Many people believe that thin hair is responsible for the transmission?of a dangerous disease? for pregnant women called toxoplasmosis. For this reason, in most cases when a woman attends a medical consultation and is notified that she is pregnant, during the consultation the doctor asks the consultant a series of questions, among which is if she has a cat at home, and when the answer to that question is affirmative, the doctor proceeds to make some recommendations in an informative and preventive way so that the pregnant woman takes some precautionary measures.
Indeed, the cat is a source of transmission of toxoplasmosis , but it is not precisely the hair that is the means of infection, but rather it occurs through contact with the cat's feces.
What causes Toxoplasmosis?
Toxoplasmosis disease is caused by a protozoan called Toxoplasma gondii, which enters the cat's body as a result of ingestion through various infective forms. The most common form of contagion is when the cat eats some food contaminated with feces from other cats already infected with the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii.
Forms of contagion of Toxoplasma Gondii by the cat.
It does not mean that the cat eats the feces to get infected, no, but that? the protozoan or parasite spreads in the area after another contaminated cat has made its stool and even if the area has been cleaned with plenty of water, the parasites remain scattered in the area and the cat steps on that area and becomes infected.
The cat when its cleaning is done, at the moment in which?passes his tongue through the infected area, this becomes infected, since the parasite enters his body. Another way of transmitting toxoplasmosis is when the cat eats some contaminated game animals, such as contaminated mice, cockroaches or birds.
How the disease is evidenced in the cat.
When the parasite enters the intestine, they will be distributed via the lymphatics to the various organs of the cat, such as the heart, liver, brain, spleen, among others. Although not all adult cats show obvious symptoms of the disease, the cat shows fever, muscle pain, apathy, among others.
In the cases of cats with cat immunodeficiency problems, the manifestations are more noticeable and occur causing the cat respiratory, intestinal, pulmonary, cardiac and vision problems that can be so dangerous that they can even lose their vision, in Consequently, it is necessary to go to the veterinarian to carry out the pertinent tests and determine if there is presence of the disease in the cat.
Ways to prevent the cat from getting infected.
Taking into account that the incubation period of the parasite is between 1 and 5 days, preventive measures can be taken, the most relevant being daily cleaning of the litter box where the cat makes feces, in this way we prevent the infective source from maturing. Other ways to avoid contagion is not allowing the cat to eat raw meat or game animals such as mice, worms, cockroaches, birds, etc. And lastly, preventing the cat from going for a walk to spaces? possibly contaminated.
Image courtesy of TN.com all rights reserved.
