April 8th

According to the centers for disease control and prevention tens of thousands of us visit emergency rooms every year for fractures and sprains we get after tripping over our household pets. As a matter of fact, they estimate that around eighty eight thousand ER visits comes from pet related falls every single year. Some are just bumps and bruises. But for others it can result in fractures or even head injuries.The numbers behind these statistics are pretty amazing. Women are over twice as likely to get injured because of their pets than men. Most of the injuries, nearly nine out of ten, come from tripping over a dog and not a cat. Although most injuries happen to people in the thirty five to fifty four age group, the most dangerous ones happen to those seventy five or older. So the secret here is not to get rid of pets but to understand how these injuries are happening, especially in the elderly. For dogs, most of them happen when someone is taking the dog for a walk and gets pushed or pulled. For cats, most trips and falls happen when someone ends up chasing their cat. Understanding this and realizing when you're at the highest risk for getting hurt can go a long way to keeping you out of the ER and your pet out of the dog house.