Can my cat cause infertility or other health issues during pregnancy?

No, kittens have no effect on the fertility of humans. The only concern is that when a women is pregnant. Then she should not touch or clean the litter box due to the risk of toxoplasmosis from the feces of the cat. Otherwise, it's fine. Get an indoor cat, they are the best! I have four of my own :-)

In my opinion, with the proper precautions it can be perfectly safe. The most common time for the baby to be at risk for transmission is during the women's final trimester, so right now would be your home stretch. However, all information that I have ever learned indicates toxoplasmosis is passed only through the feces (maybe the urine too, I'd have to check on that!) and has nothing to do with the hair, saliva, or blood. Keeping that in mind, the only way you are likely to get in contact with the microorganism is by coming in contact with the cat's poop. Best ways to avoid this are the following: -If you must handle cat litter. always wear protective gear around your face and hands. -Always wash your face and hands after handling soiled litter. -Always wash your face and hands after any extensive handling of your kitty. -Avoid sleeping in the same bed as your kitty. -Don't let your cat rub his butt on you! Hope this helps. Don't get rid of your cat. While the risk is there, I think it is blown completely out of proportion. Then again, I am a male veterinarian. Perhaps a female might answer your differently. I am just giving you the facts. Let me know if you have any other questions.

There really is very little risk having a cat around during a normal, healthy pregnancy. Just wash your hands after petting her, & if you can have anyone else clean the litter box, this would be a reasonable precaution. Otherwise, good, common sense is all that is needed. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

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.

Hi, thanks for using PetCoach! Your Doctor can test you. If you are negative then you should avoid gardening or doing things with the soil as toxoplasma lives there as well. Then I would have your husband clean Cecile's litter box or you do it wearing gloves and wash your hands. I would also keep your cats indoors. As a Vet, I have been exposed, who knows when or how, and I had a normal pregnancy. Below is a link to the CDC's page on toxoplasma. It should answer all of your questions! I hope this helps and I wish you the best! https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/index.html

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.

Nothing can happen through the skin please don' t worry. However, you always need to wash your hands and wear gloves when you handle his litter tray or your clothes which have diarrhoea on it. Make sure the house is clean etc normal hygiene rules. I would recommend to have him checked over so his diarrhoea can be treated, and he can be neutered, wormed so that everything is in order for when the baby arrives.