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A cat as a pet in your childhood could lead to Alzheimer’s disease in adulthood
Every moment of a life is a horrible tragedy, a slapstick comedy, dark nihilism, golden illumination, or nothing at all; depending on how we write the story we tell ourselves.
There is a sort of inherent problem with studies like these because diseases like schizophrenia (also depression, anxiety, ADHD, autism, etc) have a clear genetic component (actually, schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, autism, ADHD, and bipolar disorder likely have the SAME genetic components)...if you take a pool of patients where most have a genetic predisposition (and that's not even thinking about epigenetic factors) and introduce a common environmental factor (particularly in combination with other environmental factors), it should be of no surprise that there is a higher incidence in a group of people with a risk factor vs no risk factor...BUT considering that there are other sources of toxoplasmosis (contaminated water and soil, pork, lamb, venison, unpasturized milk products), having a cat just adds one more risk factor.
BTW, for the people that aren't convinced by the plethora of studies on how feral cats and outdoor cats impact local wildlife, this is yet one more reason why cat should be indoors only.
Cats get Toxoplasma infection by eating infected rodents, birds or other
small animals, or anything contaminated with feces from another cat that is
shedding the microscopic parasite in its feces. After a cat has been infected,
it can shed the parasite for up to two weeks. The parasite becomes infective
one to five days after it is passed in the feces of the cat. The parasite can live
in the environment for many months and contaminate soil, water, fruits and
vegetables, sandboxes, grass where animals graze for food, litter boxes, or any
place where an infected cat may have defecated.
BTW, for the people that aren't convinced by the plethora of studies on how feral cats and outdoor cats impact local wildlife, this is yet one more reason why cat should be indoors only.
I could not agree more. Thing is, no one wants to here it around here. It is so ingrained in us that cats should be allowed outside. After seeing how happy and content Dolly is as a house cat, I am not just a convert, but I actually want to campaign to change pet owner's attitudes. It's kinder on local wildlife, kinder on your neighbours who's garden get's pooped on, and more importantly, as pet owners we have a duty of care to ensure our animals are safe and healthy. This is easier to control if we know where they are at all times.
As for them giving us Alzheimer's, those in my family who developed it, were both dog owners. ^^
夕方に急なにわか雨は「夕立」と呼ばれるなら、なぜ朝ににわか雨は「朝立ち」と呼ばれないの? ^^If a sudden rain shower in the evening is referred to as an 'evening stand', then why isn't a shower in the morning called 'morning stand'?
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