Is the RH strain of toxoplasmosis a danger to my cat or pet?

Hi, thanks for using PetCoach! Your Doctor can test you. If you are negative then you should avoid gardening or doing things with the soil as toxoplasma lives there as well. Then I would have your husband clean Cecile's litter box or you do it wearing gloves and wash your hands. I would also keep your cats indoors. As a Vet, I have been exposed, who knows when or how, and I had a normal pregnancy. Below is a link to the CDC's page on toxoplasma. It should answer all of your questions! I hope this helps and I wish you the best! https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/index.html

It is a bit complicated as positive toxoplasmosis titer does not mean that your cat has toxoplasmosis. It means that she was in contact with the virus at some point during her life and that she developed some immunity. Repeating the blood test and confirming rise in toxoplasma titer is consistent with ongoing toxoplasma infection. However, if Susan does have toxoplasmosis (which is not that common disease in cats) your wife should not be in contact with her during pregancy. Please, note that the source of infection for us are cats' stools, particicularily not the fresh ones but a few days old or older. I would suggest your wife to discuss this situation with her GP or obstetrician and see what they would recommend.

Hi and thanks for this interesting question! No you cannot give your cat toxoplasmosis. Toxoplasmosis can infect humans but it cannot complete its life cycle in people. Cats shed the parasite for 2 weeks in their feces when infected and then never again. People cannot shed the toxoplasma in their feces since the parasite cannot complete its life cycle in humans. I hope this helps and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Toxoplasmosis can be diagnosed by blood work or a fecal examination. However toxoplasma takes 24 hours after a bowel movement to become infectious. So if your sister cleans the box daily, and showers daily, and wears clean clothes daily then the likelihood of contamination approaches zero. I am a veterinarian, and touch cats daily, and had my antibodies tested before pregnancy and I have never been exposed. I hope this helps explain this for you. Best of luck and thank you for using Pet Coach.

This has been a topic of study recently in human medicine, you can read some articles at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2526142/ though the significance is not truly known yet, and this would be a question more suited to a human physician as they are trained in human medicine. I can tell you, however, that cats are not the only source of toxoplasma and individuals are much more likely to become infected from eating undercooked meat or contracting spores from gardening/vegetables in contaminated soil than from their cats themselves https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/epi.html . If this is something you are concerned about you can clean your cat litterbox daily as the parasite requires 24 or more hours to sporulate and become infective, so if you scoop your litterbox daily and wash your hands well your risk from your cats is incredibly small.

I'm sorry to hear about this. Toxoplasmosis is a parasite that is commonly acquired by cats, people and many other animals, but doesn't always cause disease. This means that any animal can be infected and shedding the infective stage, but doesn't necessarily have the disease. Unless Blink is having signs of illness, there is no need to treat the infection. However, it may be worthwhile to have a vet find out if she is in-fact the source of the infection. For your sake, it may be worthwhile to eliminate the infection in Blink, so she doesn't continually spread it. Keep in mind that cat's are not the only source of this disease. Many other animals can carry this parasite and it's often transmitted through undercooked meat. Below are links to a couple of articles that should be helpful for understanding this disease and making future decisions. https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/toxoplasmosis https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/index.html I hope that helps and you get better soon.

Hello. There is always a possibility of reoccurrence since the organism can encyst in muscle tissue. This means the disease is never truly eliminated. Spaying her & trying to avoid any immunosuppressant medications like steroids will probably keep Hetty clinically normal for the rest of her life. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.