How to Safely Cuddle Your Cat and Stay Healthy

1 Why cats are so cuddle-friendly

Compared with dogs, cats have almost no body odor. A dog’s sweat glands spread across the whole body, so it smells if not bathed; a cat’s glands are scattered under the jaw and at the tail. As a hunter, a cat also evolved to hide its scent from prey, and it grooms constantly and sunbathes – sunlight kills bacteria – so it stays nearly odor-free. That is why people happily bury their face in a cat but not a dog.

2 Zoonotic risks to know

Close contact can pass illnesses carried in stool or on the coat. Toxoplasmosis lives in cat feces and can enter through the mouth; it is often symptomless but can cause low fever, tiredness, and swollen lymph nodes, eye pain if it enters through the eye, and – in pregnant women – miscarriage or a baby with birth defects.

Cryptosporidiosis also spreads from feces by mouth, bringing abdominal pain, watery diarrhea, fever, and vomiting about a week later. Roundworm rarely crosses species but can; infected kittens show weight loss, diarrhea, and a swollen belly, while people get fever, tiredness, cough, and poor appetite. Q fever, from Coxiella burnetii, causes flu-like fever, chills, and headache and can lead to pneumonia, hepatitis, or endocarditis. Fleas on the coat can trigger itchy skin allergies, and rarely rabies or infectious hepatitis also apply.

3 Cuddle smart

Cuddling is wonderful, but do it with care. Wash your hands after, keep the litter of any outdoor or shared cat clean, and if you are pregnant or not feeling well, look after your own health first before enjoying close contact.