One of the persistent stories that won’t go away is that your cat will make you crazy by infecting you with toxoplasmosis. In our clickbait internet culture, sensational headlines about “Your Cat is Making You Crazy” are sure to bring in the readers, so the story continues to pop up again and again, slowly turning into an urban myth. Like most urban myths, what started with a grain of truth is wrapped in a whole lot of not-so-true.
What is Toxoplasmosis, Anyhow?
A single-celled parasite called Toxoplasmosa gondii causes a disease called toxoplasmosis, which infects an estimated 60 million people in the US. Healthy immune systems keep the parasite from causing illness, so very few people actually have symptoms. However, pregnant women and those with poor immune systems are told to be cautious.
People can be exposed to T. gondii from:
- Eating undercooked, contaminated meat (especially pork, lamb, or venison)
- Accidentally ingesting contaminated meat due to cross-contamination (handling it and not washing your hands thoroughly, using cutting boards and utensils on undercooked meat and then using them for other food without properly sanitizing them)
- Drinking contaminated water
- Accidentally ingesting the parasite after cleaning a litter box of a cat who is shedding T. gondii and not cleaning your hands or other surfaces that feces comes into contact with
- Accidentally ingesting contaminated soil by not washing your hands after gardening, or by eating unwashed fruit or vegetables from a garden
- Mothers can infect unborn children
- Infected blood transplants or organ transplants
- Unprotected sexual intercourse with a partner infected with toxoplasmosis
Since infected cats shed the oocysts that contain the parasite in their feces, pregnant women are warned by their healthcare providers to take extra precautions about cleaning their cat’s litterbox to prevent potential infection, so many women have already heard of toxoplasmosis through their doctor.
How this Story Got Started on the Internet
A pair of studies were published in the past few years that helped excite a lot of clickbait headlines.
A 2012 study, Brain cancer mortality rates increase with Tosoplama gondii seroprevalence in France, noted that in France, regional mortality rates were higher where the level of T. gondii parasite was higher in the population. Headlines around the world insisted that your cat was going to kill you with toxoplasmosis, despite the fact that this wasn’t the conclusion of the study at all. The study also pointed out that T. gondii prevalanence in pregnant women were lowered over a twelve-year period, probably due to improvements in meat production that reduced contaminants, and that brain cancer related deaths have increased over time due to science’s ability to detect brain cancer. The study’s conclusion said “this novel evidence of a significant statistical association between T. gondii infection and brain cancer does not demonstrate causation,” and the authors called for further research. The actual conclusion of the study was lost in the sensational headlines and not mentioned in the stories carried in the worldwide media.
A study published in 2015, Is childhood cat ownership a risk factor for schizophrenia later in life?, caused similar, overly-sensational stories that are still showing up in popular science magazines and web sites. This study cited answers from a previous questionnaire and concluded that individuals with mental illnesses were more likely to have had a cat in their home when they were children. Since the study didn’t account for the many other variables in the children’s homes, the study itself said, “We urge our colleagues to try and replicate these findings to clarify whether childhood cat ownership is truly a risk factor for later schizophrenia.” Unfortunately, once more, the media ignored this conclusion in the interest of telling a more interesting story.
Why do these stories go racing around the internet? Bad journalism.
Why Your Cat Won’t Make You Crazy or Give You Brain Cancer
If you’re still convinced that T. gondii is the problem and that it will cause mental health issues and/or brain cancer, your cat still isn’t to blame.
Cats aren’t the way that people are exposed to T. gondii come into contact with it. Humans most commonly contract it by eating undercooked meat that contains T. gondii in the tissue. Contact with contaminated soil (combined with poor hygiene) and eating unwashed vegetables are also significant risk factors.
If your cat is exposed to T. gondii, she acquires immunity and isn’t likely to become infected unless she has an immune problem. So if kitty does become infected, she only passes oocysts containing the T. gondii parasite for two weeks, ever. After your cat leaves feces in the litterbox, the oocysts in the feces incubate for one to five days before they open and are infectious. This means if you scoop your cat’s litterbox once a day, even if your cat is shedding the T. gondii parasite, you’re getting it out of there before it could infect anyone else. (You’re scooping the litter box every day anyhow, aren’t you? If not, your cats will thank you!)
