Midwife prejudice against cats?

[JAMILAHNOOR]

I had a midwife checkup Monday and although baby and I are healthy, I left the doctors office nervous. I have a cat (have always had cats growing up). She is an indoor cat and neutered. I am aware of the dangers of changeing the kitty litter, so my dear husband does that.
My concern is this: my doctors office works with a team of midwives and I have not seen the same one twice my entire pregnancy (28w 4days). My doctor and every other midwife has known I have a cat and only warned against changing the cat litter, and even explained that my cat is at low risk from transfering any infection dangerous to me and baby since she is an indoor cat and the only one in the house. The midwife I saw monday immidiatly asked me if I had a cat (misplaced my lint roller so was cat hair on my coat) and directly told me it was dangerous to even be around my cat because the risk of infection.  My entire family has cats, and raised healthy babies from full term pregnancies with no problem. Why was this one midwife so adamant about the cats being dangerous to my unborn child? I am nervous about being looked after by a someone who seems more concered with old wives tales than actual medical science. She also told me the risk was from listeria which is different from every bit of research I've read about the danger being from taxoplasmosis(excuse the spelling errors).
All that said, how do I tell my Doctors office that I do not want to see that midwife anymore because she made me uncomfortable? Is that even an option seeing an NHS practice? I'm american and still getting used to the different medical practices here.
help?

[JAMILAHNOOR]

Thanks everyone! I just couldn't believe she would come out of nowhere and lecture me about something that no other medical professional I had seen had seemed at all worried about.  I think I will just ask which midwife will be on duty and try to change the date for my next appointment if she is the one scheduled. I do not want to be difficult, but it really concerned me the way she came across bringing up the subject because of the cat hair on my coat and then launching into a lecture about how dangerous they can be. The information she gave me just didn't match up to any other medical advice I had ever been given and delivered with such attitude that it just sent up red flags for me. She was very confident in everything she said, but with the inaccuracies about cats how would I be able to trust anything else she said? Luckily my next appointmentis with the doctor so shouldnt be a big problem.

[AnnieBrooke]

I think that if she merely disliked cats, I would not keep away from her as a medical professional.  People have prejudices.  But if she directly told me it was dangerous to even be around my cat because of "the risk of infection," i.e., giving me a medical reason that was incorrect, I would wonder if she also makes similar mistakes on other topics regarding pregnancy.  It would not be hard for a midwife, whose business is pregnancy, to learn the correct information about toxoplasmosis, and it would be her duty to learn it.

[wishes2891]

Other than her objections to cats was she fine?  I doubt i would consider her a bad midwife just bc of the cats. Plus if you've never seen the same midwife twice you probably won't have to deal with her often so i would just ignore her rather than get labeled as a difficult patient by complaining about her. Now if you had other very serious concerns about her competency that's a totally different situation and you should definitely ask if you can have someone else. I don't know how your practice works but mine is also rotating but they tell you who is on duty that day when you're making your appointment so it would be fairly easy to request a different day when someone else is working.

[AnnieBrooke]

That all said about babies and allergies, the midwife had no business lecturing you about toxoplasmosis if you have an indoor cat.  If she had sat you down and talked to you about future asthma risks, or something like that, you could give her another try, but otherwise I would ask not to be assigned to her ever again.  

[AnnieBrooke]

The risk during pregnancy is toxoplasmosis, but:
-  the cat has to be an outdoor cat, since the toxoplasmosis protozoa lives in the soil
-  the cat has to actively be sick from toxoplasmosis at the time
-  the poop has to sit in the litter for at least three days for the protozoa in it to grow enough to transmit the illness
-  you would have to ingest the protozoa from the poop, i.e., yes, eat it, not just breathe the dust
AND, I think (look this up)
-  once a cat has had toxoplasmosis, it won't get it again

Your midwife should have spent her time lecturing you not to garden or eat rare meat, since humans can get toxoplasmosis more often from those sources than from cat poop.

Regarding once the baby is born, watch out for sensitivity to cat dander in the baby.  If the baby has a lot of sneezing with no other explanation, you might be dealing with an allergy.

[hannah_louise10]

hi I was adraid of the same but we have a cat and she is an outdoor cat how ever I dont clean out the litter tray and and I try not to antagonise her as to not get a scratch! but I think your midwife was way out of line! and you are def well within your right to change!

[4babyedd6282014]

If u dont wanna see that doctor/midwife again tell ur office u perfer someone else. U have every right to change ur doctor when u want. And when baby comes u can do the same. And as for the cat.... i had cats each time i was pregnant. Baby #4 and now we have 4cats and the doctor called me crazy made me feel bad explained the risks and they are indoor cats. My 3,5 and 9yr old are just fine. No allrgies to cats or dogs. Im glad ur hubby changes the litter. I had to change litter before and like i said my kids are fine. If u have to change litter make sure u dont breath in the dust.