NO CAUSAL LINK PROVEN that cats cause schizophrenia

As is usual, the news media has been all over a study from Australia about the possible connection between owning a domestic cat and developing schizophrenia. But the news media have misrepresented the study. And let's be clear, the study simply reviewed other studies. It did not start from scratch. The study is about the possible transmission of T. gondii oocysts from cats to humans. 

For example, Metro has the headline, "A pet cat could double your chances of schizophrenia"

Another headline states, "Study finds link between cats and schizophrenia is real". That is a highly misleading headline. That's my personal view and I think it is a fair one. I've looked at the study rather than read the news media stories about it.

The study is called: Cat Ownership and Schizophrenia-Related Disorders and Psychotic-Like Experiences: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Link: https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbad168

As I said the study comes from Australia where their relationship between domestic and feral cats and Australians is somewhat strained.  The feral cat has been denigrated and is mercilessly slaughtered at any opportunity on that continent. That's the background to the study. 

The point I am making and alleging is that the Australian authorities like to denigrate the cat in general. They want owners to keep their cats indoors full-time. They want to blame the cat for wiping out their native species.

This study does not prove a causal link between domestic cat ownership and the cat owner developing schizophrenia. That point needs to be stressed very strongly. 😎🙄

On my reading of the study the scientists found an association between increased odds of developing schizophrenia and cat ownership. In their words, "We found an association between broadly defined cat ownership and increased odds of developing schizophrenia-related disorders."

"An association" is not a causal link. This does not establish that domestic cats give people schizophrenia. In fact they more or less state that in their study conclusions. This is their conclusion:

Our findings provide support for the hypothesis that cat exposure is associated with an increased risk of broadly defined schizophrenia-related disorders; however, the findings related to PLE as an outcome are mixed. There is a need for more high-quality studies in this field. - Conclusions of the study in the words of the scientists conducting it.

They refer to an hypothesis that cat exposure is associated with increased risk of developing schizophrenia. The word hypothesis means "a supposition your proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation." This hypothesis has been repeated in other earlier studies from Australia. But no proof. To say they have a hypothesis is an admission that they don't have the proof.

That says it all. This study proposes that there might be some sort of link between domestic cats and an increased incidence of being in cat owners. It is making a suggestion. It's a proposal. No more. Clearly not a causal link.

News media needs to really report more accurately on this and get to the bottom of it. They tend to repeat what other news media outlets say leading to the same headline and the same misrepresentation of a study throughout the news media community.

This is unhelpful for domestic cat welfare. This website is concerned about domestic cat welfare which is why I have reported on this study as a countermeasure.

Four distinguished veterinarians say this about toxoplasmosis: "Evidence strongly suggest that cats and people can also get the disease from eating raw or undercooked pork, beef, mutton or veal or unpasteurised dairy products that contains toxoplasma organisms.... Almost half the human adult population shows serological evidence of having been exposed in the past [to toxoplasmosis]."

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

"Link" between cat ownership and schizophrenia DOES NOT PROVE CAUSE AND EFFECT

As usual, from time to time the news media like to claim that owning a cat can cause schizophrenia. They cite studies and a new one has recently been published. But the news media reporters tend or always miss a very important point which I'll explain.

In broad terms you can categorise scientific studies into two groups: those that are observational and those that prove cause and effect.

Observational studies

These simply observe what is going on and report on it. So in the study referred to (see citation at base of this post) they found the following: "Our findings support an association between cat exposure and an increased risk of broadly defined schizophrenia-related disorders" and this: "We found that individuals exposed to cats had approximately twice the odds of developing schizophrenia". But this does not prove that owning a cat increases the chances of the owner developing schizophrenia.

It might but it is not proved scientifically through a detailed scientific analysis of the transference of the zoonotic disease T. Gondii from the cat to the person. The argument is that T. Gondii causes schizophrenia. But the observed cat owners might be predisposed to schizophrenia for any number of reasons and they just happen to own a cat.

Or the results might be explained by the fact that people who have fragile minds are more likely to adopt a cat for support and company as they find it harder to find a partner who accepts them. That last point is probably the most likely reason for this link between exposure to cats and schizophrenia-related disorders.

Cause and effect

I have touched on this above. The study would have to prove through hard science that cats caused these illnesses and as far as I know they have not. The study in question reviewed 17 early studies over 44 years.

