See, that’s inconsistent with my image of cats as manipulating any training to express their deep hatred of…well, men with hair on their heads, or just the hair. So they just go in one toilet and not make a touring exhibit? Best macrame explainer sign for guests, if you please?
Well, I’m never going to sell my catbox horror movie tent pole Unambitious Public Schoolbus Cat Boxand snort prime pdf files at this rate.
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Ah ha. This 2000 study says you’re right, and then some:
It is also notable that among Mexican Americans (and no other group), current cat ownership was associated with reduced risk for T. gondii seropositivity. Although in most previous studies cat ownership has been associated with either increased risk for toxoplasmosis/T. gondii seropositivity or no change in risk, one previous study found that possession of cats decreased the risk for seropositivity (51). In our overall multivariate results, current cat ownership did not significantly change the risk for T. gondii seropositivity. There are several possible reasons for this finding. The NHANES III interview only inquired about current ownership of cats. Persons who did not own cats at the time of the interview may have owned them in the past. In addition, risk of T. gondii infection in humans derives from exposure to the feces of a cat that is shedding oocysts. Cats generally shed oocysts for only a few weeks during their lives. Cats that are kept indoors, do not hunt, and are not fed raw meat are not likely to acquire T. gondii infection and therefore pose little risk to humans. In addition, neighborhood or feral cats that defecate in gardens or sandboxes may pose the greatest risk of T. gondii infection for some people, regardless of whether they own a cat.
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T. gondii was of course named after Gondor where it was first identified. Denethor’s infection goes a long way toward explaining his erratic behaviour.
The authors do not consider the possible reason that seropositivity tests are garbage and tell us nothing about actual T. gondii infection. They do mention the possibility that eating undercooked meat is a larger risk factor than cat ownership, but that does not make for such clickbaity headlines.
There are also huge variations in seropositivity rates across the world that make no sense in terms of exposure to cats.
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So you’re saying that the study I linked to, “Toxoplasma gondii Infection in the United States: Seroprevalence and Risk Factors,” published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, has a clickbaity headline?
Not at all. The study has nothing in its title about cats making kids stupid, so I do not look at it askance, I cast no aspersions at it.
Update: My aspersions are cast at other researchers (with their tendency to focus on cats as a risk factor while neglecting everything else known to be a risk factor) and the churnalism treatment of that research.
I’m sorry Mister Fuzzles, I’m afraid I can’t do that
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Not sure I’d agree about the Daily Telegraph – or disagree – but if you’d have wrote the Daily Mail - I would have agreed - about making kids stupid - it seems consistent with some other tabloids that have daily in their name.
…a cat whut?
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And the cure?
Seems to be ‘don’t get infected’.
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i’m fairly certain my cat would scratch the living shit out of me for even suggesting he go in something like that.
LOL. sold.
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I, for one, wish to be among the first to be a disease vector for our new overlords. Just sayin’…
That does involve letting them eat you.
no ur FACE is making kids sutpid LOLOLOLOLOL
haha i told THAT guy
brb, gotta go clean the cat box
And being eaten by those naughty nematodes would be bad in exactly which way?
Ah, sorry, I thought you meant our old feline overlords.
UPDATE: The problem with being intermediate hosts is that the only way to be vectors of our new brainjacking protozoal overlords is for the cysts in our tissue to pass through the digestion of the primary hosts (our previous feline overloads).
And being eaten by those frisky felines would be bad in exactly which way?
Admit it, we’re toast!
It’s only bad if I’m not dead yet!
Though sometimes I wonder if they are trying tenderize me with all the very small puncture wounds.
(now threaded, yay)
@pixelmelter So your non-existent cat doesn’t use these, then.
@bryan How about your cats?
All I know is that I no longer own a litter scoop, I haven’t had to empty a litter box for going on two weeks, now, and in all likelihood I never will again.
As for parasites, it’s probably too late for me, but soft…soft nose…shiwkers! Must go over there now ckjh >
