Toxoplasmosis questions.

Dr. Marie replied:

Toxoplasmosis is a difficult thing to understand! For that reason, I have tried to explain it in this article: Toxoplasmosis.

I will see if I can specifically address your questions though.

First of all, it is actually very rare for someone to get toxoplasmosis from their cat. By far the most common reason for people to contract this parasite is from eating undercooked meat.

In order for the cat to spread toxoplasmosis to your guests, the following would have to happen:

• The cat would have had to have eaten an animal infected with toxoplasmosis (such as a mouse) in the previous 5-14 days.


• It would have to be the first time that the cat ate an infected mouse. Cats only shed toxo cysts the first time that they are infected.


• The stool would have to have been outside of the cat for 24-48 hours because it takes this long for the cysts to become infective.


• Stool would have to have been deposited on the counter.


• That stool would have to be ingested by your guests.

The chances of all of those things happening are REALLY small!

Toxo is actually not terribly dangerous to people, unless you are pregnant. Ingesting toxoplasmosis cysts during pregnancy can have serious consequences to the fetus. If a non pregnant person got toxo, then they would feel like they had a cold/flu with body chills, fever and muscle pain.

In your situation I really would not worry!

Hope that helps, but let me know if you have more questions!

Dr. Marie.


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Dr. Marie replied:

I really that you have nothing to worry about. If Parker sits on the furniture, or counters, or anywhere else in your house, it is extremely unlikely that he is going to leave toxoplasmosis behind. I don't know of any vets that caution people not to let outdoor cats come into the house. I might be a little more worried if he was leaving entire bowel movements in the house and you were letting them sit there for 48 hours before cleaning them up. But even then...you would somehow have to ingest part of the bowel movement in order to get infected. AND, he would have to have been recently infected himself by eating raw meat with toxoplasmosis in it.

The test is an antibody test and I don't find it to be too helpful. If a cat is positive on the test, then we don't know if he was infected recently , or years ago. A positive test could mean that he picked up toxo two years ago and is no longer contagious. Remember, they are only contagious for 5-14 days afterwards.

If the test is negative then it could mean that he has never come in contact with toxo, or that he came in contact with it recently but hasn't had a chance to create antibodies yet. I'm not exactly sure on how long it can take for antibodies to be made.

If you were really worried, you could have another test done another week from now. If it was negative then you know that your guests are fine. But, if your concern is for the future, then there is no way of knowing if he has picked up toxo other than to keep testing him every week or two which would be silly.

Really, just cleaning the litter box at least every 24 hours (if he uses a litter box), is good enough prevention.

Dr. Marie.