I have done a lot of work on this topic and I have never seen it proved that cats cause schizophrenia-related illnesses.

One last point: often scientists have an axe to grind. They might dislike cats. Or they are funded by businesses who dislike cats. Or governments who have an agenda such as to keep cats inside the home full-time to protect native species or protect native species by reducing the domestic cat population. This kind of study might put people off adopting a cat for instance.

Click the following link to read another article about cat poop causing mental illness: Inconclusive study does not find Toxoplasma gondii infection causes schizophrenia in people.

Conclusion

Beware studies in general. Many are excellent and very useful but some are not. A recent story from the UK reported that one online journal deleted 40,000 studies as they were dubious. It is believed that they were churned out to boost the scientists' CV. They were fake and the journal had not been rigorous enough in vetting them.

RELATED: Beware of "bad science" research papers published online.

The study

John J McGrath, Carmen C W Lim, Sukanta Saha, Cat Ownership and Schizophrenia-Related Disorders and Psychotic-Like Experiences: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, Schizophrenia Bulletin, 2023;, sbad168, https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbad168

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Friend tells pregnant woman that she is a bad mother because she won't get rid of her cats

NEWS AND COMMENT: This is a story which probably happens not infrequently inside homes across the planet. And it's a bit sad that two workplace friends fell out when one of them became pregnant and insisted on keeping her four cats despite the protestations of her friend.

Pregnant women don't have to get rid of their cat because there are alternative ways of dealing with a potential infection of Toxoplasma gondii which can be highly effective and protect the baby completely.

And what is doubly upsetting is that other workplace women agreed with her friend that he should give up her cats. It seems that they might have ostracised her to a certain extent.

The woman in question has lived with cats all her life. She has four cats; all rescues by the way which is great. She was baffled by her friend insisting that she get rid of the cats to protect her unborn baby.

The story comes from Reddit.com. The pregnant woman is 30 years of age and her friend, Josie, is 28. The pregnant woman has been married for 10 years.

As sooner as her friend found out that she was pregnant she went into a long description of why the cats had to go and why pregnant women should not change the cat litter boxes to protect the unborn child.

She was somewhat baffled by the advice. I think she knew about toxoplasmosis already and as she had grown up with cats all her life, she thought that if she was going to get the disease she would have been infected already. A good percentage of people are infected by toxoplasmosis without realising it because the disease is asymptomatic.

But the big point is this one: she's got a husband who can change the litter box! There was no need for this pregnant woman to take any chances.

The point here is that pregnant women don't have to get rid of their cats because there are better ways of dealing with this potential health problem concerning the unborn child. Although this potential health problem is, I agree, a serious one.

Another point worth making is that nearly all toxoplasmosis infections in humans come from eating undercooked food, handling uncooked food or drinking unpasteurised milk. The source is food rather than the domestic cat.

The problem is this: the parasite which causes a Toxoplasma gondii infection can cross the placenta and infect the developing foetus where it can cause congenital toxoplasmosis.

RELATED: Truth about Toxoplasmosis and Cats - click to read this article for more on this topic.

The severity of the infection depends upon the gestation age at which the mother becomes infected.

If the infection is early, it is generally more severe. The unborn child can experience a range of complications including birth defects, stillbirth or miscarriage. The birth defects can include hearing loss, intellectual disabilities, blindness, I inflammation, visual impairments or neurological disorders.

Infected unborn children, once born may not show symptoms at birth but they can develop complications later in life such as hearing problems or cognitive development problems.

Common sense precautions are the answer. Pregnant women should practise good hygiene through hand washing after handling raw meat and, as mentioned, avoiding contact with cat litter boxes. Raw vegetables should be washed thoroughly.

Lastly, domestic cats get a bad rap for being a vector of Toxoplasma gondii. They are only infective for about 10 days in their entire life. It is not as if they are carrying the disease all their lives and can spread it to hundreds of people. It doesn't work like that. People who provide advice like this woman should understand toxoplasmosis a little more thoroughly before handing down advice to pregnant women.

Toxoplasmosis is a zoonosis or a zoonotic disease because it can infect both animals and people and cross between them.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Toxoplasma gondii infections in Chinese and ethnic minority races in China mainly caused by eating raw meats

The people who dislike cats say that cat owners and other people get toxoplasma gondii infections from cats through cat faeces as the feces can contain oocysts for a short period. And there's lots of discussion on the Internet about this and whether a pregnant woman should have a domestic cat companion. Toxoplasmosis is a zoonotic disease.

