Paranoid about toxoplasmosis! Anyone on here with cats? UPDATE! GOT TESTED

[JFTB1177]

Ok so yes, I am a Nervous Nelly (if you've read my "sick of pregnancy eating don'ts" thread you see how paranoid I am!). I am paranoid about every morsel of food that goes in my mouth, but also about my cat.

Well, my former cat. No, I didn't give him away because of my pregnancy... I had him for 8 years and through many pregnancies (my kids + my many miscarriages) so I wouldn't have gotten rid of him unless I had to. Times are tough and we have to move into a much cheaper (and smaller) place which doesn't allow pets. He went to one of those nice "cat ladies" and it doing great, better than he was doing at our house I think. lol

I was paranoid about toxo when I was PG with DS2, and got myself tested. It showed I do not have immunity so have never had it. It helped ease my fears a bit.

My cat was an indoor-only cat for 8 years. He has never been outside until recently when he escaped out our front door for literally 3 minutes, until my mom (he escaped while she was babysitting our kids) caught him and brought him back inside.

My cat went to his new home a week ago. In the last couple of months he had a few episodes of pooping on the floor (he was finicky about his litter box and it has to have a certain amount of litter or he wouldn't use it). I cleaned them up (using gloves) and washed my hands well. I also had to clean the box a few times (again using gloves).

I am still sitting here so paranoid that I could have toxo. I have read the info that says indoor cats are unlikely to have it, and that when cats get it they only shed eggs once in their lifetime, etc. He has never been fed raw or undercooked meat, or killed any rodents. He has always been indoors (with the exception of his little 3-minute escape recently) in apartments or this townhome.

I'm still scared though of the spots where he pooped on the floor- they were cleaned up, of course, but I wonder if he had toxo if the parasites could remain in the carpet- even after using cleaners, etc? We have some stray cats in the neighborhood and I worry that his few minutes outdoors could have caused him to catch something, and then bring it inside the house?

I am sick with worry!!! I am going to ask to be retested when I see the doc in a week but please, can someone make me feel better right now? Do you have cats, and have cleaned poop or box, and your baby(ies) was/were just fine?? I've been sitting on the net reading stories of moms whose babies were born with congenital toxo and it's scaring the crap out of me! I'm going to have a nervous breakdown!

[lunarlady]

First, let me say that google is not your friend! Stop reading those scary stories!

I have a cat, and yes, I still scoop the kitty litter box when I can't stand the smell. My DH seems to think it should be done once a week (ew!), I'm more an every day kind of girl. I did this when pregnant with DD too. I have an indoor/outdoor cat that is quite the hunter, so the chances of my cat being a carrier are MUCH higher than your kitty's chances. Cats get it from eating something infected, not through casual contact. So unless your kitty found and ate a dead mouse while he was running around for 3 minutes, the cat was most likely not infected. It is very, very rare for indoor cats to be carriers. I've never been tested, and never had any problems. DD was born fine with absolutly no issues.

Here's a couple of things you want to know. Toxo is spread through ingestion. Meaning in order to catch it you much EAT or INHALE the toxin. You don't get it through your skin, or other casual contact. It is very, very difficult to get through inhalation, and I think the number of cases contracted that way is still in the single digits nationwide. So mainly, people get it by accidently EATING CAT POOP. Yes, they do something stupid like clean their kitty box and then go eat a finger licking good sandwhich without washing their hands. Or eating fresh produce from their garden that the cat poops in without washing it first. Toxo actually has to ripen as well, so fresh cat poop (less than 24 hours old) is much less likely to cause infection than old cat poop. I'm assuming you didn't leave the presents on the rug that long.

You sound like the kind of woman who washes her hands before eating, so I would say your chances of getting toxo are practiacally zero. If your carpet was steam cleaned, that will kill the toxo. If your worried, spray the spot with a little lysol, as that will also kill toxo. Hope this helps!

[Pumpkin_Pie]

I was a single mama from the time I was 10 weeks pregnant and I had two cats at the time. I took in a kitten that I found all bedraggeld under a car in the pouring rain and never even thought about toxo. Turns out the kitten not only had it, but he passed it on to my two other cats. I was four or five months pregnant when I found out that it had been going through my house for about a month, and I changed most of the litter boxes all throughout my pregnancy. It wasn't an option for me to not change them, and I couldn't bring myself to give my cats away. I did have some friends come and change the litter box a few times, but mostly it was me.

I was pretty freaked out, but I went in monthly for toxo tests for me, and my cats also had to go in for tests until they tested negative for active infection. I never ended up contracting it, and I am still negative for it. My vote is you are going to be just fine.

