Nothing new.
Pretty sure one of the characters in Trainspotting died from a toxoplasma brain abscess from the poop of his cat (ironically the kitten he got for his girlfriend who left him).
Pregnant women are told to keep away from cat crap.
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Not new but it seems the extent of the problem has been severely underestimated. Not surprising really with the burgeoning number of animals: My three direct neighbours have eight cats between them which continually crap in my garden. I gave up growing vegetables their for that very reason.
Another major factor must be the complete lack of hygiene a lot of people display with animals letting them walk on kitchens work surfaces and sleeping on their bed etc.
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>> My three direct neighbours have eight cat between them which continually crap in my garden.<<
Have you tried this from Wilkinson's? I haven't, but I'm told that it works very well:
tinyurl.com/cuc3v9o
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>> >> My three direct neighbours have eight cat between them which continually crap in my
>> garden.<<
>>
>> Have you tried this from Wilkinson's? I haven't, but I'm told that it works very
>> well:
>>
>> tinyurl.com/cuc3v9o
Have you tried this from Heckler & Koch?
www.heckler-koch.com/en/military/products/submachine-guns/mp7a1/mp7a1/overview.html
It works better than the Wiko's product, and much more fun
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>> It works better than the Wiko's product, and much more fun
Ah! but you can't get one of those for £3.98, can you?
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No, true, but then its not a Wilkos branded product.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 5 Sep 12 at 17:50
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>> Have you tried this from Wilkinson's? I haven't, but I'm told that it works very
>> well:
>> tinyurl.com/cuc3v9o
Obviously not!
:)
For the past few weeks I've been looking after the garden and mowing the lawn at a nearby property much favoured by neighbouring cats, and I can recommend the above product as an efficient and economical way of ensuring they do their toileting elsewhere.
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>> >> Have you tried this from Wilkinson's?
>> >> tinyurl.com/cuc3v9o
>>
>>... I can recommend the above product
>>
The link no longer works so what is the product called? Zap cat ?
Edit
Pehaps it is "Sorry, we've run out of...Defenders Cat Repellent 500ml"
Has there been a run on it ?
Last edited by: henry k on Sun 30 Sep 12 at 09:26
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>> The link no longer works
tinyurl.com/9kkqvbg
Edit: And it's available.
Last edited by: Clk Sec on Sun 30 Sep 12 at 09:59
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>> >> The link no longer works
>>
>> tinyurl.com/9kkqvbg
>>
>> Edit: And it's available.
>>
Must be a different Wilko cos it fails down south ( online)
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>> Must be a different Wilko cos it fails down south ( online)
It's Defenders Cat Repellent Scatter Granules at £3.98 per 450g tub.
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Do you throw handfuls of the granules at the cats or do you have to throw the whole tub?
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>> Do you throw handfuls of the granules at the cats or do you have to
>> throw the whole tub?
Catapult.
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>> Pregnant women are told to keep away from cat crap.
It's a bit of a surprise that they need to be. I have always avoided it instinctively, and I'm not even a woman let alone pregnant.
After a trip to Nigeria in the seventies I returned with my bowels in something of an uproar. The quack sent me to the Tropical Diseases Hospital in King's Cross, which took a sample, sniggered and gave me something that cured the condition. Apparently it was a quite common pet-related parasite that affects children here, as a very unpleasant woman GP sneered a couple of years later when I referred to it (she had seen my records, but I hadn't).
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>> linked toxoplasma infection to psychotic disturbances such as self-harm and suicide, and to serious psychiatric illnesses such as schizophrenia<<
I can see it now ''It wasn't me your honour, it was the cat''
What a load of tosh....must be a slow news day for the Independent.
Pat
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I developed toxoplasmosis as an eighteen year old. No idea how I got it as we didn't have a cat. My symptoms were very distinct floaters in my left eye. At first the doctor said it was choroiditis and prescribed drops that didn't improve matters. Eventually, I was referred to the eye hospital At first the woman who examined me could not see anything and thought I was exaggerating. I was sent home but it became worse and I was sent back again. An Indian doctor then looked at me and there seemed to be a pit of a panic amongst the assembled doctors who all took a look at my eye. I was then sent for blood tests and had to wait to see a specialist later in the day. It was eventually confirmed as toxoplasmosis, and I was given various treatments and had to return to the hospital every other day for blood tests. Eventually, most of the floaters disappeared but I was left with scarring on my left eye.
I was warned that if I had an occurrence I must return to the hospital immediately.
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It's previously been associated with Doggy Doo and there's plenty of that on playing fields around the country.
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Robbie you might be confusing toxoplasmosis with toxocariasis which is from dog poo.
Toxocariasis is a rare cause of eye infections as you describe.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxocariasis
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>Robbie you might be confusing toxoplasmosis with toxocariasis which is from dog poo.
Is there anything we should know about goat poo?
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Please - no!
