We love our furry paw pals but living with them can be downright dangerous.
In fact cats and dogs, the most common domestic pets in Australia, were responsible for more than half (53 per cent) of all injury hospitalisations related to contact with animals in 2021-22 not to mention those people who went to the emergency department but were not admitted to hospital.
A report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Contact with animals has explored who is commonly injured and hospitalised and the types of animals responsible.
AIHW spokesperson Dr Sarah Ahmed said there were a total of 23,380 hospitalisations due to contact with animals in 2021-22, a notable increase of 2,230 (or 10 per cent) from the previous year.
Health and wellbeing
"Although owning a pet comes with a risk of injury, research has shown that interactions between humans and animals can provide benefits to our health and wellbeing," said Dr Ahmed.
"Over two in three Australian households are estimated to own a pet, so unsurprisingly common domestic pets account for the largest proportion of animals involved in injury hospitalisations."
The most common type of injury were open wounds 13,420 (57 per cent) cases, followed by fractures (15 per cent), toxic effects (10 per cent), superficial (5 per cent) and soft tissue injury (4.5 per cent).
Upper limbs (46 per cent) and head and neck (14 per cent) were the body parts most likely to be injured.
Allergic reactions to animals saw 1,180 people admitted to hospital, the majority being males who were twice as likely as females to be hospitalised for this reason.
Livestock
However, paw pals were not the only cause of hospitalisations. Livestock, particularly horses, cows and sheep, made up almost a quarter (22 per cent) of all injury hospitalisations due to contact with animals; wildlife and venomous animals caused 4,980 injury hospitalisations, reptiles, insects and arthropods (which can include spiders, mites and scorpions) also sent Aussies to the hospital bed as did sea creatures 525 injury hospitalisations.
In 302 cases these marine animals were venomous - jellyfish, stingrays and stinging fish.
Stings from the Irukandji jellyfish made up more than 3 in 4 hospitalisations from all jellyfish.
The report does not include data on emergency department presentations.