Nation & World News
Is your cat making you crazy? Maybe so
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You may want to think twice before you cuddle with that cute little kitten.
According to CBS News, "any warm-blooded species" can catch Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite carried by cats that, while usually harmless, has been linked to mental disorders, miscarriages, flu-like illnesses, blindness and death. Apparently, more than 60 million Americans may have T. gondii, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A recent analysis published in Schizophrenia Research compared two previous studies that explored the link between cat ownership and conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The news wasn't good.
"Cat ownership in childhood has now been reported in three studies to be significantly more common in families in which the child is later diagnosed with schizophrenia or another serious mental illness," authors E. Fuller Torrey, Robert H. Yolken and Wendy Simmons said.
Another recent study published in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica found that people with the T. gondii parasite were more likely to develop schizophrenia. The authors also found links to obsessive-compulsive disorder and addiction.
Luckily, cat lovers can take some simple steps to reduce their risks.
"Children can be protected by keeping their cat exclusively indoors and always covering the sandbox when not in use," Torrey told CBS News. The CDC also suggests changing litter boxes daily and not feeding undercooked meat to cats. Pregnant women should avoid litter boxes, as well.
