Posted: August 24th, 2008 - 5:11pm by Doug Powell

My friend and OK hockey player Scott Weese seems to be having fun with his Worms and Germs blog. It’s a great resource for pet ownership, especially aspects of zoonotic disease.

Yesterday, Scott asked, are pregnancy and cats compatible? Amy, who’s six months pregnant, and I share our Manhattan home with two dogs and two cats (the cats are from Walkerton, Ontario, and made the trip to Kansas with me). Scott writes, and I didn’t know about the 24-hour infectious bit, that,

“Cats are the only animal species that can spread Toxoplasma in their stool. Shedding rates in cats are quite low, but can be higher in cats that go outside, hunt or are fed raw meat. However, it takes 24 hours or more for Toxoplasma in stool to be infectious (that means that fresh stool cannot spread Toxoplasma). That key point greatly reduces the risk of transmission from cats.”

Sure, if you clean the litter box regularly. That’s Amy with Crystal (right).