A vet has urged owners to never let their dogs play with tennis balls over safety issues.
The UK veterinarian shared the five things he would never do with his pooch on TikTok as he issued a warning over playing with balls.
Posting under @jglam6, he explained tennis balls, sticks and rocks are unsafe and can cause a lot of damage. He explained they can cause tooth erosion and that there are safer toys out there to play with.
He also warned against letting your dog lick your face, giving them scraps at the table, feeding them a raw food diet and to make sure they are up to date with vaccinations.
The vet said: “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.”
