Home Forums Cats Risk of contracting toxoplasmosis and other parasites

Risk of contracting toxoplasmosis and other parasites

Published on: October 18, 2024 • By: Emn65 · In Forum: Cats
Author
Topic
Emn65
Participant
October 18, 2024 at 11:16pm
Hello, I wrote this article with Google Translate. First of all, it will be a long article, but I need your help, suggestions and guidance for my and my cat's health. First of all, there are stray cats in the country I am in, I took a cat from the street and put it in an empty office in my shop, I bought a closed litter box and sand for the cat, it was constantly going to the litter box, it was constantly eating its food and water, 3 days later its eye got inflamed, I talked to a vet on the phone and he said it was conjunctivitis and he gave me eye drops and I used them and 4 days later its eye got better. I applied the eye drops on the first day, the cat scratched my thumb a little with its paw, but my skin did not bleed, I washed the area immediately with plenty of soapy water, it was a very small scratch and the scratch closed the next day. However, I went to the hospital 1 hour after the scratch and got rabies vaccination. They gave me a 4-dose vaccination schedule, I had the 2nd dose, they said that if the cat does not die within 10 days and does not show any signs of rabies, neither the cat nor I will have rabies, and that I should not have the 4th dose after the 3rd dose. I have not had the 3rd dose yet, it will be 5 to 10 days after the incident. I am currently in this process, the cat is playing and having fun normally. We have not seen any rabid cat cases in the area where we live, it is very rare even in our country, but it was seen decades ago. Everyone says that rabies cannot pass through such a small scratch, but the doctor did not want to take any risks and we started the vaccination process by following the health rules. Since it is a street cat, there is no rabies vaccine. I took the cat to the vet the 2nd day I got it, he gave an injection for internal parasites and applied it to its skin for external parasites. Then I started doing research on parasites and learned that many parasites can be transmitted from cats to humans, one of them is toxoplasmosis and it is very dangerous. After learning this, I stopped messing with the cat's litter box and threw that box in the trash. Then I took the cat out of the room and took it to the shop below. I made a kennel downstairs and put the food and water bowls there. I washed the floor of the room it was in with bleach, I wondered if there were any parasites in the room, was it cleaned? The cat no longer stays in the room, it stays in the workshop below where the workers work. The shop door is always open between 8-18, I can't always follow it, when it goes out, does it go to the toilet outside or somewhere inside the shop? Since the shop is closed after 18 and the cat doesn't have a litter box, does it keep it until morning? Can I take care of the cat like this, is there a risk of me and the workers getting parasites if I do this? The cat walks around the shop, sleeps in its kennel, goes out and comes back. I love it but I'm afraid it will get parasites, should I release it back into the street? The cat looks very healthy, its fur is shiny and lively, it's energetic and happy, it drinks its food and water, it has a good appetite. If the cat has parasites, is there a risk of it walking around the shop and infecting us? I drew a picture of it so you can better understand what kind of shop it is. Behind the door, in the corner, next to the wall, there is a cat house, when you go up the stairs there are two rooms, the room on the left is my office, the empty room on the right is the room where I first look after the cat, then take it down and clean it with bleach. The door to the shop is 3 meters high and 7 meters wide. As an anxious person, I am very anxious, I am very afraid of catching parasites from myself or someone else, are we at risk? There are tests to see if people are immune to toxoplasmosis and if they have had toxoplasmosis, do I need to have these tests for myself? Another thing I learned is that people and cats are immune to toxoplasmosis if they have had toxoplasmosis once in their life. I don't know if my cat has toxoplasmosis, but 2 or 3 days after I picked him up from the street, I went to the vet to get an injection for internal parasites and a liquid for external parasites. Since my cat left the shop and went outside, how soon should I have the injection and liquid for internal and external parasites? Is there a risk of catching other parasites or diseases besides toxoplasmosis? I washed the surface of the room where the cat lives with bleach, but I read that toxoplasmosis is resistant to bleach but disappears at 67 degrees, should I wash the floor of the room with boiling water? I hope I was able to express myself, I am already an anxious person, I have been experiencing anxiety lately due to both having a rabies vaccine and being in the process and the risk of catching parasites from cats, I cannot sleep but I love cats very much. I am waiting for your suggestions, help and guidance.IMG_20241019_001712
Report
Author
Replies
Liz Buchanan BVSc MRCVS
Keymaster
October 20, 2024 at 04:40pm
Hello and first of all, thank you for reaching out.  I hear that you are very anxious about this.  I am not a human medic, but it may well be worth seeking yours out.  Your doctor can help you to quantify risks (explain how big a risk it is in your case) and identify the best practises to reduce the possibility of any problems.  Toxoplasmosis is usually harmless; it comes and goes and most human patients don't even know when they've had it.  The exceptions are if, for example, the (human) patient is immunocompromised or if a woman catches it for the first time when pregnant; in the latter case, it can seriously damage or terminate the pregnancy.  According to the NHS website, humans generally catch Toxoplasma from the soil or cat faeces and not directly from cats; it may even be that owning a cat doesn't increase your chances of contracting it (your doctor is the person to ask about that).  Steps for humans to take to keep themselves safe might therefore include wearing gloves while gardening, washing their hands well afterwards, thoroughly washing utensils after chopping meat, washing fruit and vegetables well to get rid of any traces of soil before eating, adequately cooking meat and avoiding handling cat-litter, using gloves and so on.  Things to definitely avoid can include 1) eating raw or undercooked meats and unpasteurised products, 2) touching sheep esp. when pregnant and 3) not feeding raw or undercooked meat to cats.  A human cannot catch toxoplasmosis directly from a cat, from having a cat as a pet or from coming into contact with someone else with toxoplasmosis; it is spread through faecal matter.  I hope that this helps a little bit and I hope that your doctor, who should be concerned with your health and your personal circumstances directly, can help to ensure that your routines are as good as they can be in order to keep you safe.
Report
Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

You must be logged in to create new threads, or access some of the forums

Log In
Register

Registration confirmation will be emailed to you

By joining the Forum, I agree that I am aged over 18 and that I will abide by the Community Guidelines and the Terms

Or

Report a Thread or Reply

Thank you for your help. A member of our team will investigate this further.

Back to forum