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Asked by anon-263459 on 13 Oct 2020.
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Will Davison answered on 13 Oct 2020:
I don’t know about cat saliva specifically but all saliva has some level of antibacterial property. That’s the whole point of saliva! It traps bacteria, stops it growing and then you swallow it into your stomach where the stomach acid kills the germs. It wouldn’t work in the same way as soap though because soap is a cool molecule that can act like both oil and water so it can dissolve stuff that is only normally disolvable in one or the other. You’d probably only end up with very slimy clothes that smell like cat food….
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Richard Fielder answered on 14 Oct 2020:
The problem is that washing isn’t the same thing as killing bacteria. Dirt without bacteria in it is still dirty, while something can be otherwise clean but still have bacteria on it. So if you washed your clothes in spit, you might kill any bacteria on them, but you wouldn’t get rid of all the dirt, grease and other stuff on them. You also don’t necessarily want to kill bacteria for no reason. Most bacteria are harmless to humans, especially when they’re just outside on clothes and similar and not actually inside your body. Using too much anti-bacterial stuff when it’s not needed doesn’t have any real benefit, but can lead to bacteria building up resistance so you can’t get rid of them later when you actually need to.
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Sonia Rodriguez answered on 14 Oct 2020:
Will and Richard have already answered your question, but I’d like to add that even if cat spit may have some antibacterial properties it can also have germs. Most cats (around 70-90%) carry a bacteria called Pasteurella in their mouths that can cause skin infections in humans if they lick a wounded area, so I wouldn’t use cat spit to disinfect wounds either.
Comments
marshallk20 commented on :
Oooh slimy clothes that smell like cat food? Sign me up! Thanks for answering Will. Is this similar with tears?