Should I worry about my cat's poop causing mental health issues?

Question

"Cats can transmit the parasite Toxoplasma gondii in their feces. Studies have shown a link between the presence of this parasite in humans and mental disorders including depression." How valid is this piece of information? Pet's info: Cat | Domestic Mediumhair | Female | spayed | 10 months and 10 days old | 9 lbs

Jessica Keay, DVM · Accepted Answer

This has been a topic of study recently in human medicine, you can read some articles at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2526142/ though the significance is not truly known yet, and this would be a question more suited to a human physician as they are trained in human medicine. I can tell you, however, that cats are not the only source of toxoplasma and individuals are much more likely to become infected from eating undercooked meat or contracting spores from gardening/vegetables in contaminated soil than from their cats themselves https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/epi.html . If this is something you are concerned about you can clean your cat litterbox daily as the parasite requires 24 or more hours to sporulate and become infective, so if you scoop your litterbox daily and wash your hands well your risk from your cats is incredibly small.

Should I worry about my cat's poop causing mental health issues?

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