If cat poop is so toxic to pregnant women, why aren't there more birth defects? Can cat poop cause schizophrenia?

Brutuskend

Lifer
Apr 2, 2001
26,558
4
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Dear Cecil:

Two related questions: As a cat owner, I've been a little concerned recently about rumors that cat poop can cause schizophrenic behavior in people who are overexposed to the waste. How much truth is in this--and if there is any truth to it, what amount can possibly count as overexposure? I'm also bothered by the supposed risk to pregnant women that changing the litter box can cause--not so much to them as to the fetus, through bacteria and whatnot. If that's really true, then with a third of all Americans owning cats, why don't we see higher rates of these dreadful birth defects? Certainly some of these women must get pregnant sometime, and I doubt they all know the dangers posed to them by cleaning up what Puss left behind. What gives? --Onnie in Baltimore

Cecil replies:

Buckle up, friend. This one's bizarre.

While you're surely right that not everyone has gotten the word, the medical profession and hopefully most women of childbearing age know that if you're pregnant you don't want to get near cat feces. The problem is the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii, for which cats are the principal host. The microscopic parasites reproduce in the cat's gut, the eggs are excreted, and by a process I'm not about to describe the critters wind up in your brain and muscles, where they create tiny cysts, leading to a condition known as toxoplasmosis. Unpromising as this sounds, the symptoms of toxoplasmosis are generally mild to nonexistent in adults, which is good, because roughly a third of all humans are infected, with the rate in some tropical countries approaching 100 percent.

For some, though, things are less benign. If a woman initially becomes infected while pregnant, there's a fair chance the T. gondii will migrate across the placenta to her unborn child, with ghastly results ranging from cerebral palsy, seizures, and mental retardation to death. Women infected prior to pregnancy don't run the same risk, which no doubt explains why we haven't seen an epidemic of toxo-induced birth defects--the parasite's ubiquitousness confers a sort of immunity. I've seen no research suggesting there's a threshold exposure below which there's no danger, and in my opinion it'd be foolish to assume there is one. Besides, you'll never get a better excuse to make somebody else clean the litter box.

LINK
 

miri

Diamond Member
Jun 16, 2003
3,679
0
76
practice proper hygiene like washing your hands real good after cleaning the litterbox.
 

GasX

Lifer
Feb 8, 2001
29,033
6
81
Toxo is really bad for AIDS patients too. I remember the scene in Trainspotting where the HIV+ addicts are holed up in a filthy apartment and they get a kitten - nice move.
 

SagaLore

Elite Member
Dec 18, 2001
24,036
21
81
Originally posted by: miri
practice proper hygiene like washing your hands real good after cleaning the litterbox.

So eating brownies right after cleaning the litter box with your bare hands is a bad idea?
 

daveymark

Lifer
Sep 15, 2003
10,573
1
0
Originally posted by: CPA
Another reason to kill all cats.



it's more fun to kill dogs though. Cats aren't capable of emotion, whereas listening to a dog whine in pain gets the juices flowing.
 

daveymark

Lifer
Sep 15, 2003
10,573
1
0
Originally posted by: Brutuskend
Originally posted by: daveymark
Originally posted by: CPA
Another reason to kill all cats.



it's more fun to kill dogs though. Cats aren't capable of emotion, whereas listening to a dog whine in pain gets the juices flowing.

:Q:|:thumbsdown:


I hope that is directed at both my comment, as well as CPA's
 
Feb 10, 2000
30,029
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I recall reading a study recently in which they found that women who live with cats during pregnancy are 400% more likely to have children afflicted with schizophrenia.
 

Brutuskend

Lifer
Apr 2, 2001
26,558
4
0
Originally posted by: daveymark
Originally posted by: Brutuskend
Originally posted by: daveymark
Originally posted by: CPA
Another reason to kill all cats.



it's more fun to kill dogs though. Cats aren't capable of emotion, whereas listening to a dog whine in pain gets the juices flowing.

:Q:|:thumbsdown:


I hope that is directed at both my comment, as well as CPA's

Yes.

I frown on the killing of all cute / fuzzy creatures.
 

djheater

Lifer
Mar 19, 2001
14,637
2
0
Originally posted by: Brutuskend
Originally posted by: daveymark
Originally posted by: Brutuskend
Originally posted by: daveymark
Originally posted by: CPA
Another reason to kill all cats.



it's more fun to kill dogs though. Cats aren't capable of emotion, whereas listening to a dog whine in pain gets the juices flowing.

:Q:|:thumbsdown:


I hope that is directed at both my comment, as well as CPA's

Yes.

I frown on the killing of all cute / fuzzy creatures.


Are you about to steal a Dennis Leary routine?
 

Brutuskend

Lifer
Apr 2, 2001
26,558
4
0
Originally posted by: djheater
Originally posted by: Brutuskend
Originally posted by: daveymark
Originally posted by: Brutuskend
Originally posted by: daveymark
Originally posted by: CPA
Another reason to kill all cats.



it's more fun to kill dogs though. Cats aren't capable of emotion, whereas listening to a dog whine in pain gets the juices flowing.

:Q:|:thumbsdown:


I hope that is directed at both my comment, as well as CPA's

Yes.

I frown on the killing of all cute / fuzzy creatures.


Are you about to steal a Dennis Leary routine?

Is he the guy that took all that acid? ;)