Why some women are choosing to surrender their cat before their pregnancy

According to the Animal Welfare League (AWL), an increasing number of pregnant women are choosing to surrender their pet cats out of a fear that they may harm their unborn babies.

The number of cats being surrendered has gone up over the past year amid concerns that the feline could expose the pregnant women to the blood infection toxoplasmosis.  John Gilmore, AWL's head veterinarian, said women would have a high risk of delivering babies with a birth defect if they had never been exposed to the infection during their first or second trimester.

However, the likelihood of this happening is extremely low, and he believes that people are more likely to be infected from eating undercooked meat or gardening than from handling their family cat.

"In fact 70 per cent of adults have already been exposed to toxoplasmosis, and nearly all are now immune", he said.  "A simple blood test will tell.  If you're immune, there's very little to worry about."

Medical practitioner Alan Lloch believes that giving u the pet cat is the last port of call, due to the low possibility of catching the infection.

"There is minimal risk of contracting toxoplasmosis as long as appropriate hygienic measures - such as hand washing after playing with the cat - are adhered to", he said.  "Firstly, the feline must have toxoplasmosis in order to contract the disease and even then, the risk is in the order of one in 1000, and of those women who contract it then only 30 per cent will transmit it to their foetus, thus making it a risk of about one in 3000.

Source: Travis Lye, The Gold Coast Sun April 2008

Pet Industry News Winter 2008