+
Family

Here's all you ever wanted to know about the parasite in cat poop.

True
March of Dimes

Americans love cats.

And what’s not to love? They’re cute, playful, and goofy. Plus they are the darlings of the internet. What would any of us even do if cat videos didn’t exist on the internet?

Who doesn't love shark cat? GIF via Keith Johnson/YouTube.


Cats are the best, and we know that they love us, but they can also accidentally make us sick.

Yes, it's true. Cats are the source of an extremely common parasite called Toxoplasma gondii that reproduces exclusively inside cats. And once infected, cats poop out T. gondii eggs — called oocysts — and these eggs have a tendency to make their way into humans and other mammals. This can then cause the disease toxoplasmosis, which can be very dangerous.

It's not their fault — cats don't want to have this parasite any more than you do — and we don't blame them, but it's still a reality that we both have to face. So, how do we deal with it?

To help answer that, here are nine things that your cat wants you to know about this little parasite:

1. It's difficult to know if your cat has the parasite.

Cats rarely have symptoms, so most people don't know if their cat is infected with this parasite. But it's more common among kitties that go outdoors or that eat undercooked or raw meat.

It's best to stick to feeding kitty canned, dried, or well-cooked food. GIF via The Daily/YouTube.

2. This parasite lays A LOT of eggs, but keeping your cat’s litter box clean reduces the risk.

A cat acutely infected by T. gondii can shed up to 500 million oocysts in just two weeks through its poop. These eggs survive a long time — up to one year — in warm climates with moist soil or seawater. And it could take just one egg to infect a human.

But if you change the litter box every day, you lower your risk of infection (and stinky litter smell) substantially. The oocysts don’t actually become infectious for one to five days.  So don't forget to scoop and wash your paws — I mean hands — afterward!

3. So ... you might already be infected with the T. gondiiparasite.

Whaaat? GIF via Loves cat/YouTube.

About 2 billion people worldwide — including 60 million in the United States — are already infected with the parasite from (accidentally) ingesting cat feces or from drinking contaminated water, eating undercooked meat (of animals that grazed or hunted in an area where a cat lived), handling unwashed produce, or just from cleaning an infected cat's litter box.

4. But even if you are infected, if you have a healthy immune systems, you’ll likely be fine.

There's no need to turn into a scaredy cat. Even though many, many people are infected, few ever get symptoms. That’s because a healthy immune system is normally strong enough to keep the parasite from causing any illness.

5.  BUT, T. gondii can be a pretty big deal if you’re pregnant.

Image via iStock.

If you are pregnant, HIV-positive, or already have another infection that weakens your immune system, you run the risk of developing some of the worst symptoms, such as headaches, seizures, confusion, and organ damage — most often to the back of the eye. There are treatment options available though, if your doctor thinks they are necessary.

If you get infected for the first time while you are pregnant, the parasite may cross the placenta to your baby, causing a congenital parasitic infection that can result in the child being stillborn or born prematurely. In some cases, the infection can also damage the baby’s eyes, brain, nervous system, skin, and ears.

The majority of newborns who are infected will not show signs for months or years after birth, though. But, if left untreated, this infection can cause some serious health problems later in life.

6. So if you are planning to have a baby, get tested for it.

If you have already been infected before you get pregnant, you usually won’t pass the infection to your baby because you have likely built up an immunity to the infection.  

7. And no, getting pregnant doesn't mean you have to give up your cat!

Don't go! GIF via RedMistNinja/YouTube.

According to the CDC, you can keep your feline BFF even if you are pregnant or have a weakened immune system. Just be extra vigilant while you are pregnant. For example, take a well-earned break from the pooper scooper and have someone else clean the litter box for you (maybe while you take a cat nap). Also, keep your kitty off the kitchen counter, and don't adopt any new kittens — no matter how huggable — until after the baby is born!

8. You don’t even need to have a pet cat to be infected.

You are actually more likely to get the parasite from gardening or eating undercooked meat than directly from a cat.

9. Yes, the parasite does cause weird behavior in mice. But no, we do not know that it causes weird behavior in humans.

It is true that ​infected mice and rats display a number of behavioral changes, such as losing their aversion to the smell of cats and their urine — which, of course, makes them easier for cats to catch them. T. gondiihas been blamed for a whole bunch of human behavioral changes, including slower response times (causing more car wrecks) and mental illness, such as schizophrenia.  But as of right now, these appear to still be just theories. Nothing has been proven.

Cats have been our buddies for a long time.

Image by Simone Scully/Upworthy.

Cats have worked their way into our hearts, and they bring a number of benefits. Not only are they great companions, but they also lower stress and blood pressure, which, according to one study, could reduce our risk of heart attack and strokes by more than one third.  And these purring cuddle-buddies also help us sleep, according to a study from the Mayo Clinic Center for Sleep Medicine.

Cats know how to melt our stress away. GIF via Nakuspienne/YouTube.

So while, yes, they can accidentally make us sick, if we take some precautions to avoid this parasite, we can continue enjoying our snuggly little companions for all of their nine lives.  

Sponsored

ACUVUE launches a new campaign to inspire Gen Z to put down their phones and follow their vision

What will you create on your social media break? Share it at #MyVisionMySight.

True

If you’ve always lived in a world with social media, it can be tough to truly understand how it affects your life. One of the best ways to grasp its impact is to take a break to see what life is like without being tethered to your phone and distracted by a constant stream of notifications.