Last edited by: Roger on Tue 4 Sep 12 at 22:12
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>> >Robbie you might be confusing toxoplasmosis with toxocariasis which is from dog poo.
>>
>> Is there anything we should know about goat poo?
Its a suburb of Santiago.
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>> Robbie you might be confusing toxoplasmosis with toxocariasis which is from dog poo.
>>
>> Toxocariasis is a rare cause of eye infections as you describe.
Are you doubting my understanding of the condition that was diagnosed? I certainly know the difference. I'm not yet in my dotage.
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Symptoms of toxoplasmosis
In about 80% of cases, toxoplasmosis does not cause any symptoms and a person who is infected will not be aware that they are infected.
The immune system of healthy adults and children is usually strong enough to prevent the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis (Toxoplasma gondii or T. gondii) from causing serious illness. Once you have had the infection you become immune to it and T. gondii will live harmlessly in your body for life.
In some cases, toxoplasmosis can cause the lymph nodes (glands that form part of your immune system) to swell, particularly in the throat or armpits. This can lead to symptoms that are similar to the flu, such as:
- aching muscles
- fever of 38°C (100.4°F) or over
- tiredness
- feeling sick
- sore throat
Pregnant women
If you develop a toxoplasmosis infection either while you are pregnant or shortly before you conceive there is a chance that you could pass the infection on to your unborn baby. This is known as congenital toxoplasmosis.
You will probably not experience any symptoms of the infection yourself, but an infection that develops during the early stages of pregnancy increases the risk of:
miscarriage - the loss of a pregnancy during the first 23 weeks
stillbirth - where a baby is born after 24 weeks of pregnancy without any signs of life
One large study found that toxoplasmosis caused stillbirth in pregnant women in just less than 1% of cases.
About 30-40% of pregnant women who acquire toxoplasmosis infection during their pregnancy will pass the infection on to their unborn baby, leading to congenital toxoplasmosis.
Congenital toxoplasmosis
The symptoms of congenital toxoplasmosis vary depending on when the mother becomes infected. Symptoms will usually be more severe if the mother is infected around the time she becomes pregnant or during the first or second trimester (up to week 27 of the pregnancy).
Symptoms of congenital toxoplasmosis can include:
- hydrocephalus - water on the brain
- brain damage
- epilepsy - a condition that affects the brain and causes repeated seizures (fits)
- jaundice - yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes
- deafness
- eye infections and blindness
- an enlarged liver or spleen (an organ that filters impurities from your blood)
- growth problems
- cerebral palsy - a condition of the brain and nervous system that affects a child’s movement and co-ordination
If the mother becomes infected during the third trimester of pregnancy (from week 27 to the birth), and the infection passes on to the baby, he or she may not have any symptoms at birth. However, complications may develop later in life.
For example, months or years later a child born with congenital toxoplasmosis may develop eye infections, hearing loss or learning difficulties.
Read more about the complications of congenital toxoplasmosis.
People with immune deficiencies
For someone with a weakened immune system, toxoplasmosis can be fatal. This is because their body may not be able to fight off the infection. Your immune system can be weakened if you:
have an illness that affects your immune system, such as HIV and AIDS or cancer
are receiving certain types of medication, such as chemotherapy (powerful cancer-killing medication)
are taking immunosuppressant medication, for example after having had an organ transplant
There is also a risk of permanent eye or brain damage when toxoplasmosis infects someone with a weakened immune system.
If toxoplasmosis begins to affect the brain, it can cause encephalitis. This is sometimes called toxoplasmosis encephalitis (TE) and it is one of the most frequent causes of death in people with AIDS.
Symptoms of TE include:
- headaches
- confusion
- poor co-ordination
- seizures (fits)
- chest pains
- coughing up blood
- difficulty breathing
- a high temperature (fever) of 38°C (100.4°F) or over
- vision problems, such as blurred vision and floaters (small pieces of debris that can cloud your vision)
- multiple lesions (wounds) in the brain
Symptoms of toxocariasis
The symptoms of toxocariasis can vary depending on where in the body the infection occurs.
Most of the symptoms are caused by people having an allergic reaction to the larvae. In many cases, people are infected by the parasites but don't have any symptoms.
Covert toxocariasis is the most common and mildest form of the disease.
Symptoms include:
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>> Are you doubting my understanding of the condition that was diagnosed? I certainly know the difference. I'm not yet in my dotage.
Absolutely not, but since the names are incredibly similar, and eye problems with toxoplasma are generally (but not always) limited to babies and the immuno-compromised, whereas toxocariasis can more commonly affect the eyes of healthy people I just thought it a possibility.
Whatever, it still comes from animal crap :-)
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Toxoplasma
...and there was me thinking it was a new type of TV.
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Before everyone starts to do a Daily Mail panic, remember for the vast majority of the human population parasitic infection is the norm, not a rarity.
Most people's bodies are capable of dealing with a few worms'n'things.
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>> Most people's bodies are capable of dealing with a few worms'n'things.
