Scottish Terrier Health  Donate to the HTF  Please consider
donating to the Scottish Terrier Health Trust Fund.  Learn more
or donate via check here.   Your Pet Can Be Hazardous to Your
Health print email   To minimize risk, here's what you need to
know    Source: Reader's Digest, May 1995, pp. 33,36-37,39,41.
When Richard Simms of Conyers, Ga., began experiencing fatigue,
ir­ritability and blurred vision, he couldn't understand why.
The normally affable 23-year-old grew even more concerned when
he started having fits of anger, followed by a steep drop in
energy.  Then one day he collapsed in convulsions. Rushed to
Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, he lapsed into a coma.
Doctors diagnosed encephalitis, a brain inflammation that
resulted from a cat scratch - apparently by Simms's cat Max.  An
estimated 60 percent of Americans share a home with an animal.
We keep more than 57 million cats, 53 million dogs and 12
million birds. Unusual animals, such as rodents, reptiles and
min­iature pigs, are being ado