Cat Litter Toxic...

[happylabs]

Yea...ho hum. I don't put much thought into these government studies. Next week they will be telling us to eat cat litter for its nutrients.

[Randi]

Next week they will be telling us to eat cat litter for its nutrients.

Oh, that may be why Fister does it - and he is sixteen!

[ChrisH]

Are women who own cats a suicide risk?

“Cat ladies are more likely to commit suicide,” The Daily Telegraph states, evoking images of sad and lonely self-harming spinsters surrounded by hordes of meowing kitties. The reality is somewhat different.

The Telegraph’s story is based on a study that found that Danish mothers were more likely to have developed antibodies to the parasite Toxoplasma gondii if they self-harmed at a later date. T. gondii is a parasite that can cause toxoplasmosis, and hygiene is key to preventing it. It can be caught from cat faeces, unwashed vegetables, undercooked meat and contaminated water. It can also pass from a woman to her unborn baby if she is infected during pregnancy.

Toxoplasmosis reportedly affects approximately a third of people worldwide. In most people it causes no symptoms, but it can cause severe problems in pregnant women and in people with a weakened immune system. Previous studies have linked T. gondii infection to schizophrenia and self-harm. The current study investigated this link.

Just over a quarter of a cohort of 45,788 women who gave birth had T. gondii. Of the 45,271 mothers who had not previously self-harmed, only 1% later self-harmed. Women with antibodies against T. gondii were 53% more likely to go on to self-harm. However, this study does not prove that T. gondii infection actually caused the women to self-harm. There may have been various mental health, medical, personal or social causes which this study has not explored. Furthermore, this study looked at the association between self-harm and women with antibodies against T. gondii rather than those who owned cats. There is no need to get rid of Tiddles just yet.


There is a lot more to the article, if you would like to read on go here.

[Cataholic]

I have/had toxo. And, baby J is fine. I think. I get enraged when people use yet another reason to dump animals- this time, cats:


"Exposure to cats is not the only way that humans can be exposed to the parasite. In fact, it is not the most common way. In the U.S., ingestion of infected meat sources is the most common method people come in contact with the parasite. Although it is thought to be very rare, it is possible that some people are exposed through inhalation of dust contaminated with Toxoplasma oocysts."


I silently gag when I hear pregnant women say, "oh...no changing the litterbox anymore for me".