But the experts, and I would include myself in that, say that the major way people contract toxoplasma gondii infections is through their handling of and their eating of certain foods. I'm referring to undercooked or uncooked foods and handling raw foods and then using their hands to eat cooked foods. This creates cross contamination.

And in this vein, I've picked up a study on the Internet about Toxoplasma gondii infections in humans in China dated 2011.

The study is interesting because in certain parts of China they have very specific eating habits. Sometimes these eating habits exacerbate the likelihood of contracting toxoplasmosis.

The first human case of toxoplasmosis in China was reported in 1964 and there were many human cases reported in China after an epidemic survey on toxoplasmosis was carried out in Guangxi province in 1978. The difficulty is that it is hard to glean information from Chinese documents because little information is published in English.

Interestingly, and this point needs to be made, based upon the documents surveyed, the prevalence of toxoplasmosis in humans in China is lower than in France for example (50-75% seropositive). A lot lower in fact. Although in the provinces in China the incidences of toxoplasmosis increased from 5.2% in 1988 to 7.9% in 2004.

Guizhou province and Guangxi province had the highest levels of prevalence at 15.1% and 12.7% respectively. The ethic group Miao and the highest incidence of Toxoplasma gondii infections in people at 25.4%.

They state that the eating habits of the ethnic groups surveyed were an important part in being infected. For example, people living in south-west China enjoy eating raw or half-raw meat. Or they eat animal organs as part of their tradition. They might eat sour-meat or pork or beef which is half-raw. The Mongol people like to eat their traditional food using their hands after contact with animals or raw meat (Mongolian Finger Mutton).

The study points to the fact that the greatest risk of being infected with toxoplasma gondii is through eating or handling raw meat. A toxoplasma gondii infection is usually harmless (asymptomatic) but can cause serious illness.

The incidence of Chinese citizens with tuberculosis and hepatitis B of a toxoplasma gondii infection was much higher at 35.3% and 19.2% respectively. Most of the cases were chronic infections. And they state that "70% of individuals infected with T gondii and tuberculosis had the experience of intimate contact with animals."

The study concluded that the oral route of a T. gondii infection is the major route. And pigs in China are often infected. The infection rate in pigs in some parts of China is 53.4% whereas in the USA it is 2.7%. The Chinese like their pork. As I recall, they are the biggest consumers of pork in the world.

The conclusion that one takes from the study is that the greatest risk of being infected with T gondii is through the handling and eating of raw or semi-raw meats due to cultural traditions.

In the West, such as in America, the greatest risk will be through handling raw meat in the kitchen. Veterinarians will tell you that people get the disease from eating raw or undercooked pork, beef, mutton or veal or unpasteurised dairy products which contain toxoplasma organisms.

It is the handling of these products and the consuming of them and the necessary regulations and advice issued by governments concerning these matters that count in terms of reducing infections. 

Educational programs are important to help people change their habit of consuming undercooked meat. Lastly, water that hasn't been boiled in certain districts of China are an issue because oocysts can survive up to 3 years and be transmitted by water through direct drinking.

The study: Zhou, P., Chen, Z., Li, HL. et al. Toxoplasma gondii infection in humans in China. Parasites Vectors 4, 165 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1186/1756-3305-4-165

Cat kisses her man on the lips in very close bonded relationship

Nothing apparently really special about the video but it is special in many ways. This young man has created a beautiful relationship between himself and his cat companion. It is the human who runs the show. It is the human who dictates how well the relationship runs. It's their world and they create the cat's world. But when it is this good the cat is going to be very happy. And of course, that happiness is reflected in the caregiver.

An interesting little aspect of this repeating video is that the cat and man kiss each other. The cat really wants to kiss her man. Kissing is fine but it is very rarely done on the lips between cat and person.

There is the faintest possibility of the transfer of pathogens from cat to person in this activity. As a large number of cats have toxoplasmosis it is just about possible that the man could get it from his cat. It would be unlucky though. 

Toxoplasmosis is asymptomatic in cats very often.

Young Pallas's cats often die of toxoplasmosis

Pallas's cat is a popular zoo species. They are endangered in Central Asia but they are fairly numerous in zoos where they are bred. They've encountered breeding success but the kittens frequently die from acute toxoplasmosis, an infection of the Toxoplasma gondii protozoan.

