How Your Cat Is Making You Crazy

The Atlantic ^ | 2/11/2012 | Kathleen McAuliffe

[JoanVarga]

"In fact, he says, schizophrenia did not rise in prevalence until the latter half of the 18th century, when for the first time people in Paris and London started keeping cats as pets. The so-called cat craze began among “poets and left-wing avant-garde Greenwich Village types,” says Torrey, but the trend spread rapidly—and coinciding with that development, the incidence of schizophrenia soared. "

***

“If I had to guess,” says Torrey, “I’d say 75 percent of cases of schizophrenia are associated with infectious agents, and Toxo would be involved in a significant subset of those.”

***

"Closer inspection of Flegr’s reaction-time results revealed that infected subjects became less attentive and slowed down a minute or so into the test. This suggested to him that Toxoplasma might have an adverse impact on driving, where constant vigilance and fast reflexes are critical. He launched two major epidemiological studies in the Czech Republic, one of men and women in the general population and another of mostly male drivers in the military. Those who tested positive for the parasite, both studies showed, were about two and a half times as likely to be in a traffic accident as their uninfected peers. "

[JoanVarga]

Mind parasites! Fun read for a Saturday.

Fun questions for political discussion automatically arise: Cat People v. Dog People

Does Allstate's Mr. Mayhem suffer from Toxo?

[FDNYRHEROES]

Well, this would explain why all those women with 20 cats are crazy!

[duckman]

Toxoplasmosis, if I understand it correctly is bacteria on raw meat and transferred to the feline, if the feline ingests raw meat. I assume it can transfer to humans when they clean the litter box. I am not a vet but had discussions with a vet about this topic.

[G Larry]

All of the Schizo folks I know have cats.....

[Free Vulcan]

I’m a dog person.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

How Your Cat Is Making You Crazy

Well, ours have traditionally done it by running underfoot - apparently it was just a diversion from the brain parasite infection they were trying to give us.

[Netizen]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2844832/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2845102/posts

[benewton]

Wrong.

You don’t own a cat, they own you.

[Farmer Dean]

Well,this could explain the voices in my head.The ones that say buy more tuna,buy more tuna.

[JoanVarga]

Yes, I realized after I posted that I had not vetted the site for duplicates. I don’t post often enough to remember that. Maybe I have a dog parasite. . .

Thanks. Can someone flag it for removal?

[equaviator]

Cats...Ya don't have to love 'em.

[Paved Paradise]

LOL!

[A_perfect_lady]

From the article: Indoor cats pose no threat, he says, because they don’t carry the parasite. As for outdoor cats, they shed the parasite for only three weeks of their life, typically when they’re young and have just begun hunting. During that brief period, Flegr simply recommends taking care to keep kitchen counters and tables wiped clean. (He practices what he preaches: he and his wife have two school-age children, and two outdoor cats that have free roam of their home.) Much more important for preventing exposure, he says, is to scrub vegetables thoroughly and avoid drinking water that has not been properly purified, especially in the developing world, where infection rates can reach 95 percent in some places. Also, he advises eating meat on the well-done side—or, if that’s not to your taste, freezing it before cooking, to kill the cysts.

[Sequoyah101]

Are cat people liberals or conservative?

[M1903A1]

I’ve known several genuinely crazy people along life’s highway. One was a legitimate schizophrenic. None of them had any pets at all.

[Milhous]

I got one dog and got adopted by one cat. I’m mostly a dog person during working hours and a cat person off hours.

[right way right]

Oh well, whatever doesn’t kill you can often makes you more interesting.

[Lady Lucky]

Toonces alert!

[JoanVarga]

As The Tick says: Isn’t sanity just a one-trick pony?

[BenLurkin]