Knowing when to disconnect is becoming increasingly important as younger people are becoming aware of the adverse effects screen time can have on their eyes. According to Eyesafe Nielsen, adults are now spending 13-plus hours a day on their digital devices, a 35% increase from 2019.1. Many of us now spend more time staring at screens on a given day than we do sleeping which can impact our eye health.

Normally, you blink around 15 times per minute, however, focusing your eyes on computer screens or other digital displays have been shown to reduce your blink rate by up to 60%.2 Reduced blinking can destabilize your eyes’ tear film, causing dry, tired eyes and blurred vision.3

Keep ReadingShow less

Karlie Smith shows the meal she's bringing to the restaurant for her son.

A mom who admitted she packs her 2-year-old a meal when they go out to dinner has started an interesting debate on TikTok about restaurant etiquette and how it applies to young children.

The video posted by Ohio mom, Karlie Smith (unbreakablemomma on TikTok), has received nearly 600,000 views and has over 1,850 comments.

“Call me cheap, call me whatever, but if we’re going out to a restaurant, I’m packing my kid a meal," Smith, 21, said in her post. "I do this for many reasons. On Friday nights, my family and I get together, and tonight, we’re getting food out. My son is not getting food out.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Pop Culture

Man rewatches shows from his childhood and his recaps of the bonkers storylines are priceless

Rob Anderson's hilarious recaps of shows like "Mighty Ducks," "Beethoven," and "7th Heaven" might make you wonder how they got made in the first place.

@hearthrobert/TikTok

These plots makes zero sense.

While there are no doubt some timeless classics from our childhood that remain every bit as amazing as we remember, many are straight-up cringey upon a later viewing. Really, it’s to be expected as societal viewpoints change…sort of a marker of how far we’ve collectively come.

And so, what do we do with these problematic pieces of old-school pop culture? Well, we can certainly update them to better reflect a more modern attitude, but that also comes with a set of potential problems. Or we could simply never watch them again. Certainly an option given all the content out there. But then we might miss an opportunity to better understand what seemed to work for the mainstream then, and why it doesn’t work now.

And then there’s the third option—allow ourselves to be entertained by their cringiness.

That’s certainly the route taken by Rob Anderson. Over on TikTok, Anderson has taken ultra-popular movies and television shows from his childhood and given them hilarious recaps capturing how absurd some of the storylines are.
Keep ReadingShow less
@Steve_Perrault/Twitter

Some moments never get old.

On November 19, 1999, a man named John Carpenter made game show history and quite possibly gave us all the greatest game show moment of all time.

Carpenter was a contestant on the very first season of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” shot in America. Hosted by the late Regis Philbin, the quiz show featured three "lifeline" options to help them with difficult questions, the most popular being able to “Phone-a-Friend.”

Carpenter had impressively not used a single lifeline for any of his questions. That is, until question 15. The million-dollar question, to be exact.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

Woman decides that she is the love of her life and marries herself at her retirement home

“I said, you know what, I’ve done everything else. Why not?”

77-year-old woman decides she's the love of her life and marries herself.

We joke about marrying ourselves or a platonic friend if some arbitrary amount of time has passed without a proposal from an imaginary suitor. And sure, some people do wind up marrying a friend in more of a business arrangement, but it's not very common that someone follows through with marrying themselves.

Dorothy "Dottie" Fideli, decided that she was going to break the mold. The 77-year-old sat down and thought about all of the things she had done in life and who was with her the entire time cheering her on. It was an easy answer: herself. She was her biggest cheerleader, the person who always showed up and the love of her life, so Fideli made the plan to marry herself.

On a beautiful May day, friends and family gathered in the O’Bannon Terrace Retirement Community, where Fideli is a resident, to witness the ceremony.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

12-year-old Texas girl saves her family from carbon monoxide poisoning

She knew something was wrong with her mom and brother, which wound up saving her whole family.

Fort Worth 12-year-old helps save family from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Carbon monoxide is called a silent killer for a reason. Many people don't realize they're experiencing carbon monoxide poisoning before it's too late. The gas is colorless and odorless and tends to have a sedating effect that causes people to sleep through the fatal poisoning. Having carbon monoxide detectors is one of the most effective ways to identify the gas before it's too late to get out of the house, but not every home has one.

A little girl in Fort Worth, Texas, experienced a terrifying encounter with the deadly gas, but her quick actions saved her entire family. Jaziyah Parker is being held up as a hero after she realized something was wrong with her family members and called for help.

The girl called 911 after she noticed her mom pass out. On the call with the dispatcher, Jaziyah says she thinks her mother has died before explaining that there was something now wrong with her baby brother, who was just 5-months-old.

Keep ReadingShow less

Drew Barrymore speaks during the FLOWER Beauty launch at Westfield Parramatta on April 13, 2019, in Sydney, Australia.

Drew Barrymore, 48, has been in the public consciousness since she starred as Gertie in 1982’s mega-blockbuster, “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial,” a performance that earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. So, it makes sense that many people of a certain age feel as if they’ve grown up with her.

Barrymore has consistently starred in hit films and movies that are rewatchable cable-TV staples, such as “Charlie's Angels” (2000), “Never Been Kissed” (1999), “Scream” (1996), “The Wedding Singer” (1998), “50 First Dates” (2004) and “Fever Pitch” (2005).

Now, she’s an even more significant part of people’s lives as the host of “The Drew Barrymore Show,” which runs every weekday on CBS. So far, the show has been a big success, attracting an average of 1.21 million views per show, and ranks as the #4 talk show in syndication. It was recently renewed through the 2024 season.

Keep ReadingShow less