My Friggen Cat
Our cat had started to get the confidence not to come home and just recently started to loathe bathing. For a while there the challenge of having to get through with the bath without a scratch was not worth it, so he got away with sleeping at home without taking a bath. Getting so used to living with a pet we sometimes forget that our pets, specially furry ones make germs and infectious disease transmittable.
Toxoplasmosis can be spread via a cats feces and often goes undetected. A healthy person infected with this does not suffer badly and would eventually be immune to another bout with the infection. Toxoplasmosis is dreaded when effects are irreversible and impossible to treat without consequences. People with weak immune system and infants are often the victims. Even a pregnant woman that contracts the disease puts the fetus at risk for birth defects.
Pets are part of the family and may enjoy a certain “spoil me” attitude, for everyones safety require your pets to frequent baths. As a safety measure and additional obedience training, install pet gates going to the bedrooms. Early on a pets life train them not to make a child’s bed their own. Better yet, have your pet stay at a certain spot in the home and mark it with their very own bed. Having their own bed confines the spread of dander and fur.
Pet owning is not giving your pet the run of your home, it is sharing your life with pets. Every member of the family is required to be clean and stay clean, if trained well your pet won’t mind.