Looking out for your four-legged friend

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Soo C. Kim
  • 374th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan --  For our four-legged friends, the great outdoors is their restroom, making the clean-up process the owner's responsibility.

It is a tedious task; however, picking up after your pet is an important duty and failure to do so could create more than just disgruntled neighbors.

Leaving animal waste behind causes environmental contamination, which can lead to serious health issues for people and animals alike.

"It's more than being mindful of stepping on feces, it's what you're releasing into the environment by not cleaning up," said Army Capt. Simone Laza, officer in charge of the Yokota Veterinary Clinic. "Parasites from feces can get into the environment and humans can pick them up through the contaminated soil."

There are two common ways a parasite can enter the human body: visceral larva migrans and cutaneous larva migrans.

Visceral larva migrans is when contaminated soil is directly consumed either through unwashed hands or fruits and vegetables that were grown in contaminated soil and not cleaned properly before eating. One of the three main parasites that affect pets, the roundworm, uses this method.

Cutaneous larva migrans is when the parasite gets into the body by burrowing through intact skin. This usually happens when walking barefoot on contaminated soil. Another common parasite that infects our pets, the hookworm, uses this method.

Once inside the human body, the parasites and bacteria from contaminated soil can cause array of illnesses, such as: fatigue, nausea, diarrhea, abdominal pain and in an extreme cases, blindness.

Many precautions can be taken to help reduce the likelihood of infection and illness, but picking up after your pet is the best preventative measure for these particular diseases.

Beyond preventing diseases, dog owners have other important responsibilities when walking their pet, most importantly keeping them on a leash according to Laza.

"One of the biggest concerns is your pet attacking humans or other animals. Most of these bites do get infected and they can cause a lot of damage," she said. "On top of that, if your animal gets loose, or you routinely let your pet run around the neighborhood unsupervised, then you can't pick up after it, and you are contributing to environmental contamination."

Lost animals can also cost an owner extra money.

According to Joseph Wilkerson, the assistant manager of the Pet Care Center, "If your animal gets loose, security forces will bring them in here. We scan them for their microchip and find the owner. If we cannot track down the owner then we wait that day for the owner. It is free if you pick up your animal on that same day, but if they stay overnight, we charge $18 for dogs and $13 for cats per day."

Whether to prevent fees associated with animals having to stay at the shelter, or preventing potential parasites, members of Team Yokota are reminded to adhere to the housing rules on pets by keeping them on a leash while being walked and cleaning up after them.