Cat Parasites Infect Otters

Peter T Ermit writes "In an article in the International Journal of Parasitology, a team of scientists links the deaths of sea otters to T. gondii, a parasite found almost exclusively in cat feces. (The above link goes to a technical abstract; this is a more understandable popular version.) It seems that the parasite got into the ocean through waste water, and wound up infecting the otters' brains. So think twice before flushing that kitty litter."

Sounds like a case of...

[quintessent]

Mad Kitty Disease

Re:Sounds like a case of...

[macdaddy357]

So, pussy is how crabs got into the ocean in the first place!

Flushing kitty litter?

[EnVisiCrypt]

Who the hell does that? I don't even know how one would go about doing that without creating a new space-visible body of water in one's bathroom.

Cat poop, maybe. But the litter itself? That's just a bad idea.

Re:Flushing kitty litter?

[forevermore]

Actually, they now make "flushable" cat litter. Costs more, but lazy people buy it so they don't have to lug the stuff to their trash can.

also, this parasite is the reason that pregnant women shouldn't go near dirty cat litter, so it's not just otters who are affected by this.

Cat owner's lament

[eyepeepackets]

Yo, ho! Yo, Dude!
Don't tell my cat
or he get more attitude!

Save da cuffs, save da blotter!
Now my cat be doing pokey
'cause he kill a fucking otter?

So nerds, so brats
Ja, best ya be salutin'
when you see my bad-ass cat!

Woo, too much diet Coke today.

Re:Cat owner's lament

[eyepeepackets]

Woo, thanks! I did a quick Google search and all I can really say is, Holy Shit!

Back to water and natural juice for this boyo!

Thanks again, you're the best AC ever. :)

How do we know we haven't cured diseases?

[rlotun]

This reminds me of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, where Arthur Dent wakes up one morning, and eats a moldy sandwich that just hapens to cure him of some virus he picked up in some swamp on an alien world. I mean, how do we know that our cat shit hasn't saved an endangered species of seahorse or something? I mean, look on the bright side ;-)

--

Re:Uhhh... oh no...

[Peter T Ermit]

Um... the kitty litter flushing line was facetious.

The points of the article are: a) otters are dying of a parasitic infection. b) this parasite is found almost exclusively in cat feces. c) otters are more likely to be infected near sources of waste water runoff. The authors then conclude that cat fecal contamination of waste water is a likely culprit of otter deaths. I think that's a story. Why don't you?

Toilet Training

[jenniferj]

Blame it on the people who are toilet-training(http://www.karawynn.net/mishacat/t oilet.shtml) their cats. But just think! We may have saved the world from a hostile otter takeover!

Re:Toilet Training

[unicron]

Arrgh, so it's begone. The dolphins have come to take back the ocean, and only an old sea dog like myself can..ARRGGH!...

Dolphin: Look at me, I'm the Captain, Argh-Matey!

Dolphin's 2 and 3: Heh-heh.

Whats needed to prevent this?

[Unknown Poltroon]

They otter use condoms when in love with a cat.

YEah, yeah. I know. Mod me down, I dont care anymore, now that they took away my mod numbers and gave me this damn good thing.

Otters...what about Nasa Killing whales and dolphs

[cez]

oh no! our cats'hit killed some otters, what about nasa using ultralowfrequency sonar which blows up whales eardrums and causes them to be beached?
brings a whole new meaning to green katsup...wait no it doesn't.

More evidence...

[pixelated77]

Cats are simply evil... You come home, your kernel has been recompiled and your logs are gone... Worse part of it is that the cat will try to blame it on your dog.

Read the Abstract

[PotatoMan]

"No association was found between seropositivity to T. gondii and human population density or exposure to sewage."