If You’re Still Worried about Toxoplasmosis
It’s unlikely that you will contract toxoplasmosis from your cat, but if you are pregnant or have a compromised immune system, it’s a good idea to be careful. To reduce your risk:
- Avoid undercooked meat.
- Wash all uncooked vegetables thoroughly.
- Wash all cutting boards and utensils that might have come in contact with meat before using them.
- Wear gloves when gardening or working in soil for other reasons. If you don’t wear gloves, wash your hands thoroughly afterward
- Ask your spouse, friends, or neighbors to help out with litter box duties while you’re pregnant. Alternatively, wear rubber gloves when changing the litter and thoroughly wash your hands afterward.
- Scoop your cat’s litter every day.
- Keep your cat indoors to prevent your cat from being exposed to T. gondii.
What Can You Do about these Stories
The biggest thing we have to fear from scary headlines about our cats making us crazy or giving us brain cancer is the spread of misinformation.
When you see a scary headline, take a moment to do a little research and see whether it’s true before sharing it on Facebook or forwarding it to all of your friends in email. Refusing to share and being knowledgeable enough to let others know that they are sharing bad information is the only way to stop rewarding the media for their misinformed, sensationalist headlines that can hurt cats or leave them homeless.
Updated January 2016 to add reference to sexual transmission.
Research and Further Reading
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Toxoplasmosis FAQ
Humane Society of the US, Pregnancy and Toxoplasmosis
Journal of the Schizophrenia International Research Society, Is childhood cat ownership a risk factor for schizophrenia later in life?
Journal of Molecular Epidemiology and Evolutionary Genetics in Infectious Diseases, Brain cancer mortality rates increase with Toxoplama gondii seroprevalence in France
The Royal Society Biology Letters, Cat ownership is neither a strong predictor of Toxoplamsa gondii infection nor a risk factor for brain cancerMedical Hypotheses Journal, Toxoplasmosis can be a sexually transmitted infection with serious clinical consequences. Not all routes of infection are created equal
Photo credits:
Wikimedia Commons/Toxoplasmosis
depositphotos/DepositNovic
depositphotos/cynoclub
depositphotos/HASLOO
I think it is bad reporting that is making humans crazy, not toxoplasmosis, no matter where it comes from!
TBT tells us that iffen he hasnt gone nutso like the articles say after 45 years around us kitties and cleaning our boxes, he probably isnt gonna in the next 20… And thats long enough fer US!
AMEN STANDING OVATION FOR A WELL WRITTEN POST!!! HUMANS ARE EASILY ALARMED
MANY TIMES BY OLD WIVES TALES TOO…LIKE NOT LETTING CATS AROUND BABIES BECAUSE THEY WILL SMELL THE MILK ON THEIR BREATH AND COULD SMOTHER THEM.
HUGS MADI YOUR BFFF
Would you believe when my mother was pregnant with me my dad’s mother warned her about the whole “stealing the baby’s breath” nonsense? Needless to say they never did get along very well LOL
once again, their need for sensationalism wins over good reporting! great article!!
Good thing my Giant Lady is smarts. She has had cats all her life and so has her DS.
They are not crazy and by that article they should be.
Very bad reporting that is going to hurt cats. That is not good.
Luvs,
Rose ~ the almost grown up kitten
My mom was way crazy before ANY of us. Can’t blame cats for that!
THANK YOU for clearing that up. I read the article on facebook yesterday and was going to go searching for more information today. I’ve lived with cats for 40 years and while I may have contracted Toxioplasmosis at some point, I really didn’t believe it was linked to mental illness.
Thank you for your timely post and correct information!
Thanks Ms Julie and for such a thoroughly researched response to the misinformation this type of junk journalism spreads. Unfortunately, it will only stop if we humans start spreading alternative information to counter the junk. And that takes time
I studied psychology, so the whole “correlation doesn’t prove causation” thing is ingrained in my head, but many others don’t know or understand that. Thank you for sharing this information. When I was researching for my Toxoplasmosis article last year, I learned that most people do not contract it from their cats at all. There really is a lot of misinformation out there.
Great post!
Let the truth be told…
Noodle and crew
Amazing what happens when the “facts” are taken into account and not an old wives tale!
Good posting!
