On Wed, 6 Apr 2005 13:17:18 +0100, "w.g.s.hamm"
wrote:


"JK" wrote in message
news:1112783080.483a4fb009585c28216fa9a5e8406e2e@ teranews...
Just out of curiosity. Once you have stopped the cats from coming into
your
garden, what will you do about wild birds shitting, hedgehogs, mice,
rats
and other beasties all pooing where your crawling infants go?


I don't have any problems with them.
but you should, really. Rat urine cannot be seen and weils disease which
can be caught from it could potentially kill a small child :0(
Salmonella and psittacosis from wild pigeons is also nasty.
Personally my son grew up with animals, no doubt ingested hair, dander,
etc, probably rolled in cat or dog poo occasionally when he and his friends
would trash my land digging trenches (aided by several dogs) to play war
games and grew up fit, strong and healthy.
I have always had rather a lot of animals, cats included, and so did my
son's friends who were mainly neighbouring farmer's children and had
enormous fun playing at flicking wet cow pats at one another with whippy
twigs. Apart from sensible precautions like washing hands before eating we
didn't worry too much. None of them was ever seriously ill with other than
the usual childhood stuff. My nephew however was coddled by his obsessively
clean mother and when they visited, she wouldn't even allow the child down
onto the floor in my house because dogs and cats had walked there. He grew
up with a myriad of health issues from glue ear, to sinus problems etc and
was a sickly child.

I absolutely agree with this. Today's townie kids' immune systems are
shot to pieces because the kids never get their peck of dirt while
growing up. When do you see kids playing outside in the fields
nowadays? Everyone is scared of 'stranger danger'. If they do go out
of doors away from the telly or computer game, they just ride their
bikes around. Where's the cowboys and injuns, the lying on the ground
playing fives, that kind of thing? Kids (and adults) have little
contact with the natural world, then suddenly, panic, as 'bird flu'
strikes.

If modern humans were transported briefly back to Victorian London,
their sojourn would indeed be brief as many would succumb straightaway
to the ordinary everyday noxious substances that hardy workers of the
day had got used to from birth.

MM