What affects us affects cats
Cats can be tested for toxoplasmosis. Serologic tests including ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) will show if a cat has been exposed to the disease. A positive test in a healthy cat signifies that the cat has acquired active immunity. Such a cat is not a source of human contamination. For the sake of clarity …
The question hints at one of the great dilemmas of cat loving women who want to have a child. There are millions of pages on the Internet about pregnancy and toxoplasmosis. It is the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii which causes the disease toxoplasmosis. The question refers to birth defects in a human newborn child. The …
This is a good question that had not occurred to me before I noticed that it is a Google search term. I interpret the question to mean, “Does cat vomit contain toxoplasma oocysts?”. I say this because human infection comes from ingesting T. gondii oocysts. A cat becomes infected with T. gondii in two …
This is the first time I have seen a record of this sort of behaviour in a picture. Training cats to use human toilets is fairly common these days but in this instance the white-and-black cat joins the black-and-white cat on the toilet and they go together. It looks a bit cramped. The first …
Benedict Cumberbatch is playing the lead role in a film about Louis Wain, the eponymous and cat-loving English artist who is famous for his drawings of anthropomorphized cats and kittens. Mr Cumberbatch is playing opposite Claire Foy who plays Emily Richardson-Wain his wife. The film is being made and I don’t when it will …
The New York Times’ article about sea otters becoming infected with Toxoplasma gondii is highly misleading to the point of it being fake news. The title “What’s Killing California’s Sea Otters? House Cats.’ is horrendous. It states in unequivocal terms that we have to blame domestic cats in America for the death of sea …
In the life cycle of the Toxoplasma gondii protozoan, the only known definitive hosts are domestic cats and their relatives. This singular fact has worked against the cat because it opens the door to criticism by people who dislike seeing cats – domestic, stray and feral – outdoors. They say that the disease caused …
An inconclusive study does not find Toxoplasma gondii infection causes schizophrenia as is reported on many websites this morning. The online newspapers and even online science journals are misrepresenting the conclusions of another study which seeks to find a link between the parasitic protozoan toxoplasma gondii and psychiatric disorders in people. For instance, IFL …
