Cats Little Threat To Pregnancy

I read this article the other day and thought it was good enough to share. Savas, if you think this needs to be moved to the health page you can move it or show me how to. I don't know how at this point! Anyway, I hope this reassures some people.

Cat Little Threat To Pregnancy

"The concern about cats and pregnancy involves transmission of a one-celled parasite called Toxoplasma gondii. Toxoplasma can infect most warm-blooded animals and is widespread across the country. The parasite makes a home inside many tissues. Carnivores become infected from eating prey that has the parasite.
Eating raw or undercooked meat, especially pork, is by far the most common way that humans get the parasite. Herbivores tend to get the infection from browsing in areas where an infected cat has passed stools with the parasite in it.
Most people and animals that have been infected with Toxoplasma have no idea because it rarely causes symptoms. Severely immunity-compromised patients are more likely to have problems because they have reduced ability to keep the organism in check. Unfortunately Toxoplasma has the ability to cross the placenta, especially during the first two trimesters of pregnancy, and can cause an infection in a developing fetus that can result in severe birth defects or fetal death.
Cats have a unique place in the cycle of Toxoplasma. They are the only animals in which the parasite undergoes the part of it's life cycle in which it can develop oocysts, which are like little microscopic eggs passed out of the cat in its stool and left in the environment for up to a year.
When a cat eats prey infected with Toxoplasma, the parasite finds its way to the cat's digestive tract, where it starts producing oocysts that are shed in the cat's stool within two or three days.
After the oocysts are passed, however, they still need to mature for two to three days before they can cause and infection in another animal that ingests them. Cats will shed oocysts in the stool for only one to two weeks after they have been infected, and then they will stop.
What this means for a pregnant woman is that it takes a fairly unlikely--but not impossible--convergence of factors for her to get Toxoplasma from the cat. The cat has to have been infected within a two-week window, and the woman would have to have contact with that cat's stool after it has been sitting for at least two days, get some on her hands, and perhaps eat a sandwich without washing her hands first. All the same, the consequences of getting Toxoplasma during early pregnancy are severe enough to warrant some simple precautions.

1. Don't let the cat hunt outside. If he isn't eating wildlife, he isn't getting exposed.

2. Be careful about digging in the soil and eating produce grown in the backyard. Roaming cats will use your garden for a litter box, and it is possible that one could have deposited oocysts that remain infective. Gloves and good hand and food washing go a long way for safety.

3. Cook all meats thoroughly. Of course you should do this anyway, but it is especially important during pregnancy.

4. Somebody other than the pregnant woman should clean the cat's litter box every day. But if a pregnant woman has to clean the litter box, she should use gloves and wash her hands thorougly.

If you take these precautions you should be just fine --- and there will be no reason to get rid of the cat."

By Anne Pierce, DVM

[zodiacqueen]

Great article April!  It should definitely be in the health pages.  Maybe, it should go in the pregnancy forums, too.  I'm not sure if all of the forums share the health pages or not.

Well, I know you have no problem getting to the health pages, since you've left comments on some of my pages!  =D  To make your own health page, look for the link that says "create your own health page".  It's easy to overlook that, so look real good for it!

Good find!!

[April2]

Oh cool! I found it! I'm pretty tired this morning so that's saying a lot, lol. Actually, I've tried to leave comments on some of the health pages and couldn't figure out how to get in? That one I was able to but not the next one I tried. I don't know why?

[April2]

ZQ, I tried to copy and paste this and move it over to the Health Page. It wouldn't let me. Do you know why? It said you can't cut and paste with Mozilla and Firefox or something like that. What does that mean? I've copied and pasted many things. Why can't I do it now?
I really don't want to have to retype this whole thing!

[zodiacqueen]

What in the world????????  LOL  That is really weird!!  I do not get why it is being so picky!!!  =[  You could also try this:

I copied and pasted some of the info into the health pages-it let me do it.  Try copying and pasting the info into a Word document.  THEN, copy and paste from that new document onto the health pages.

[April2]

Ok, I did it, or rather my son did it for me, lol. He had to make it so that Medhelp would accept me copying and pasting into the health page by doing something with our firefox and mozilla settings in our computer. Don't ask me how he did it, lol. He's the computer geek, not me!

[PrettyKitty1]

Hun, this is geat information. It should be on the Health Pages. And I agree with everything.  My cat eat raw meats, but I get him his foods from the same market I get my own, and it is FSIS approved. You can never be too careful about this subject. It is very, very important for people to know this.