[paintedfire]

I've got a cat who has always been "indoor," but when I was in law school I lived in a converted farm house on a huge plot of land in the middle of the English countryside and he killed his fair share of mice and even a couple of poor, little rabbits. He even house trained himself during that time. Luckily, when I moved to New York he went right back to using a litter box with no problem.

I haven't been tested, so I don't know if I've ever had it. I'm not too worried, though. DF does most of the litter box cleaning/changing these days but I still do some. Like I said, I'm not really worried.

It's weird - I'm a worrier by nature, but I haven't had one moment of freak out over food or the litter box. I'm kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop. I guess I should just be grateful.

[JFTB1177]

[QUOTE=Pumpkin_Pie;15565424]Turns out the kitten not only had it, but he passed it on to my two other cats.[QUOTE]

How did you find out your kitties had it???

[JFTB1177]

Thank you ladies for your replies! They do help.

So many of my friends have said they don't touch their litter box when PG but my DH works a lot and never really tended to the box, so I had to do it. Same with cleaning up the cat's messes.

[JFTB1177]

Originally Posted by Pumpkin_Pie

I was a single mama from the time I was 10 weeks pregnant and I had two cats at the time. I took in a kitten that I found all bedraggeld under a car in the pouring rain and never even thought about toxo. Turns out the kitten not only had it, but he passed it on to my two other cats. I was four or five months pregnant when I found out that it had been going through my house for about a month, and I changed most of the litter boxes all throughout my pregnancy. It wasn't an option for me to not change them, and I couldn't bring myself to give my cats away. I did have some friends come and change the litter box a few times, but mostly it was me.

I was pretty freaked out, but I went in monthly for toxo tests for me, and my cats also had to go in for tests until they tested negative for active infection. I never ended up contracting it, and I am still negative for it. My vote is you are going to be just fine.

Omg wow that is awesome you never contracted it!! Reading this calms me down a lot!!

[Family4Christ]

Meaning in order to catch it you much EAT or INHALE the toxin.

Oh crap, did not know this! We went to see some kittens that someone was giving away. She had several kittens and a cat in this tiny room with a litter box. I was about 4' from the box. We were in there for about 10 minutes and it was very strong smelling. Should I be concerned about inhalation? there was a cat in there scratching at the litter at some point when we were standing there.

I should also mention that these were strays that someone dropped off and she was keeping them until she found homes.

[trekkingirl]

I thought about toxo today as I was kissing my pet rat. Is it only cats you have to worry about? I have been super paranoid about germs. I'm so worried that I will get some kind of bacterial infection or something! I was reading in the preggo book that birth defects can be caused by infections that the mom has while preggo. I think with my last two pregnancies it was blissfull ignorance. I read way too much these days.

[pumpkinhead]

The cysts/eggs in the poop of a cat infected with toxo take 24hr to germinate, so they're not infectious until 24 hours after they leave the cat. So, if you're scooping more than every 24 hr, you're fine.

[MyFullHouse]

I have had cats through every single pregnancy. Indoor, but they've been known to escape on occasion. I try to avoid doing the litter, but sometimes it's just a necessity. I do get checked with every single pregnancy, and I have been consistently negative for over 12 years.

I'd be WAY more concerned about the effects of stress hormones on the baby than things like toxo and food!

[Marylizah]

You are much, much more likely to get toxo from undercooked meat and unwashed produce than from an indoor, older cat. Make sure all meat is well-cooked and wash produce (especially salads) very carefully.

As other posters have said, the eggs take 24hrs to germinate. It's also mostly *young* cats and kittens who get the infection, they are infectious for a while then *they* have immunity and can no longer transfer toxo to you or other animals.

So it sounds like you had an older, indoor cat who was extremely unlikely to have toxo, and therefore the chances of you catching it from your cat's poop are close to zero.

Can you get a blood test done to put your mind at rest? I know I had monthly blood tests through both pregnancies as I don't have immunity.

[LSUtwinMama]

The risk of catching toxo from your cat is so low it's not worth worrying about.

Even if a cat catches toxo they only shed the organism for a few days in their entire life, not all the time. Even if you had an outdoor cat that came in with dead mice everyday, the chance that one week during your pregnancy would be the one time in your cat's life he was shedding toxo in his poop are extremely low.

Relax. Stress is way worse for your baby... the effects of stress on a developing fetus is well documented. Stressed mama= stressed baby.

