Vet issues advice on common but harmful dog habits

A vet has shared a list of things to never let your dog do – and some of them will be very familiar

A vet has shared some of the things you should never let your dog do – and some of them may be very familiar. Letting your dog lick your face or playing with tennis balls are not unusual things, but vet Jamie Lam has said dog owners must stop them. Dr Lam also says there should be an an immediate ban on tennis balls.

In a viral TikTok, the vet shared the five common things he would never do with his pooch. Dr Lam warned: “I’m Jamie and I’m a vet and here’s my five things I wouldn’t do with my dog. Number one, I would not let Otis lick my face.”

“Dogs have a lot of bacteria in their mouths and it can even give us things like roundworm and tapeworm, so definitely no licking of the face. Next, I wouldn’t feed him food from the table.”

“Although they may like it and even love it, it can encourage begging behaviour which can be very frustrating for people at home, and pet obesity is one of the biggest things that we struggle with in our industry, so definitely no table scraps with this one.”

“Next, I personally would not feed a raw food diet. That’s not to say that there aren’t dogs out there that do really well on a raw food diet, but they do have an increased risk of causing things like salmonella and E.coli in our dogs.”

“Furthermore, if it’s not a complete diet and you are just making it up as you go along, you may be giving your dog a nutritional deficiency which is not ideal. Next, I would make sure I didn’t forget to give him his vaccines and that I stay on top of his flea and his worming.”

“It’s so common to see these problems in the vets, I see fleas and worms pretty much on a daily basis, so making sure he’s covered is really important. The final thing, I personally wouldn’t allow Otis to play with tennis balls, sticks or rocks.”

“I see a lot of injuries from all of these things, a lot of tooth erosion from tennis balls, it’s just not worth the damage, get toys, there are a lot of safer toys out there.”