Bunch of Pallas's cat kittens. Photo: Reddit.com.

A study entitled: 'Toxoplasmosis in Pallas' cats (Otocolobus manul) raised in captivity', reported that a breeding pair of Pallas's cats in Schönbrunn Zoo in Vienna, Austria produced 24 kittens between 1998 and 2002. Sadly 58% of the kittens died mostly of acute toxoplasmosis between the second and fourteenth week of their lives. The study was published online by Cambridge University Press on 21 October 2004. This problem has been known for a long time.

RELATED: Pallas’s cats at zoos infected with Toxoplasma gondii. This page discusses this topic in more detail.

They decided to develop a strategy to protect the cats from fatal toxoplasmosis. The shed T. gondii oocysts of one 12-week-old Pallas's kitten were bioassayed in mice. This means measuring the concentration of oocysts. Toxoplasma gondii was isolated in tissue culture inoculated (vaccinated) with tissues of the mice.

The researchers stated that the surviving kittens (presumable those that had not died of toxoplasmosis but were infected with the disease) were treated with clindamycin for 16 weeks. Clindamycin is an antibiotic. It fights bacteria in the body. Toxoplasmosis is a single celled protozoan parasite. But the antibiotic 'seroconverted' the infection. This means that the presence of the disease in the blood was eliminated i.e., a conversion from seropositive to seronegative.

"Clindamycin is indicated for Toxoplasma and Neospora infections although in human medicine sulfadiazine and pyrimethamine remain the drugs of choice for toxoplasmosis. Clindamycin is one of several suitable drugs for treating chronic rhinosinusitis in cats." - Science Direct.

Comment: there is a dramatically sad and uncomfortable backstory to the cute Pallas's cats that zoo visitors see. Are we okay with the fact that so many kittens die of toxoplasmosis and is the infection being controlled in 2022?

How to avoid getting toxoplasmosis from your indoor cat's faeces

I believe that the disease toxoplasmosis is somewhat underrated by many cat caregivers probably because the symptoms in people and cats are often all but invisible. But many are asymptomatically infected. 

The 24-hour window

Toxoplasmosis is one of the most prominent detriments to the overwhelming benefits of living with a domestic cat companion. A lot has been spoken about the danger of getting toxoplasmosis from your cat's faeces. This comes from the fact that domestic cats being the primary vector of the disease shed toxoplasma gondii oocysts in faeces for a short period of time after they been exposed to it.

Toxoplasma gondii oocyst

Although this is a one-off event covering a 2-week period it does happen, which is why domestic cats are heavily criticised by people who dislike cats. But the CDC in America tells us something very important about the shedding of oocysts in cat faeces and it is this. They say that they are only infective (i.e. capable of passing on the disease) after they've been in the environment i.e. outside of the domestic cat for more than one day and between 1-5 days.

Therefore, there is a window between the moment a domestic cat defecates in the cat litter to 24 hours later when their faeces are not infective in terms of the toxoplasma gondii protozoan. That being accepted, if a cat owner cleans out the litter tray every day within 24 hours of it being used by their cat, they will not be exposed to infective toxoplasma oocysts.

This is provided they have been careful in cleaning the litter tray the day before and ensured that no faeces remain. To recap, if a cat caregiver ensures that they thoroughly clean the litter tray daily (on a strict basis) they should pretty well eliminate the possibility of being infected by this zoonotic disease through contact with a cat's faeces. I think that is quite an important statement because it deals effectively with this mode of transmission which has been discussed a lot on the Internet.

No raw treats or unpasteurised milk

And what I said above can be supported by this further information. If you only provide an indoor cat with commercially manufactured cat food there is no possibility that they can ingest the protozoan in food. However, if you feed them raw pork or beef or unpasteurised dairy products which might contain the toxoplasma organism, and they might contract the disease. So, there's two sides to this preventative process. You don't let your cat ingest the protozoan and you prevent them transmitting the protozoan through their faeces as described above. Tackled this way I don't perceive a problem with this disease for a family who looks after a full-time indoor cat.

Clean it every 24 hours for indoor cats to avoid a toxoplasma gondii infection from cat feces. Photo: Warren Photographic.

Children exposed to cats and mental health when adults

Today, I also read about a study which stated that, on my interpretation, children exposed to the family's domestic cat are 8 percent more likely to suffer from some sort of mental health problem when they are an adult compared to those adults who were not exposed to a domestic cat when there are children. 

