What was your exposure to animals growing up?

I was brought up on a poultry farm - we five children played with the birds like most children play with dolls and teddys - and, to possibly make things worse, I had a parrot who was on my shoulder unless I was actually in school. Toby (the parrot) loved to nibble my teeth - wonder what the health & safty boffins would make of that. Come to that, even I'm beginning to wonder - I thought it was good to expose children to 'a peck of dirt' but perhaps I had rather more than my peck!

As a child I had summer exposure to grandparents dairy farm... calves, cattle, dogs, cats, chickens...
As an adult, I had exposure to horses, dogs, cats in the interval before my first symptoms.

1 cat
2 dogs

But, I think that I have had MS for most of my life, being - Colic as a baby (still have problems), bladder problems started at 12 and is worsening, bowel problems since birth, etc...

I wonder how many MS's patients have had symptoms all their lives, or was it just a 'sudden' exacerbation?

Kathy Kay

Patricia Cooke Smith

As a young child I spent time on my Uncle's farm on the James River 60 miles east of Richmond, Virginia. My Uncle raised hogs, butchered the hogs and cured the hams on the property just next to the house, well and outhouse. We all drank well water and used that same outhouse.
I have always wondered if that set of living conditions fostered MS that two of the cousins I slept with along with my Uncle and my Father all had or have...one of the female cousins is still alive and in a nursing home in Virginia...
I did not grow up with animals but have always had pets once I moved out on my own...right now I have a 12 year old maltese and a 6 month old maltese that make it so I have to get up and feed them even if I feel lazy. I uploaded a photo of my two dogs...don't know how to get it on the air butI am sure Accelerated Cure can try. Pat

I moved to a farm and had horses, cows, chickens, dogs, and cats. I was recently dxd with Lyme just after being told I was now progressive, and I am getting better. Hmmm someone with progressive MS getting better? I don't think it's the animals themselves we should be worried about, it's what the animals can carry. Ticks for instance.

Brought up with lots of hogs from birth to aduit. Dx with MS age 39.

No pets ever. Limited exposure to friends with animals in the home. I'm a people person, not an animal person. I am horribly allergic to most any animal that has hair or fur. I can't even sleep on feather pillows or use down bedding - I end up with eye and sinus infections.

Lived in "town" until I was 11 and then moved to the country. We had ducks, turkeys, chickens (of all varieties), rabbits, cows, pigs, and horses. I did have a pet peacock that lived in the house with us for about two weeks (from hatching until it died). No matter where I have lived, my allergies have gotten progressively worse. My food allergies make it nearly impossible to eat!

Like others, I too can think back over twenty years (I'm 37) and can say that I probably had signs of MS that long ago. I was diagnosed in August 2005 moving quickly from RRMS to Progressive, now retired.

Grew up in the city, but always had pets in the house. Mostly dogs and canaries, but as I got older and able to care for pets, I had mice, stray cats, hamsters and parakeets. Once we had kids we their "pets" too including garter snakes, goldfish, turtles, one lonely crawfish and cockatiels. All creatures were under my loving care (cleaning cages, feeding, etc.) before I was diagnosed at age 46. I agree with Kathy and Sharon about having MS or some precursor for all my life. Not sure about the colic, but skin rashes galore, bouts of clumsiness, and occasional GI track problems. Anybody out there make a habit of eating stuff right from the garden without washing it as a kid? How about dead, dried up worms? Yech! I'm told that as a toddler, I would routinely pick them off the sidewalk and pop them into my mouth! Can I blame my MS on those worms?

Most of the theories on pets involve the idea that having been exposed would be protective for a disease like MS. Eating worms was probably good for you!

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Art Mellor, Accelerated Cure Project for MS, art-msnews -at- acceleratedcure.com

I was diagnosed with MS in August 2007 at age 42, after losing my sight in my left eye, with no apparent cause according to my eye doctor. She sent me to my GP, who sent me to the nuerologist, who sent me for the tests that made the diagnosis. My sight returned on it's own just as randomly as it had vanished.

I was around animals of all types since birth. We lived on a farm, dairy and vegetables. We always had animals in the house and in the yard. Whatever I could feed and pet was always a friend. I was a barefoot country child so I walked in everything imaginable! If MS can come from the animals, I was definately on the front lines. I still have cats, dogs, rabbits and fish. Wild chickens frequent my yard, as do birds of every kind since I always keep out food.

