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News & ArtsWednesday, January 28, 2009
??!! Feces Roundup
Posted by Lindy West on Wed, Jan 28, 2009 at 4:42 PM
Oh, Schmader. Thank you for asking! In fact, I was JUST working on a post about my Google alert for feces!
Now, first of all, anonymous person calling himself "The Kid" in the comments on this article, I do not have a "butt hole infatuation." Unless by "butt hole infatuation," you mean "Google alert for feces." Which I do have! And I laugh/cry/barf every time it arrives in my Inbox (which is every day). EVERY DAY.
Anyway, on to the feces! This week, I have learned about the following things:
Rat Lungworm Disease Causes 2 Comas: It comes from feces.
Man answers knock, finds feces: There are no suspects.
Manitowoc woman pleads guilty to child neglect: "The woman said her son had hidden his soiled pants in the closest and was unaware of the feces."
No Matter the Season, Rodents Find a Reason to Come Indoors: Then they poop in your food.
Predators prevail in Lima, Ohio: Vigilante falcons kick feces's ass! (This is actually really interesting.)
"To those of you who walk dogs in Cerise park and along the river I ask: what is so difficult about picking up your dog's feces?" It's gross, that's what. People do not like to touch feces.
No Feces for this Species: Dung beetle prefers millipedes to dung. "It's a 'pretty spectacular finding,' says biologist Armin Moczek of Indiana University, Bloomington. But he points out that millipedes have a high proportion of feces inside them because they feed on rotting plants. So if the dung beetles are eating their guts, he speculates, they're essentially still eating dung." HA HA.
Sex offender charged in robbery, accused of throwing feces at cops: "While in the emergency room, he defecated, and a small plastic bag containing marijuana emerged."
Feces-throwing inmate defends his choices with rhetorical flair: "'So why urine and feces?' Dickens asked himself. 'Let's just say God has a way of giving everyone a defense mechanism.' He then pointed to the 'feeble and weak' skunk, who can spray a stink that repels lions, bears and elephants. And so, Dickens said, he used his natural defenses to ward off an aggressor in riot gear."
Feces Flinger Gives New Meaning to Jury Duty: MSNBC makes headline a work of art.
Lawyer gets feces face wash: Aaaaaaand a not-so-good headline.
Sending animal feces in mail = bad idea: "However, that’s not to say there can’t be a time and a place," says feces-loving crime blogger.
It's best to keep cats and babies separate: 'Kay.
YOU'RE WELCOME.
Love,
Lindy
Cats and babies mix just fine. Cats do not smother babies. Cats do not "suck out their breath" either. Jeesh.
Cats play an important role in the spread of toxoplasmosis. They become infected by eating infected rodents, birds, or other small animals. The parasite is then passed in the cat's feces in an oocyst form, which is microscopic.
Kittens and cats can shed millions of oocysts in their feces for as long as 3 weeks after infection. Mature cats are less likely to shed Toxoplasma if they have been previously infected. A Toxoplasma-infected cat that is shedding the parasite in its feces contaminates the litter box. If the cat is allowed outside, it can contaminate the soil or water in the environment as well.
People can accidentally swallow the oocyst form of the parasite. People can be infected by:
*Accidental ingestion of oocysts after cleaning a cat's litter box when the cat has shed Toxoplasma in its feces
*Accidental ingestion of oocysts after touching or ingesting anything that has come into contact with a cat's feces that contain Toxoplasma
*Accidental ingestion of oocysts in contaminated soil (e.g., not washing hands after gardening or eating unwashed fruits or vegetables from a garden)
*Drinking water contaminated with the Toxoplasma parasite
Mother-to-child (congenital) transmission
A woman who is newly infected with Toxoplasma during pregnancy can pass the infection to her unborn child (congenital infection). The woman may not have symptoms, but there can be severe consequences for the unborn child, such as diseases of the nervous system and eyes.
the hair on everything
I hate cats
Having said that, let me repeat: cats do not suffocate babies. They do not get "jealous" of babies and plot to get their revenge. And they do not suck their breath out. Don't you think if this was a problem we'd hear about cats killing babies a little more often in the news? There are tens of millions of the adorable little creatures, after all (I mean the cats, not the babies). There's FAR more of a danger from dog bites than anything cats will do (and I'm a dog lover too - even pit bulls)
Peterson, D. R. (Univ. of Washington, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Seattle, Wash. 98195), E. Tronca and P. Bonin.
Human toxoplasmosis prevalence and exposure to cats.
To epidemiologically assess the role of cats in transmitting toxoplasmosis, we queried individuals about their pet cats and dogs, farm living experience, and meat cooking preference. We then tested these persons for toxoplasma antibody with the indirect fluorescent method. Of 369 subjects, 19% had antibody in a 1 : 16 dilution of their serum. The age-standardized toxoplasma prevalence rate for 235 subjects who had possessed a pet cat equaled 20.9% compared to 9.3% of 78 respondents denying possession. Corresponding data for pet dog possession, farm living, and meat cooking preference, yielded differences that were not statistically significant.
I wasn't defending the idiotic superstition about baby breath stealing or cats acting on human emotions like jealousy. I was pointing out that cats do transmit this parasite, which by the way seems to correlate in studies with schizophrenia and paranoia:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/4636…
One statistic I would be interested in: exactly how many babies are diagnosed with toxo, and how many of those cases are known to come from cats? I don't claim to know the exact number, and can't be bothered to look it up, but I do know this: it's damn few. Statistically insignificant.
Also worth mentioning: I've had three cats for almost ten years now, and cannot remember even once handling their shit with my bare hands. A program of simple common sense and basic hygiene would seem to be in order here. Also, (since I'm on a roll here), cats pick up the parasite by eating mice or rats who carry the bug. If your cat is indoor and eats processed cat food, the odds of it catching toxo are rare indeed. Anyway, I'm rambling....just keep your cats, people.
http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/aus…
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