In round terms, what the study concluded is that due to the possibility of being infected with toxoplasmosis when they are children, they are more likely to have mental health problems because of the presence of this disease in the brain when they are adults. It's a relatively small added risk but it is, at 8%, recognisable.

Please click on this link when you have finished reading this page for a cross-post on this topic.

We don't need to believe in the study but we should at least take note of it. Clearly, the tip about the cat litter that I mention above is significant in eliminating this added risk. Particularly as it is probably not unlikely that children will be assisting the household by cleaning out the cat litter tray. 

If they follow the method that I have mentioned it should all but eliminate the risk and place children with cats on a par with other children who don't come into contact with a cat in terms of mental health when they are adults.

Hawaiian government procrastinates about how to deal with their 'cat problem'

US News today reports on a male Hawaiian monk seal dying after a five-week battle with toxoplasmosis. It has prompted another discussion about how Hawaii should deal with both domestic and feral cats. The argument is that the toxoplasma oocysts which are shed in both feral and domestic cat faeces (once) somehow make their way to the sea where monk seals ingest the oocysts and become infected with toxoplasmosis.

Comparison of size of Hawaii 4 main islands with UK. Image: MikeB from mylifeelsewhere.com.

They tried to save this seal but, as mentioned, it died. The seal, known as RW22, was treated at the Marine Mammal Center. They called on cat owners to keep their pets indoors and to dispose of faeces in cat litter in the trash. It's another instance of where putting cat litter down the toilet is a bad idea. It has to going to landfill. However, I guess oocysts can still make it to the sea from landfill under certain circumstances.

But the point of this article is that in 2016, five years ago, there was a report of eight monk seals dying for the same reason. The symptoms in the infected seals vary but they included lesions in the brain, adrenal glands, diaphragm, lymph nodes and spleen. In the case of RW22, the seal showed signs of partial facial nerve paralysis and a corneal ulcer which they believed were symptoms of toxoplasmosis.

So there is an ongoing problem if the experts are right in Hawaii of feral and domestic cat faeces making their way to the ocean around the four main islands. And little or nothing has been done about it, it seems to me, over the intervening five years and I presume longer.

They are constantly moaning about a feral cat problem on Hawaii with the cats attacking precious Hawaiian birds. There's been report about that as well. They appear to be scratching their heads about how to deal with the problem.

I think the real problem is a lack of leadership in the Hawaiian government. This is combined with a lack of commitment in dealing with this problem.

One website louisegund.com tells me that there are TNR programs on Hawaii run by volunteers which is very normal but that the government opposes them. They don't think it works. That too is quite normal. Some people support TNR and others disagree with it. It is too slow for some and returning the cats to where they came from doesn't make sense to some people.

However, the 4 Hawaiian main islands are about 1/15 the size of the UK. The point is that it is not a huge geographic area and it makes me believe that the government could successfully operate widespread TNR on the three smaller islands to start off with. 

They could support the volunteers and formalise TNR programs to make them more widespread and therefore more effective. Currently it is the only way to deal with feral cats humanely. You have to deal with the cats humanely because people put them there. And killing them is ineffective due to the vacuum effect. 

RELATED: Kerala, India: High Court orders registration of companion animals

In parallel with that there should be more determined approach to managing domestic cat ownership and raising standards. You'll find quite a lot of discussion in other parts of the world on obligatory micro-chipping, spaying and neutering and on occasions curfews either during the night to keep the cats inside or even mandating keeping cats within the bounds of the owner's property full-time. 

I'm not saying that that is the way to go but with a manageable human population size it may be feasible to operate obligatory registration of domestic cats and from there to make micro-chipping and spaying and neutering obligatory as well. The hard part is effective enforcement of mandatory pet registration laws.

This would improve domestic cat ownership, reduce the number of unwanted cats, reduce the number of feral cats in parallel with TNR which will gradually over a period of say 20 years reduce the population of feral cats. It's a long-term project. There is no other way. But if they'd started this 20 years ago they would have made some progress by now.

Dr Amy Wilson, veterinarian and ecologist wants to limit free-roaming cats to protect wildlife

Professor Amy Wilson's research concluded that domestic cats are likely to blame for the spread of toxoplasma gondii to wildlife in urban areas where there are lots of cats. The researchers examined 45,079 cases of toxoplasmosis in wild animals. They found a correlation between the density of humans in urban areas and the likelihood of infection of the toxoplasmosis in wildlife. That is: the more dense the human population the more likely wild animals will be infected by zoonotic diseases such as toxoplasma gondii.

