I have had animals my whole 30 something years of life, including cats. And over the last ten years I have worked on and off as a amatuer vet nurse, I currently have 7 indoor cats, look after about 20 outdoor cats and in terms of my indoor cats I clean their litter trays a number of times a day. Hence in reality I have had contact with and picked up after hundreds of cats since I was a child.
When I got pregnant a couple of years ago, like you I was worried about Toxoplasmosis as I didn't want to affect the health of my developing baby, but I also had my feline family to worry about as well.
I had some tests done to determine if I had any immunity to toxoplasmosis and guess what? I have absolutely no immunity to it. This means that in my whole life I have never been in contact with a cat carrying it, which means it cannot be as common among the feline population as what people will make you believe.
So whilst it can happen it is not that common, and there are a number of things you can do to ensure that your baby will be safe from the effects of it.
Get a blood test done for yourself and your cat to see if you have immunity to it, and/or if your cat is a carrier of it.
If your cat is found to be a carrier then ensure that you wear disposable gloves and mask when you clean out its litter tray, and wash your hands with disinfectant after playing with him/her. Also replace your kitty litter daily.
Also when gardening wear gloves and dont touch soil with your bare hands.
If the vets here cannot test your cat for it, then follow the above precautions and you shouldn't have a problem. From memory it is caught from being in contact with cat faeces.
Hi Honey
I have had animals my whole 30 something years of life, including cats. And over the last ten years I have worked on and off as a amatuer vet nurse, I currently have 7 indoor cats, look after about 20 outdoor cats and in terms of my indoor cats I clean their litter trays a number of times a day. Hence in reality I have had contact with and picked up after hundreds of cats since I was a child.
When I got pregnant a couple of years ago, like you I was worried about Toxoplasmosis as I didn't want to affect the health of my developing baby, but I also had my feline family to worry about as well.
I had some tests done to determine if I had any immunity to toxoplasmosis and guess what? I have absolutely no immunity to it. This means that in my whole life I have never been in contact with a cat carrying it, which means it cannot be as common among the feline population as what people will make you believe.
So whilst it can happen it is not that common, and there are a number of things you can do to ensure that your baby will be safe from the effects of it.
Get a blood test done for yourself and your cat to see if you have immunity to it, and/or if your cat is a carrier of it.
If your cat is found to be a carrier then ensure that you wear disposable gloves and mask when you clean out its litter tray, and wash your hands with disinfectant after playing with him/her. Also replace your kitty litter daily.
Also when gardening wear gloves and dont touch soil with your bare hands.
If the vets here cannot test your cat for it, then follow the above precautions and you shouldn't have a problem. From memory it is caught from being in contact with cat faeces.
Try the following link for more information
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/toxoplasmosis/factsht_toxoplasmo...
Congratulations and I wish you all the best with your pregnancy
Cavileer