Afraid of Pet Saliva

[Ksmithfield]

Hi Everyone,

Today my cat sneezed on me and I’m afraid of getting some disease from the bacteria. She also licked me and I’m afraid the droplets got into my mouth and I’m going to get something like meningitis. Has anyone experienced anything like this? And what have you done to help yourself through it? Thankful for all replies!

[MothFir]

I have developed some contamination issues lately and am currently working to get control of them. We have an indoor/outdoor dog, two indoor/outdoor cats, and (at the moment) a foster cat, so there are plenty of things to trigger me.

Rationalization sometimes helps, so I remind myself I've been sneezed on and licked by our animals countless times before and am still here to tell about it. Anyone who has pets will get the occasional surprise lick or sneeze, even if they practice 'by-the-book' hygiene the rest of the time. A lot of my obsessive fears are driven by the idea that I have done something stupid or irresponsible, so by stepping back and recognizing that I am behaving no differently than the vast majority of pet owners (including the rest of my family) helps take away some of OCD's power.

Hope you are able to overcome this and get back to enjoying your cat!