Have You Tripped Over Your Pet?

[David Baxter PhD]

Have You Tripped Over Your Dog?
Tara Parker-Pope, New York Times
March 27, 2009

As someone with three small dogs and two cats, I could relate to the news today that pet accidents are a major source of injury in the United States. My pets are constantly underfoot, and just the other day I took a tumble as I tried to avoid squashing a 6-month-old Shih Tzu.

A new study shows that more than 86,000 people a year end up in the emergency room because they tripped over the family pet. The data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that while we sometimes trip over our cats, dogs are the primary cause of pet-related falling accidents. Dr. Judy Stevens, whose research focuses on preventing falls in senior citizens, said she?s often heard people explain that they were tripped up by the family pet, but until now there were no data to show how common a problem it really is.

Have you tripped over the family pet?

 

[Cat Dancer]

Wow. I do this ALL the time. I step on them too. I don't think anyone's ever been hurt badly though.

That is a lot of people who end up in the ER.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

That's why I started plugging in night lights everywhere...

 

[NicNak]

My place is small and my cat is old, so we leave the kitchen light on for her, cause she doesn't see too well anymore.

Luckily that prevents us from tripping over Jewel in the night.

Unfortunetly when she is hungry she runs under our feet and sometimes we get a tail or a paw under foot. She also blends into the carpet, but if we get close, she actually lets out a loud meow to let us know she is there. Pretty smart cat I say!

 

[Banned]

I teach my dogs from day one that their job is to get out from under my feet and get out of my way. My mom, on the other hand, has a little trouble with that, and she trips over them probably four times a day. One day I'm going to come home from work and find her flat on the floor with a broken leg or something.