I think I've had MS since at least high school. Over the years I've always had strange symptoms, things that lasted for a few days to a few weeks. Usually by the time I would finally think about going to the doctor, they went away on their own. I normally just attributed everything to stress. I got married, my husband was laid off from work. We had our daughter, then moved around a lot. We got divorced. I became a single mom. I went to college, worked full time, did the girl scout stuff, and raised my daughter through her teenage years! She's 19 and in college now!

With my daughter, we went through the usual cycle of hamsters, mice, gerbals and a few birds. She had a few turtles and lizards as well and like most moms, I was the one who ultimately ended up caring for everything.

I look back and see that all of the random symptoms I'd been having were likely early MS symptoms that went undiagnosed.

Always had cats & dogs @ home, spent time with horses in summers growing up. Diagnosed in 1979 w/ RRMS. Still okay, despite major relapse this year (May - just feeling better now ...

Always had dogs ............ wonder about exposure to the distemper vaccine. I know I have heard of an outbreak of ms in regard to dogs with distemper. I actually had a dog as a child that contracted distemper; my father refused to put him down and nursed him back to health somehow. I have a sister with ms as well. I have learend that the distemper vaccine is a modified live vaccine. My last bad attack came after my dogs were vaccinated for distemper.

I remembering hearing a few years back that there was a theory of some sort of connection between canine distemper and MS. Growing up my family had a dog that had to be put down because he had canine distemper. I mentioned this to my neurologist and he asked me - how many of your siblings have MS (I have 6 siblings), to which I had to respond, none, just me.
My family usually had some sort of pet from the time I was about 6 or 7. Dogs, fish, "disposable turtles" (remember those little green ones that died after about a week and are now not sold anywhere because of salmonella concerns); a chicken (a chick from an elementary school egg hatching 'experiment'); a rabbit.
I was diagnosed at age 36, but I'm fairly certain I'd already had it at least four years at that point in time.

AND a rescue dog we took in was ill and died soon after

I find that nowadays frequently a cat scratch leaves me requiring penicillin, as I begin to get ill soon afterwards

Otherwise, we had cats and dogs over the years.
One sister loved animals and managed to bring in ALL kinds, including reptiles. I wasn't interested in any but the cats and dogs, so only handled them.

I had many stray cats. I had to get rabbie shots after a kitten bite me and then ran away. I also had dogs- both inside and out. Baby chicks in the house till they started flying around and made my mom cry.

There were pets in my house before I was born. There has never been a time in my life when I didn't have a pet. I always petted and/or held any animal I could. I was never afraid of any animal of any kind. My mom and I can remember incidents from my childhood that could have been MS symptoms but they always lasted only a brief time so we were never too overly concerned.My entire life I have had a weakened immune system. I always blamed this on my father smoking. I have read in medical literature lots of times that smoking causes a weakened immune system as well as not being exposed to germs. I have never read anything about exposure to pets contributing to this problem. Makes no difference--I will not live without my pets. They bring too much joy into my life.

I strongly support what's being said about having had ms decades before it was finally diagnosed. I'm not so sure about doctors not suspecting what was wrong with me but being wary of telling me when the remission phase was still fairly short.
I've been around cats and dogs most of my life and I'm not prone to allergies. I've always attributed this to my exposure to pets from infancy. I do react very strongly to mosquito and gnats' bites though. I've also had thyroid trouble since pregnancy and have been operated twice in my life. I wonder if any studies are concerned with this aspect, especially since some of the symptoms I had before my second operation were fairly similar to my ms symptoms.

Please take me off the animal format. I have voted and would like to call an end to it all. It would be nice to blame it on my old dead dogs--but I will not do it.

We always had a dog and a cat. Usually, multiple dogs. I still have two dogs and two cats at the age of 47. I don't know about my immuned system, buy I know my mental health is enhanced by their unconditional love. Whether I'm having a good day out in the yard or a bad day curled up on the couch. They always check on me and keep me going. I love them and they give it back with out question. They don't hold a grudge and the don't scold me for not writing down something I know I will forget. They gave me the same security when I was a child dealing with my life as it was laid out. I hope there is no negative findings about animal exposure. I don't know what I would have done with the exposure I was lucky enough to experience. Thanks, Lisa