The Mouth Is Not a Healing Tool
The idea that animals lick wounds clean is one of the most durable myths in pet care, and it costs animals stitches, skin grafts, and sometimes the wound site itself. A dog's saliva contains Pasteurella, Staphylococcus, and Capnocytophaga species among others. A cat's mouth carries Pasteurella multocida at high enough concentrations that cat-bite wounds in humans are treated as medical emergencies. These bacteria do not sterilise a wound. They colonise it.
