3.
As a result, she found out that most human saliva had 250 bacteria in agar plate but most dogs had 100 bacteria and bellow.
You can see her science project here .
Therefore, dog's mouth is cleaner than human's. However, we need to intervene their licking behavior if it became habit, or if they were constantly licking to flesh, because it can become "lick granuloma".
To read more on lick granuloma at wikipedia website, please click here .
When our dog "Palette" had hotspot on her, she started chewing, licking constantly and the area was exposed to raw flesh. Our vet clipped the fur around, and instructed us to keep the area clean and dry, and we got her soft Elizabeth collar called "Comfy cone". It is made from soft material and unlike traditional plastic elizabeth collar, it was very easy to let her wear it because I did not have to fight with hole long time to snap the collar on, and it was really frustrating.
Pausing with Comfy cones..
I have a good idea!
Maybe, I go ring the gottago door bell for potty and mom would take this thing off for potty..
Supposedly,with Comfy cone, you can fold back when you feed your dogs for easy access for meal. I think, as for meal,it is more comfortable for dogs to be able to eat meal without the elizabeth collar because they would not be chewing/licking anyway but eating. And,you maybe supervising them.
While licking may help the wound heal faster but if your dogs have started licking,chewing suddenly or licking/chewing became constant fair, I think it is important to look into the cause of the licking/chewing and you may need to visit the vet clinic.
Dog's mouth is cleaner than human's??
Recently, I came across an article about this subject written by jackinabox at hubpage. She thinks that the notion of "Dog's mouth is cleaner than human's" could stem from the fact that when the dogs lick wound, it seems to help them heal faster.
According to her article at hubpage, dog's wound licking behavior makes the infected area clean, and help removing the dead tissue, and dog's saliva help loosen the scab on the wound.
When I cut my finger, I wrap my finger with band-aid, so our dog "Palette" has not had a chance to lick my wound and I do not know if her licking my wound could help heal faster or not. However, jackinabox states in the article that if dogs lick the wound on your body, it heals faster because their saliva has special enzyme that has antibacterial substance.
To read full article by jackinabox at hubpage,please click here .
Another article written by jackinabox at squido page points out that there is a study done on dog's saliva and researchers found out that the dog's saliva has special enzyme that prevent "Streptococcus" and "E. coli" bacteria from growing. Therefore, when dogs lick the wound, this enzyme act like mild antibiotic and disinfect the wound and help heal them faster.
To read full article by jackinabox at squido page, please click here .
What enzyme in dog's saliva act like antibiotic exactly?
According to article written by Aileen at Dogreflection website, the enzyme that is in dog's saliva and act like antibiotic is called "Lysozyme", and it is an enzyme that lyses and destroy harmful bacteria.
Aileen states that another reason why dog licks their wound is to stimulate tissue and blood vessel around the wound. She states that licking helps to increase the blood flow, and blood brings the white cells,platelets,growth factors and other natural healing agents to the wound area.
To read full article by Aileen at dogreflection website,please click here.
On the talk of dog's saliva, there is another project done to find out whether dog's mouth is cleaner than human's.
The project is from California state science fair and done by Lauren Palmer. She swabbed saliva from 25 dogs, 25 humans and checked bacteria growth on dish in incubator for 72 hours. She found out that dog's saliva had lower bacteria growth than human's. Bacterias in human's saliva reached to highest category by day 3 but 28% of dog's saliva had no bacteria growth by day 3.
As a result, she found out that most human saliva had 250 bacteria in agar plate but most dogs had 100 bacteria and bellow.
You can see her science project here .
Therefore, dog's mouth is cleaner than human's. However, we need to intervene their licking behavior if it became habit, or if they were constantly licking to flesh, because it can become "lick granuloma".
To read more on lick granuloma at wikipedia website, please click here .
When our dog "Palette" had hotspot on her, she started chewing, licking constantly and the area was exposed to raw flesh. Our vet clipped the fur around, and instructed us to keep the area clean and dry, and we got her soft Elizabeth collar called "Comfy cone". It is made from soft material and unlike traditional plastic elizabeth collar, it was very easy to let her wear it because I did not have to fight with hole long time to snap the collar on, and it was really frustrating.
Pausing with Comfy cones..
I have a good idea!
Maybe, I go ring the gottago door bell for potty and mom would take this thing off for potty..
Supposedly,with Comfy cone, you can fold back when you feed your dogs for easy access for meal. I think, as for meal,it is more comfortable for dogs to be able to eat meal without the elizabeth collar because they would not be chewing/licking anyway but eating. And,you maybe supervising them.
While licking may help the wound heal faster but if your dogs have started licking,chewing suddenly or licking/chewing became constant fair, I think it is important to look into the cause of the licking/chewing and you may need to visit the vet clinic.
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