Well having spent a LARGE amount of time in hospitals, I can see where this line of thinking comes from; however hand washing isn't 100% either. I see an AWFUL lot of hand washing in the hospitals, so I guess nothing is 100%. You can really only hope for the best at the end of the day. I wash and/or sanitize after holding Spike. Depends on if I am in a big hurry or about to cook. If I am cooking, I will actually do both. Same goes with changing my babies or handling them.
Yeah, I agree with you. I'm definitely not saying that hand washing will "wash away" more germs, but I think it's a better practice than depending on sanitizers for everything. So many people over-use them without thinking twice.
I always wash my hands after handling our pet and then on occasion I'll use a hand sanitizer.
When my three year old handles our dragon, I always have him hand-wash and sanitize as he doesn't like me helping him hand wash and he doesn't do a good job of it.
My daughter likes helping with the live food (crickets, worms...) and one never knows what sort of bacteria they might have picked up so we both wash up after feeding too.