Cats and suicide

[Tina B and crew]

Has anyone seen this study that has come out lately? Maybe it is because I am a cat lover that I feel this way, but every time I see another news outlet report it I get so angry. But I think part of it is because there are admittedly several other ways to get infected by T. gondii (unwashed veggies, raw/undercooked meat, contaminated water) yet all of the articles have sensationalized the connection with cats. Thoughts? (Traci, if you feel another forum is more appropriate for this please feel free to move it)



http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/07 ... ty?ps=cprs

I for one can say my cats have probably prevented me from even thinking about suicide in times when life was just so bleak...so there

[Cleo]

That's absolute bull! Without going into my psychiatric history, it was my first cat Keeks who saved me from killing myself. Had she not been half dead and sick in front of my car, it would have been a one way trip for me. Instead I picked her up, brought her to a vet who said she wouldn't live through to the weekend .. and here we are 12 years later. Over the years I realized that keeping 10 out of the many cats I've rescued was me trying to fill a void but I wouldn't change a thing. I have dark days where I only get out of bed to feed and clean up after them, but I know (in my mind anyway) that no one would take as good as care of them if I'm gone. Add to that the fact that cats are so intuitive I get extra headbutts and kisses when I'm feeling blue. So ppbbtt to that article.

[Tina B and crew]

I know Cleo...reading these articles just made my anger rise. Then seeing people comment with things like "I knew there was a reason I hated cats" or "well the crazy old cat lady isn't so far fetched" just made me sick. Then again with all the heat and power outages lately I've had little tolerance for idiocy, so that might be a contributing factor in my reaction.

[Cleo]

Tina, I have little tolerance for idiots Spring Summer Winter & Fall! I LOOOOVE when people call me the crazy cat lady ... because I usually respond with "that's right, and today I skipped my meds so watch out!" muwahahaha

[Traci]

First, the study has not been replicated, and from what I can gather from it, the study also included variables between mothers, method of toxo transmission, women and suicide etc. (the study seemed rather multifactoral if you ask me). I didn't read the entire study because I'm tired and just too lazy to right now, but I so far didn't see any relationship to 45000 women and if they even had cats, and how or if it was proven they aquired the toxo from a cat. Also, unless you're actually eating cat feces, there is little chance one gets toxo from a cat litterbox. By eating, I am referring to transmission between litterbox handling to unwashed hands to preparing vegetables or meat or leaving cysts on the kitchen countertop. (or in the case of children, actually ingesting feces).

Of course, raw foods, meats, contaminated drinking water, etc etc are all other methods of transmission.

Now, lets take 650 european women (the supposed 1.5 % likelihood in the study of toxo-infected women to commit suicide). In the same study, it also notes 10 million people will attempt or succeed suicide across the entire planet. (think Golden Gate Bridge and the statistics each year, for both men and women, we of course don't know if or how many of them were infected with toxo). Certainly, 650 women is a very small number when compared to the length of the study, and worldwide statistics.

No one knows for certain how toxo actually reacts in the brain, except that psychiatrists (perhaps medical physicians as well) believe that anti-psychotic drugs tend to actually block or lessen severity or prevent further "more dangerous" behavior. So, of the 650 european women, were any of them previously diagnosed with a mental disorder, were any of them on medications or off medications, what other factors were taken into account in this pool?

The NPR article is, as you say, sensationalism, but fortunately, the non-educated has become educated within just a couple decades (toxo and pregnant women - you don't have to give up your cat - other methods of transmission, etc etc. There will always be a non-educated writer, reporter, who chooses to write at will as opposed to gathering and evaluating facts first, and I don't think think the behaviors of media people are going to change much in the future. After all, people still believe in alternative medicine that was never medicine even hundreds of years ago!

Likewise, much is to still be learned about things like toxo and behaviors, awareness, but this is true with just about every aspect of our lives. Thankfully, most of us absorb the truths and facts and can then refute those who haven't a clue (such as the comments on the article to the dumb author for choosing a dubious headline and cherry picking the contents), I think people have quite gotten the clue.

As for the stupid and idiotic and hateful comments, they're just trolls, or don't have anything better to do than raise the ire in whom they know will bite back, it's just a game for them. Remember, the comment sections on news, media etc are a free-for-all, so any armchair quarterback or troll or whatever will come out of the woods, ignore them.