Expecting a baby with furr butts

[amyj1979]

It has been a few months since I have been on here. I hope everyone is well.

I just found out I am bout 6 weeks and I was wondering about litter boxes. Do I have the same worries about the my furr butts as I do with cats. Like TOXO?

[Heather]

Good question....I would say yes if you're feeding a raw diet but that being said, it's not all bad See below: Now according to some articles there is only a 2% chance of possible infection as the time frame between ingestion and maturity is very narrow. So, because I have handled so many raw fed and prey fed creatures in my lifetime, I went and was tested for toxoplasmosis...I tested positive....so that means at some point in time I've come in contact with it. As you can tell from reading this little piece, I copied below it's better than a vaccine, you are now immune and you pass that immunity to your unborn child. The danger is picking it up during pregnancy.
Thick as mud?? Good luck and Congratulations
ciao
"Pregnancy precautions
Congenital toxoplasmosis is a special form in which an unborn child is infected via the placenta. A positive antibody titer indicates previous exposure and immunity and largely ensures the unborn baby's safety. A simple blood draw at the first pre-natal doctor visit can determine whether or not the woman has had previous exposure and therefore whether or not she is at risk. If a woman receives her first exposure to toxoplasmosis while pregnant, the baby is at particular risk. A woman with no previous exposure should avoid handling raw meat, exposure to cat feces, and gardening (cat feces are common in garden soil). Most cats are not actively shedding oocysts and so are not a danger, but the risk may be reduced further by having the litterbox emptied daily (oocysts require longer than a single day to become infective), and by having someone else empty the litterbox. However, while risks can be minimized, they cannot be eliminated. For pregnant women with negative antibody titer, indicating no previous exposure to T. gondii, as frequent as monthly serology testing is advisable as treatment during pregnancy for those women exposed to T. gondii for the first time decreases dramatically the risk of passing the parasite to the fetus.

Despite these risks, pregnant women are not routinely screened for toxoplasmosis in most countries (France[9], Austria[9] and Italy[10] being the exceptions) for reasons of cost-effectiveness and the high number of false positives generated as the disease is so rare (an example of Bayesian statistics). As invasive prenatal testing incurs some risk to the fetus (18.5 pregnancy losses per toxoplasmosis case prevented[9]), postnatal or neonatal screening is preferred. The exceptions are cases where foetal abnormalities are noted, and thus screening can be targeted.[9]"

[Forum Administrator]

Well if you feed raw you do need to be cautious around the litterbox because raw fed animals CAN shed salmonella and other pathogens in their feces. Now, you should ALREADY be cautious when handling ferret poop (regardless of what the ferret eats because even kibble can have salmonella in it sometimes). So just use laytex gloves when you clean the box or have you significant other do it for you.

Heather seems to have addressed toxoplasmosis so I wont go into that.

[amyj1979]

Thank you very much for the info. I know I tested + for toxo after I was bit by a cat when I was pet grooming. They also treated me for it. I just wasn't sure if I could get it again. To be safe I will make hubby clean the weasels.

[Heather]

I made hubby responsible for the kitties when I was pregers...he's still doing it (son is now 15) He asked me why and I told him it was his job now as he was doing such an awesome job at it Anyway, it's only two of countless litter boxes, it won't hurt him
ciao