FYI - I did a Yahoo search and found that at
http://www.thedailycat.com/cobrand/bringing/habitat/archive/cats_pregnant_women/
Gloria
At 08:51 PM 7/6/2005, you wrote:
: From: "Hideyo Yamamoto" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
: Subject: RE: Pregnant women trying to get rid of her cats
: To: <felvtalk@felineleukemia.org>
Here's one article. If you do a search on "cats and pregnant woment",
you'll come up with scads of information to give your friend. My
suggestion is that she get a new doctor and give her husband valium.
Kathy Gittel
_______________________________________________________________________________
"Congratulations!" says your doctor, "You're pregnant." It's happy
news. But then the doctor asks if you have a cat, and tells you
solemnly not to scoop the litter box. Doctors understandably like to
play it safe, but it's not necessary to overreact, especially when it
comes to your cat and your health during pregnancy. Cats and pregnant
women can co-exist safely -- and have been doing so for thousands of
years.
The concern, small though it is, regards a parasite called toxoplasma
gondii, which can cause an infection called toxoplasmosis. Cats are
one of the hosts that can carry and pass this parasite to humans
through infectious cysts shed in their stool. While toxoplasmosis
generally causes mild flu-like symptoms in humans that resolve on
their own in a few days, it is very dangerous to fetuses in the first
trimester of pregnancy.
However, that said, toxoplasmosis is only infectious under extremely
particular -- and unlikely -- circumstances. "A lot of things have to
happen," says Drew Weigner, DVM, a board-certified feline specialist.
"A cat has to get a recent infection, it has to be shedding the cysts,
the stool has to have been in the litter box for more than 24 hours,
you'd have to get some of the stool in your mouth or eye, and you'd
have to be in your first trimester -- all of those things would have
to happen."
Cats shed toxoplasma cysts (the egg stage) in their feces three to 10
days after eating infected tissues. They will shed the cysts for up to
14 days, and afterward it is unlikely that they will ever shed them
again -- even after repeated exposure. So only a recent infection is
contagious. In order to get a recent infection, your cat would have to
have eaten an infected mouse, which can only happen if your cat hunts
outdoors or if you have a current rodent infestation -- which, as
Weigner points out, generally doesn't if there is indeed a cat living
in your house.
"Indoor cats that do not hunt have virtually no risk of infection,"
says Elaine Wexler-Mitchell, DVM, ABVP diplomate in feline practice at
The Cat Care Clinic in Orange, California. No risk, that is, unless
they are on a raw food diet. That's because the parasite is
transmissible to both cats and humans through raw or undercooked meat.
In fact, your chances of contracting toxoplasmosis are much, much
greater by handling raw meat or gardening in infected soil than by
getting it from your cat.
Even if your cat does go outside or has caught a mouse recently,
there's still no need to worry. The cysts do not become infectious to
other animals and humans until one to four days have passed. So if you
scoop the litter box promptly, you've avoided the problem.
To be extra safe, Weigner suggests having someone else scoop and
change the litter for you. He suggests single mothers wear gloves and
use litter box liners -- that minimizes the risk of missing any stool
hiding under the litter or on the side of the box. Wearing a mask
while changing the litter isn't necessary, as the cyst is too heavy to
stay airborne for long. During the first trimester, if there is no one
else to take over litter box duties, "I wouldn't scoop the litter
every 24 hours; I would change it every 24 hours," Weigner says.
And remember, even if you get a microscopic cyst on your hand, you'd
have to touch your mouth or your eye without washing your hands to
become infected. Who doesn't wash their hands after scooping the
litter box? "Really, the bottom line, if you have a cat, whether it
goes outside or not, is get someone else to change the litter box,
wash your hands after you pet your cat, and don't worry about it after
the first few months anyway," says Weigner.
"Cats and pregnant moms can peacefully co-exist," he says.. You always
have to follow your obstetrician's advice -- unless they advise you to
get rid of your cat. If they say that, then they don't know about
toxoplasmosis and that means they're out of date." :
I need a help - I have a colleague who is trying to get rid of her
two
: boy cats (declawed) sine she found out that she is pregnant - she
wanted
: to keep the cats since she has had them since they were babies (they
are
: now 4 years old), but her husband is panicking over what her doctor
said
: about danger of having cats around the pregnant woman, and trying to
get
: rid of the kitties.
:
:
:
: Does any have literature or anything I can give to her to read so
that
: it's really not dangerous to have cats in reality - I just never
heard
: of anyone who is actually having a problem - but am I wrong - any
help
: is appreciated. Thank you!
:
:
:
: Hideyo
: :
:
