Dogs in Hotel Rooms

By William H Harriss 24/06/2022. [email protected]

Should dogs be allowed in hotel rooms? Should they be allowed to sleep on the beds? What are the dangers to other guests?https://www.dhirubhai.net/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6945477537544232962/

?Dogs carry numerous pathogens and parasites that are catching and transferable to humans.

?Can it be right to expect other travellers to use a room previously occupied by someone else's dog?

OK, people love their dogs and would not leave home without their canine family members. But what risks are there to future users of a bedroom where a dog was allowed?

Dogs are highly susceptible to many microorganisms such as parasites, viruses, bacteria, bugs, and fungi. Some serious diseases can be passed from dogs to humans via contact or bedding. Fleas, Ticks, Bed Mites, Ringworm. Nipah Virus: This disease has a 50 per cent chance of death. Rickettsiae: These are tiny microorganisms that attack their host. It's dangerous and often requires a series of medical tests to diagnose. Lyme Disease: There is no vaccine for Lyme disease, making it very dangerous. Bordetellosis: When this type of bacteria is passed from dogs to humans, it can cause anything from cold-like symptoms to respiratory infections to pneumonia. Brucellosis: Dogs are hazardous because they are common carriers. Campylobacter Enteritis: Dogs carry this disease without giving any indication of carrying it.

Dogs can also pass other life-threatening diseases through biting. Rabies, Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis, Meningitis, Endocarditis, Septic Shock,

?How are the rooms sterilized when the guest dogs and their human families leave? Routine cleaning procedures will most certainly not suffice?

When I talk about sterilizing, I do not mean sanitizing or other cleaning procedures because those are lesser procedures with lesser effects than sterilizing. Sterilization is the most advanced form of decontamination; sanitizing is much lesser and has more secondary results.

Humans contaminate rooms, but dogs bring many more contaminates than their owners.

Almost all hotel rooms already have contaminated bed pillows because few, if any, hotels sterilize the pillows, blankets or comforters. Now, dogs can be in hotel rooms to bring a massive new danger into a bedroom.

When dogs go for a walk, they love to explore every corner, sniffing other dogs' poo, eat the poo of other dogs and animals, play with other dogs, and smell other dogs' bottoms and genitals. Unfortunately, dogs are well known to carry lots of parasites like fleas, mites, and ticks that can end up in their beds when they return from walkies. And these can transmit further diseases!

We can be absolutely positive in declaring that dogs should never be allowed on or in a hotel bed, even if they have a blanket or cover to sleep on. Because of everything dogs bring, every pathogen or insect can pass through dog blankets to the bed. Or can crawl across bedding to contaminate the whole bed.

Dogs should never be allowed in a room with carpets because while sterilizing tiles is possible, it is impossible to sterilize carpets.

If dogs must be in a tiled bedroom, ensure they have a dog bed to sleep in and sterilize the bed after use. Another dog should use no dog's bed unless it has been previously sterilized.

There is another problem if hotels have no way of sterilizing bed pillows for humans, how will they sterilize dogs' beds??

1. External parasites Dogs get fleas from other dogs, in the street, in the park, ?and bring them to the hotel. The fleas' favourite place to hide is where a dog sleeps. Careful! Because they can infest bedding and soft furnishings. Before animals are allowed in hotels, the owners should be able to confirm by written veterinary confirmation that deworming and flea treatment are up to date.

?2. Ringworm Ringworm is an infection produced by a particular type of fungi. This fungus infests dogs' skin, hair, and paws. Some symptoms are redness, itching, hair loss and wounds. Ringworm spores can live for up to 2 years in unsterilized bedding. They can infect and reinfect all other dogs who come into contact with unsterilized areas where a contaminated dog has been allowed. Dogs' bedding must be sterilized to stop the spread of ringworm.

?3. Roundworms, hookworms, and whipworms. These parasites live in a dog's digestive tract. Therefore, dogs' can be infected by eating raw meat, being in contact with infected feces [faeces], or contact with an infected animal, such as mice, rats, birds, or other dogs.

?If dogs are infected with anything, they will infect their bedding.

4. Salmonella and listeria Dogs can have these bacteria in their bowels without showing symptoms. However, humans might be at risk from the dog or its bedding. To ensure contamination is not passed on to humans, it is essential to sterilize dog bedding and all surfaces, including floor tiles.

5. Fleas and Ticks in Bedding Flea eggs and tick larvae hide deep in the fibers of bedding. Animals pick up ticks and tick larvae from long grass in fields and gardens, where they occur naturally. Like all animal ailments, treating the animals with veterinary applications is essential. Again the dog owner should have a veterinarian certificate to say the dog has received recent anti-tick treatment. After use, the dogs' bedding should be sterilized to kill fleas, ticks, eggs, and larvae.

?5. Dog Bed Construction Never use dog bedding that contains rubber or foam rubber because foam rubber cannot be safely sterilized.

When washing and drying dog bedding, the laundry will be unable to achieve the highest temperatures required to kill parasites, bacteria, viruses, and fungi.

Besides sterilization, the dogs' bed must be washed and dried. Before these processes, clean away the hair and dirt from bedding with a vacuum cleaner. A suitable washing detergent is essential, as some are toxic to dogs. Do not use detergents with ammonia or bleach; dogs can become ill or die from chemical residues. And do not use a softener.?

The 'Rayo Azul Mascota Bed Sterilizer' ['RAMBS'] is today's most modern scientific advance in the sterilization of dog bedding. It uses no chemicals and leaves no chemical residue.

The RAMBS is a sealed chamber where the bedding is placed and holds up to three large dog beds. Then a unique integral ozone gas generator takes o2 oxygen from the air and converts it to o3 ozone gas. After the sterilization cycle, all the ozone gas reverts to oxygen again, killing every living thing and destroying viruses within the bedding; nothing can survive the treatment. As a result, the bedding is now 99.999% sterile.

?Rubber or foam rubber cannot be placed in the 'RAMBS'; ozone gas does not like it.

'RAMBS' is the only method to ensure the safety of the human clientele after a dog has previously slept in a hotel bedroom.

?[But remember the hotel pillow sterilizing chamber, the 'Rayo Azul MKIII' sterilizes bed pillows against all known pathogens, including COVID and Monkeypox to 99.99%]

Notice: I am unaware if Hilton Hotels sterilize bedding items in their hotel rooms, such as bed pillows, woollen blankets, or comforters. Although a Hilton article prompted the writing of this article, I am unaware of precisely what sterilization procedures they undertake, if any.

?If Hilton undertakes sterilization, I will be happy to publish the details of the same should they contact me.

For further details on this or any other related matter, don't hesitate to get in touch with me at [email protected]

?William H Harriss