A parasite carried by cats could increase the suicide risk in women…
Slightly….
As a staunch kitty advocate, I just find this interesting and somewhat amusing….
And too good not to post….
But stand by your cats!
From NPR:
There’s fresh evidence that cats can be a threat to your mental health.
To be fair, it’s not kitties themselves that are the problem, but a parasite they carry called Toxoplasma gondii.
A study of more than 45,000 Danish women found that those infected with this feline parasite were 1.5 times more likely to attempt suicide than women who weren’t infected.
That’s not a huge increase, but it’s probably too big to have been caused by chance, says Teodor Postolache, a University of Maryland psychiatrist and senior author of the paper, which was published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
Still, the absolute risk of suicide remains very small. Fewer than 1,000 of the women attempted any sort of self-directed violence during the 30-year study span. And just seven committed suicide.
But this isn’t the first time T. gondii infection, or toxoplasmosis, has been associated with behavioral changes in people, Postolache says. Previous studies have shown links to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and even the chance that a person will get in an automobile accident.
The T. gondii parasite lives in the intestines of cats. Cat owners can become infected when they change a litter box, Postolache says. But he says people are more likely to be infected when they eat vegetables or meat that are raw or undercooked.
“People should not give their cats away” because of this study, Postolache says.
Scientists still aren’t sure how the parasite affects a person’s brain, he says. But in rodents, it causes cysts to form in areas of the brain involved in behavior.
More: A Parasite Carried By Cats Could Increase Suicide Risk : Shots – Health Blog : NPR.
Lost in the 21st Century 
Entertaining Mr Sloane
They say our pets reflect our personalities. And that over time, we and our pets become more and more alike in our personalities. I like to think we choose our pets and they choose us because of our personalities being both complementary and challenging. Our energy says we belong together.
We have three pets. Our dog is Buckley– as in Betty, not William F.– and our cats are Mr Sloane and Emily. You can see their pictures on my Facebook page. All of them are “rescued” and came to us in their maturity. I know one is not supposed to favor one child over another but, truth be told, Mr Sloane is my favorite. The minute I saw him, I knew he belonged with us.
While he loves our cats and I love our dog, my partner, Steve, is more of a “dog” person and I’m more of a “cat” person. This is probably what makes our relationship work. We are alike enough to get along beautifully, yet different enough to make it interesting. We complement and challenge each other.
Buckley is more like Steve. Wide open, excited about everything, loving and up front. You know where you stand with Buckley and Steve.
I’m more like Mr. Sloane. That is why I say he is my favorite.
I don’t mean to leave out Emily. We love her, but she is different from us both. She is willful, demanding and wide open. She is a slut. She’s anybody’s girl. As long as you scratch her ears, she’s yours. She has to be the center of attention at all times. She’s loving, exasperating and stubborn. She reminds me of some people I used to date. If you read my previous blog on Relationships, she is Category One. But she is a special cat and we love her. She balances the energy in our house.
Back to Mr Sloane.
He came to us as Sloan, the name of his recent foster family. He had to be fostered as he did not get along well in a cage or in a group environment. He was five years old. We had to adjust his name, a little, to reflect his personality. He is definitely a “Mister”. He demands his honorific. He has dignity. We chose his name, also, to make a literary allusion/tribute to the Joe Orton play.
I will readily admit I identify with Mr Sloane- the cat, not the Joe Orton character.
Mr Sloane keeps a certain distance. He is an observer. He choses what he wants to get involved in. You have to gain his trust over time and only then do you get to see his real personality. He is cautious and deliberate. He doesn’t forget or forgive being slighted.
He is a control freak…We once accidentally locked him out on the screened porch overnight. He did not have access to his litter box or his food. He did some things that cost him his dignity, but he got through the ordeal. He has never recovered from that–and I understand.
Mr Sloane dances when no one is looking.
When he becomes fascinated by something, he digs in and gives it his total focus. Nothing else matters. In his case, it’s usually his laser light. I like to think I’m a little more complex.
If you want to be his friend, you have to approach him on his terms. There is a complexity there that it took us over a year to understand. He gives hints, not confessions, as to what he thinks and wants. You have to interpret him.
It takes some effort to get to know him. But it is worth it.
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Tagged as cats, pets