Biology can be fascinating and terrifying in its complexity and consequences.  In this blog, we will present some new research on a parasitic disease which infects more than 1/5 th of the world’s human population and is not uncommon in our area.  Toxoplasmosis is a zoonotic disease, that is one that is passed from animals to people. At its basic level, it is a disease of rodents and cats, but it has been understood for a long time that the parasite can be transmitted to people and other mammals including dogs either by inadvertent ingestion of the Toxoplasma organism from 1. undercooked meats, 2. contaminated water, or 3. cat fecal material that contains unique infective oocysts, or by maternal transmission to a baby before it is born (congenital).

Sometimes there are issues that conflict us as pet owners, pet lovers, and veterinarians. Currently, a debate rages about how to deal with the feral cat population in America. It is estimated that the number of feral cats, cats which are born and live with no human contact, is about equal to the number of pet cats or around 60 to 100 million. It is difficult or impossible to convert many of these cats into house pets. They breed and reproduce rapidly, so their numbers are increasing.