Slip and fall? Blame the kitty
It's official: That pet IS going to be the death of you.
A new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that supposedly innocent dogs and cats are causing a lot of falls. Thousands of them, in fact.
The CDC crunched injury numbers logged from 2001 through 2006 and found 86,629 falls involved a dog or cat. The agency says falls are the leading cause of nonfatal injuries in the country.
* In most of the cases, 88 percent, it's fair to blame the dog. Most injuries also happened when dogs were involved.
* Females were twice as likely to be hurt than males.
* Injuries were most frequent among those under 14 and between 35 and 54 years old.
* The most common injuries were for fractures and contusions/abrasions.
* Most dog falls happened at home while about 16.4 percent happened in the street or another public place. Twenty-six percent of falls involving dogs happened while people were walking them -- usually because people tripped over them but sometimes because the dog pushed or pulled them.
* Falling over a pet item (like a toy or food bowl) accounted for 8.8 percent of fall injuries.
* The vast majority of falls involving cats occurred at home. Approximately 11.7 percent of injuries happened as people were chasing cats. The most frequent circumstances, 66 percent, were falling or tripping over a cat.
Sun file photo.
Categories: Cats Cats Cats, Dogs, dogs, dogs, Health
