Is it safe if I touched cat poop? Should I worry about toxoplasmosis?

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.

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!

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

As long as you didn't handle the poop, you will be fine. It just sounds like the poop upset Cody's stomach, and many dogs eat cat poop without getting toxo. Since he's fine now, I'd just watch him. If he starts vomiting again, have him seen by a vet. Best of luck.

Flies don't carry the toxoplasmosis parasite per se, but they can spread contaminated soil or cat feces. Cats can get toxoplasmosis by eating infected rodents, birds, or other small animals, or anything contaminated with feces from another cat that is shedding the microscopic parasite in its feces. In that way, it could be possible that Noushi could get toxoplasmosis if the flies she ate were carrying toxoplasmosis oocytes, but it would be highly unlikely. Keep the fly population under control in your house to reduce any chances. Best of luck, I hope this helps.

Just clean it up and disinfect the spot on the couch. Wash your hands afterwards. You do not need to throw the couch away nor do you need to worry about etting sick if you washed your hands, You may want to have her spayed, vaccinated and adopt her to live with you. Provide her with a litter box and show it to her and she will be happy to have her own toilet.