Professor Dr Amy Wilson veterinarian and ecologist. Photo: her bio page online.

Dr Wilson blames free-roaming domestic cats and feral cats for the 'most likely cause of the infections'.

She says that her research is "significant because by simply limiting free-roaming of cats, we can reduce the impact of Toxoplasma on wildlife.

ASSOCIATED PAGE: It Is Time to Stop Denigrating the Domestic Cat with Spurious Links between Toxoplasmosis and Human Mental Health

She states that one cat can excrete 500 oocysts in 14 days. But it should be noted this happens once in a cat's lifetime (my comment). 

"These infective oocysts are only passed for a very short time after initial exposure" (Cat Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook).

But these tough eggs can live for 5 years in soil where they can infect animals and humans. Humans and animals have to ingest the oocysts.

ASSOCIATED: Truth about Toxoplasmosis and Cats

A lot has been written about toxoplasmosis. A lot of it derogatory for the cat. It is nearly always asymptomatic in cats and humans. When the immune system is compromised it can cause ill-health.

Professor Wilson also says that maintaining healthy habitats and ecosystems helps to protect wildlife. She said:

"We know that when wetlands are destroyed or streams are restricted, we are more likely to experience runoff that carries more pathogens into the waters where wild animals drink or live. And when their habitats are healthy, wildlife thrives and tends to be more disease-resistant."

The study: "Human density is associated with the increased prevalence of a generalist zoonotic parasite in mammalian wildlife” by Amy G. Wilson, Scott Wilson, Niloofar Alavi and David R. Lapen, 20 October 2021, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. Link: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.1724

Can I get toxoplasmosis from petting my cat?

No, you cannot get toxoplasmosis from petting your cat. You might get it from handling faeces from your cat in which there are toxoplasma gondii oocysts. It is rare though. A child might get them on her hands if she plays in a sandpit where a cat has pooped. The child then may put her hands into her mouth, as children do, and ingest the oocysts which would cause an infection in the child. But, I stress, you cannot get toxoplasmosis from petting your cat.

T. gondii oocyst. Image: MikeB.

It is interesting to note, by the way, that contact with your cat generally has no influence on the probability of people having antibodies to the parasite. In other words, contact with your cat does not expose you to toxoplasmosis resulting in antibodies being produced inside you as a defence against this disease. Kissing your cat might be more problematic. Read about it by clicking here.

That is why only 20% of people in the United Kingdom have antibodies to toxo. In contrast to that percentage, 80% of French and Germans do have antibodies to toxo because they eat more raw or undercooked meat.

That tells the clear tale that by far the majority of infections in humans of toxoplasmosis comes from eating raw meat. Let's do justice to the domestic cat and not frighten ourselves unnecessarily. If you want to protect yourself against toxoplasmosis then prepare your raw meats properly and don't eat like the French and Germans do!

I should also stress, by the way, that being infected with toxo from cat faeces can only happen during a two-week window in which the parasite is viable after the cat's first consumption of contaminated wildlife. It's a short period of time which further highlights the point that people can live with domestic cats safely and they should not be fearful of contracting toxoplasmosis from the cat. This also applies to pregnant women who simply have to take some precautions.

On that subject, if you are pregnant, you can reduce the risk in several ways:

• by wearing gloves when handling raw meat and by washing your hands afterwards;
• only eat thoroughly cooked meat or meat which has been smoked, cured or frozen for at least three days;
• by washing vegetables and fruit thoroughly before eating them; 
• and by wearing rubber gloves when gardening.

Tasmanian farmers believe that cat excrement makes their ewes lose their lambs

I have to be brutally frank and state that Tasmanian farmers are behaving in a pretty crude way. I'm told that some of them believe that the excrement from feral cats makes their ewes lose their lambs. This must come from the belief that toxoplasma gondii oocysts in the faeces of cats are ingested by the sheep which causes them to abort. Science proves that this happens but surely there is a less cruel way of dealing with the matter? It looks like ignorant behaviour to me. What I mean is ignorance of decency. I have learned that there is an effective vaccine against toxo. Why can't they use it?

