Cat Litter Parasite May Raise Suicide Risk ~ WebMD Health News

[kestrel91316]

2. My mom was the daughter of Depression-era cat people and wound up with schizophrenia, FWIW.

The cats were mousers and never saw a vet, and how to use good hygiene to avoid Toxo wasn't understood at the time.

No need for panic, though, folks. Here's what I tell my clients:
Keep cats indoors and don't feed them incompletely cooked meat or allow to catch/eat vermin if possible.
Scoop litterboxes daily to remove feces before any Toxo oocysts, if present, have a change to become infectious.
Make sure everybody in the home washes hands with soap and water after handling pets and before handling/preparing/consuming food.
Keep cats off kitchen counters; keep counters clean.
Don't eat incompletely cooked meat yourself because this is how the vast majority of Americans get Toxo. It rarely has anything to do with cats.