My cat ate flies. Should I worry about toxoplasmosis infection?

Some parasites and insects can be carriers of bacteria as well as other infectious agents. However this is not an uncommon behavior in cats and certainly not every cat that eats a bug will get sick. Keeping Pearl on a flea/tick preventative will help prevent some of the more common infections. Be careful about applying any agent to prevent bugs as they can be toxic to cats.

This has been a topic of study recently in human medicine, you can read some articles at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2526142/ though the significance is not truly known yet, and this would be a question more suited to a human physician as they are trained in human medicine. I can tell you, however, that cats are not the only source of toxoplasma and individuals are much more likely to become infected from eating undercooked meat or contracting spores from gardening/vegetables in contaminated soil than from their cats themselves https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/epi.html . If this is something you are concerned about you can clean your cat litterbox daily as the parasite requires 24 or more hours to sporulate and become infective, so if you scoop your litterbox daily and wash your hands well your risk from your cats is incredibly small.

I'm sorry to hear about this. Toxoplasmosis is a parasite that is commonly acquired by cats, people and many other animals, but doesn't always cause disease. This means that any animal can be infected and shedding the infective stage, but doesn't necessarily have the disease. Unless Blink is having signs of illness, there is no need to treat the infection. However, it may be worthwhile to have a vet find out if she is in-fact the source of the infection. For your sake, it may be worthwhile to eliminate the infection in Blink, so she doesn't continually spread it. Keep in mind that cat's are not the only source of this disease. Many other animals can carry this parasite and it's often transmitted through undercooked meat. Below are links to a couple of articles that should be helpful for understanding this disease and making future decisions. https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/toxoplasmosis https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/index.html I hope that helps and you get better soon.

Not all cats carry toxoplasma and of those that do, they do not shed it everyday. The toxo eggs are not immediately infective in fresh faeces but take a day or so to mature and develop before they are spread to people if eaten. Brief contact with faeces which is washed off immediately is not a major concern as the mature eggs would need to be ingested in order to contract it

Toxoplasmosis can be diagnosed by blood work or a fecal examination. However toxoplasma takes 24 hours after a bowel movement to become infectious. So if your sister cleans the box daily, and showers daily, and wears clean clothes daily then the likelihood of contamination approaches zero. I am a veterinarian, and touch cats daily, and had my antibodies tested before pregnancy and I have never been exposed. I hope this helps explain this for you. Best of luck and thank you for using Pet Coach.

Great question! No, it is not shed in cat vomit, it is shed in the feces. When cats ingest infected prey or raw meat, the parasite is released from cysts in cat's digestive tract, where it reproduces and produces oocytes. Infected cats then excrete these oocytes in their feces by the millions, and will begin shedding them three to 10 days after consumed infected tissue. They will continue to shed oocytes for 10-14 days. I hope this helps!

Mmmm, protein! Catching insects is all part of a cat's prey drive, and it is normal for them to hunt and eat their prey, even creepy-crawlies. If she eats too many cockroaches at one time, it is possible that she could get an upset stomach. I would also be a little concerned if the cockroaches have been exposed to any pesticides, so use of pet-safe cockroach traps would be smarter than a spray or chemical.