Wot, like these? www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuU0uEY5ft0
(not for the squeamish!)
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>> >> Most people's bodies are capable of dealing with a few worms'n'things.
>>
>> Wot, like these? www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuU0uEY5ft0
I recall a WW2 prison camp story of a man who had tapeworm. Two of his comrades carried him in a squatting position, while the head of the tapeworm was sticking out of his rectum, they then walked (IIRC) about 30 feet while the worm slowly came out of his bum.
Spaghetti for evening meal tonight, anyone?
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Tapeworms don't look anything like spaghetti. However there are other intestinal worms that do look a bit like it.
In the backward fifties, when a lot of English people had never seen spaghetti, my parents invited a shy young colleague of my father to dinner. Part of the dinner was spaghetti. The colleague turned pale and couldn't eat it. He confessed shamefacedly that it reminded him of 'worms'.
My parents privately thought it quite funny.
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>> Tapeworms don't look anything like spaghetti.
Ok, how about pizzoccheri?
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>> Tapeworms don't look anything like spaghetti. However there are other intestinal worms that do look
>> a bit like it.
The intestinal ones in that video qualify. It's the sheer quantity of the things which is so amazing/alarming - they just keep on coming out.
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I recall from my med student days the 'spaghetti worms' were Ascaris Lumbricoides.
Never forgot it with such a cool name (!)
Also have never seen them in a patient but the lab specimens 'fair gied ye the boke'.
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The Natural History Museum in Dublin (aka the dead zoo) had a collection of gruesome parasitic worms taken from humans. Astounding length, and others that were said to gain access via the foot and emerge via the skin elsewhere on the body, IIRC.
Last edited by: NIL on Wed 5 Sep 12 at 16:32
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>> Worms need love too: goo.gl/mB5Wq
>>
That reminds me, Bonzo....the wife's having her hair done tomorrow.
Ted
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>> others that were said to gain access via the foot and emerge via the skin elsewhere on the body, IIRC.
Yes, there's at least one hookworm that gets in your foot and make its way to your liver, where it attaches itself and makes you a bit ill for years before spawning in some horrible way... My old man told us not to go barefoot in Ceylon because of those.
Then there's river blindness, onchocerciasis or oncho to jolly medics. A lot o that in Africa. Blindness is just one of its ghastly symptoms. The one I really don't fancy is huge wads of very thin itchy worms forming under my skin all over me....
They're all treatable of course. But people in the back of beyond have a hard time geting early treatment.
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Thanks for the reminder AC! I'd forgotten the details. We were also told of horrible consequences of going barefoot (Malaya) not just from the parasites but also krait snakes, but we ignored that. Especially when playing footie with Ghurkas. They had no boots, so we were forbidden, to keep things roughly equal. Since then it was useful (many years ago) to psych out other teams by playing unshod:) You don't really need boots.
Last edited by: NIL on Wed 5 Sep 12 at 22:53
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Neighbouring cats congregate on my garden fence. I have a Super-Soaker® which is remarkably effective*. Like one of those fairground target practice games...
*When I say “remarkably effective", it's not that it gets rid of the cats in the long term, but n the short term it makes me feel much better.
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The cats hate you and will scratch the paint on that nice new front door as soon as you go to work....I hope;)
Pat
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Animal repellent probably won't work against cats. I liberally sprayed the top of our drive with it, to keep our cat from straying on the road. A few minutes later I saw him lounging on the sprayed area.
I found it worked against dogs in the days when, invited to a party in Malaysia, where all ex-pats had at least a couple of hounds, I sprayed my turn-ups with it in advance.
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>> The link no longer works
>>tinyurl.com/9kkqvbg
>>Edit: And it's available.
Strewth, that link's disappeared yet again. Anyway, 'twas the Granules that I used and the lawn has remained pooless.
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But cats don't as a rule crap on lawns. They dig holes and bury it, normally in my flowerbeds. Crap on lawns is mostly likely a fox or hedgehog.
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The best deterrence against cats is another cat: preferably large and bad tempered and ill fed.
A Bengal ? summat seems ideal.
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>> The best deterrence against cats is another cat: preferably large and bad tempered and ill
>> fed.
>>
>> A Bengal ? summat seems ideal.
How bout one 'o these?
www.cat.com/cda/layout?m=612835&x=7
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>The best deterrence against cats is another cat: preferably large and bad tempered and ill fed.
Nah, pellets are best - lead ones.
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Perhaps they should call it 'Defenders Cat, Fox and Hedgehog Repellent Scatter Granules' as whatever was pooing on that particular lawn is no longer doing so.
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The Australian version is marketed as Poo-bare - Kanga, Roo and Rabbit repellent
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>> The cats hate you and will scratch the paint on that nice new front door
>> as soon as you go to work....I hope;)
>>
>> Pat
>>
I'M pretty sure they spend most of their time sat on my fence plotting to kill me anyway.
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Toxoplasma - Lygonos