There was toxoplasmosis long before there was human spreading rumors about cats. Gramma used to talk about it from gaining too much weight during pregnancy, I think. It never had anything to do with cats until news and so called informative sites turned into World Weekly News or Examiner carp. The U.S. has an entire political party that feeds into that mentality of saying whatever pops into your head whether it’s true or not and the masses swallow it like Kool-Aid.
The vet the woman worked at in the 1980s and early 1990s always told pregnant women and families who thought they had to get rid of the cat was that they were more likely to come into contact with it if they were working with raw chicken–you know, cutting the meat and then rubbing your face, than by having a cat.
As one of the woman’s non-veterinary friends said, “I figured so long as I wasn’t rolling in it, it was probably okay.” She has two lovely, healthy children who are off having their own lovely healthy children now (God the woman is older than dirt…parasite free or not).
this.. this is freakin awesome.. *sticking it in my links to share when people say idiot things*
Paws up for this great post! Some humans can be so misinformed…and pass it on like it’s the truth.
That was darn good. We knew that was a bunch of bunk but you documentified it nicely (and I just made up a word)!
From where and how does my cat get T gondii? Can cats get it from eating a raw diet? XOCK, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo
guys…grate post & aye men ta yur last paragraff…..
heerz two an ocean sunfish kinda week oh end ~~~ ♥♥♥
Excellent post! It is so disturbing and frustrating when you see misinformation passed on as fact. Very well written.
I hate seeing the clickbait headlines about Toxoplasmosis. In the US Toxoplasmosis is such an insignificant disease. Most people who click on these headlines had never even known the disease existed until they read the article – which should says something about how dangerous it really is. Thank you for putting the truth out there. I will definitely be giving this a share. 🙂
Great post! Thank you for taking the time to thoroughly dispel this old wives tale. Gosh, why do we (humans) fall for this stuff? We’re so taken in by sensationalism. I love your last paragraph especially and hope people apply that to cat articles as well as other areas too.
I’m so glad you tackled this story. It’s amazing how old myths refuse to die and how quick the public latches on to an idea without taking the time to research.
Gweat posty and so twue. Weez also tell peeps to have their kitty tested ifin they fink it’s a purroblem. And ifin kitty test pawsitive then take purrcautions. But we agwee, ifin yous scoopin’ at least daily and wiff a scoop and not yous hands, and then wash yous hands like yous shuld anyways, it’s not a purroblem. Sum peeps just like sensationalism.
Luv ya’
Dezi and Lexi
Great, detailed writing. Cats will give you love, snuggles, head butts and may drive you nuts every once in while, but brain cancer? Sheesh.
–Purrs (and wags) from Life with Dogs and Cats
Thank you for this – I’ve always wondered what kicked off that crazy theory. I hear it all the time lately and it’s disturbing that so many people believe it.
Excellent post and thanks for writing it. Humans will believe anything rather than blame themselves for the miseries of this planet.
Purrs xx
Athena and Marie
The animal clinic where I worked had a consistent number of phonecalls a year regarding this topic. At some point, I started telling people how our veterinary assistant who had been working with us for years had been tested for toxoplasmosis (since she was pregnant) and came up negative, despite cleaning out litterboxes every day for years.
Somehow, that drove the point home and reassured them more than all the scientific evidence I could throw at them.
What a terrific blog post! I’ve wondered about how some of these things got started. It’s amazing what people believe without even checking for the truth. Thanks so much for blogging the change for animals.
Sue
Be the Change for Animals
Talking Dogs blog
Ah, yes…the story of the Crazy Cat Lady origins…this kind of twisted information can drive you crazy! 😉 There are so many wonderful benefits to living with cats, it’s terrible that the media has gone wild on this idea and no doubt at least made some people think twice about adopting a cat (if not convinced them to avoid cats!)
Thank you immensely for clarifying this issue, setting the record straight. I can hear a million meows in grateful unison to you, too.
And thank you for blogging the change for animals,
Kim Thomas
Be the Change for Animals
Hi,I am The crazy kat lady of the hood,but if it wasen’t for all my TNR kittehs,I would be much more lonely,less mobile 61 yr. old!All the creatures I help and save make who I am!I was rescueing everything from birds to bunnies since I was 6 or so,my parents nutured my healing love for them! I am a better person for it. Nurture your kids to be kind and caring with nature,they are the ones who will SAVE this earth 🐈🐾✌🏽️