[JessieBird]

Originally Posted by pumpkinhead

The cysts/eggs in the poop of a cat infected with toxo take 24hr to germinate, so they're not infectious until 24 hours after they leave the cat. So, if you're scooping more than every 24 hr, you're fine.

This is true. If you cleaned up that poop on the floor right away and cleaned the floor well (though not too well - don't want to expose yourself to strong chemical cleaners either...can't win!), there is no risk that you caught toxo.

I have had outdoor cats my entire life so I was very surprised when I tested negative for toxo early in my first pregnancy - I expected to be positive for the antibodies and therefore wouldn't have to worry about it. What this goes to show you is that you can spend 30+ years exposed to outdoor cats and their litter boxes (and I'll admit that I wasn't always prompt to clean them) and still never catch it.

We now have one outdoor cat and I had one during my first pregnancy too. DH does most of the litter box cleaning but I do it occasionally when he slacks off. I don't think twice about it.

[JFTB1177]

Originally Posted by Marylizah

Can you get a blood test done to put your mind at rest? I know I had monthly blood tests through both pregnancies as I don't have immunity.

Yes, I plan on it!! I have my first OB appt next week when I'll be 11 weeks, and I will ask to be tested. I was tested 2 years ago and was shocked to learn I didn't have immunity since I grew up with indoor/outdoor cats that killed all kinds of small creatures and pooped in my sandbox! My sister actually got worms as a kid from touching (or eating!!!) their poop in the sandbox. So yeah, I thought FOR SURE I was immune! But nope!

Hopefully everything will come back fine! I think I would be worrying less if my cat hadn't escaped outside... even tho it was only a few minutes, he went into the bushes in front of our townhouse, and there are strays in the neighborhood (because people feed them with tuna cans and such, it's become a problem) and I worry they may have pooped in the bushes although I have no proof whatsoever... ahhh I am sick of worrying!!

[kittywitty]

Originally Posted by LSUtwinMama

The risk of catching toxo from your cat is so low it's not worth worrying about.

Even if a cat catches toxo they only shed the organism for a few days in their entire life, not all the time. Even if you had an outdoor cat that came in with dead mice everyday, the chance that one week during your pregnancy would be the one time in your cat's life he was shedding toxo in his poop are extremely low.

Relax. Stress is way worse for your baby... the effects of stress on a developing fetus is well documented. Stressed mama= stressed baby.

Exactly. People freak out way too much about this. Seriously, people, it is so rare that I would worry far more about things like car accidents, lightning strikes, and food poisoning. Do some research if you're freaked out, because really, you're freaking out over nothing.

[rhiOrion]

You are fine.

I am so confident of it that I'll state it that clearly- you are fine.

I cleaned my cat's litter box the whole time I was pregnant, didn't use a mask or gloves. I washed my hands afterwards, but that was more because...well... I had just cleaned a litter box.

I have never ever heard of a pregnant woman getting toxo. It must have happened. And I'm sure that there are people who have known someone who has had some sort of horrible outcome. But I bet most of those are "my friends uncle's brother's best friend's girlfriend's best friend" type of things.

My mom's employee said something about it being too bad that i'd have to get rid of my cat. That's like saying I should get rid of my kid because she might give me something. Not happening!

But... I am very very sure that your cat did not contract toxo in the three minutes he was outside.

[broodymama]

I had 7 cats for 3 of my pregnancies, then 5 (and at the end 6) cats for this most recent pregnancy. I've never had toxo and don't have immunity, I do change the litter boxes because DH is in the Navy and was gone for a large part of my pregnancies. I wear gloves, just because I'm squeamish but have never had any problems.

[kittywitty]

http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/brochures/toxo.html

http://www.humanesociety.org/animals...plasmosis.html

http://www.thecatsite.com/Health/245...-and-Cats.html

There are more out there, too.

[terra-pip]

I'm not worried about it and have been cleaning a litter box most of this pregnancy...but I didn't like it. Our cat is mostly an outside cat now...because even after being fixed etc he would still day and night meow constantly and we actually have grooves in our wooden window frames from him literally scratching at the windows frantically wanting to get out

So no more litter box for me and we've been on the hunt for a home for him. He comes in to eat and to take long cat naps...but mostly he's outside. I do think about it a lot though. We don't have a garden this year because I refuse to mess with any dirt. Mainly because of the stray cat problem in my neighborhood. And a big part of me doesn't want a cat on or anywhere near my baby or baby's stuff. So he'll either be rehomed eventually or be an outside/rarely indoor cat.

But what everyone is saying is true...the risk of toxo is slim.