They have a problem with toxoplasmosis although they probably don't realise that cats only shed toxoplasma gondii oocysts for a very short period of time and not all cats carry the disease (but apparently more than half do) but they kill them brutally nonetheless. The problem is that the oocysts are hardy and present a health problem.

I can't show a picture of feral cats strung up on fences as it is too crude and unpleasant so I'll show some sheep in Tasmania instead:

Tasmanian sheep. Picture in public domain.

This stringing up of cats on fences occurs apparently in remote areas of Tasmania and has done so for years. A conservationist has warned that the practice could "polarise" people's attitudes about feral cats. I think what he means is that cat advocates will hate it and therefore hate the people who do it and that will antagonise the ignorant farmers who do it. That's called polarisation.

Dennis Turner, a resident of Tasmania's Midlands said that hanging dead cat from fences is a statement to the government that not enough is being done about feral cats i.e. to get rid of them.

He believes that feral cats are the most destructive pest that you can come across. The uncle of Cindy Brook who lives in Longford, Tasmania, says that her uncle at Blackwood Creek near Cressy often hung dead cats from fences. It obviously isn't against the law to do this. I presume therefore that the Tasmanian law allows farmers to kill feral cats as they wish. In Britain it would be a clear violation of the Animal Welfare Act 2006. And the person who did it would be subject to a maximum prison sentence of two years together with a possible fine. In Tasmania? It's all part of day-to-day life. No bother, no worry just go on killing cats because you think they are pests.

The chief executive of Landcare Tasmania, Rod Knight,indicated that he didn't like the practice of stringing up dead cats because the debate about feral cats becomes too emotive and he hinted that it is cruel and unpleasant. Which it is by the way. He thinks it will divert the discussion away from the real issues which it does. It should stop and you don't need to find a justification for stopping it. It's just cruel, plain and simple. That is why it should be stopped.

The Australian Government's National Environmental Science Programme has quantified the cost of cat diseases in Australia at 6 billion Australian dollars annually and said that it caused 550 deaths and 8500 hospitalisations in Australia annually. We don't know how those figures were arrived at. No doubt there was a pile of extrapolations and guesswork. Apparently the report says that one in five cases of schizophrenia are caused by toxoplasmosis. They also say that 1 in 10 cases of suicide are caused by this protozoan. Once again we don't know where those numbers come from.

I think I'll leave it there because it's boring. The point to be made is that Tasmania is almost waging a war against the feral cat. The government hates the feral cat it seems to me and ignorant farmers killing them willy-nilly. It looks pretty barbaric and Wild West to me but I'm a cat advocates so what do I know?

Can I Get Toxoplasmosis From Kissing My Cat?

Can I Get Toxoplasmosis From Kissing My Cat?

The simple answer is that technically a person can get toxoplasmosis if they have a habit of kissing their cat on the lips or near the mouth.  The reason is this: a cat washes her bottom with her tongue. Somewhere near half of cats have been exposed to toxoplasmosis at some time and many of them have it but without symptoms. However, and this is the important bit, only for a period of about 10 days in the life of the cat can there be toxoplasmosis eggs in the cat's faeces which can be transferred to the person.

You can tell, therefore, that the chances of getting toxoplasmosis from kissing your cat is extremely rare to the point where, my opinion, it could be ignored.

It should also be recognised that worldwide about 50% of people have been exposed to toxoplasmosis. This is a similar number to the percentage of cats, interestingly. Note: in America the figure is about 30%.

Another interesting point is that by far the most common cause of getting toxoplasmosis is through handling raw meat inappropriately. Clearly vulnerable people such as people with very weak immune systems and pregnant women should take particular precautions but there is never a need to get rid of your cat because you are frightened of getting toxoplasmosis in anyway from your cat including by kissing him or her.

In short, the answer to the question is "yes you can" but don't stop kissing your cat if you want to. There is a tendency amongst the news media to hype up cat stories particularly about toxoplasmosis which can mislead people and make them frightened. The reality is quite different.

If you click on the link following this sentence you will can read three articles in PDF format on the subject of people and toxoplasmosis which I hope will alleviate any fears that a reader of this article might have.

Info about Toxo

One final point, very few people actually kissed their cat on the lips. Most people kiss their cat on the forehead or above the eyes ,for example. That is another reason why the question in the title is rather pointless but it is the title to this article because it is what is called a "keyword" -- people internet search using the words in the title.