I've never heard of that, but I would like to hear the stupid reason behind that!!! I have 5 cats, but that has nothing to do with our infertility, oh and they won't smother the baby after they are born either like my ex MIL tried to convince people!!!

I have a cat and have heard about this, cats feces have a bacteria in them that can cause the baby birth defects if the Mom contracts the disease in the first few months. Mom won't be harmed at all. I looked into it and my cat is an indoor cat only. It sounded to me that it's more likely for an outdoor cat to have the bateria at all. Also the reason you shouldnt garden where the stray neighborhood cat does his doody. From what I read I figured I was safe, however DH will get litter duty the first 3 months after we conceive. Hope this helps.

We have cats inside too and when I read about this it seemed more for cats that were outdoor or in/out. My cats never go outside. DH has read up on this with me and we decided that he gets to be the full time litter master when we get our BFP.

I don't think it has anything to do with TTC. I know that after you have conceived, you shouldn't change the litter box b/c of toxoplasmosis (it's in ALL cats, wether indoor OR ourdoor). We have 2 cats and as soon as we started TTC, my Dh went ahead and took over litter box duty. That limited my exposure of the cat box even before we got PG and will continue till after we deliver this baby. At my 1st pg appt., I specifically asked my Dr. about our cats and he said just don't change the cat box and wash your hands after touching the cats. That's it. Hope this helped!

Oh no, thats not good news for my DH! He HATES changing the cat box... I mean HATES it with a passion! He's really sensitive to amonia (sp?) and cant stand it if the box isnt changed every day! Well maybe I can get my lil brother to take care of it for a while. Thanks for the info ladies!

If this is true I'm sorry but my Kitty is my baby for now!!

Once a woman is exposed to toxoplasmosis she gets titers to it. Kind of like chicken pox. It isn't harmful generally if you are healthy. Most people that have cats have been exposed to it and are "immune" however, if your baby is lsoing weight or not developing normally it may be called into question. IN the meantime don't telldaddy and you get out of doody duty for 9 months! Also the bacteria in the ground, (when gardening) as mentioned above is not necessarily toxoplasmosis, mostly the concern is for listeria which can cause listeriosis a bacterial infection that can cause miscarriage and stillbirth. Listeria is found in soft cheeses, unpasturized mild, OJ, and many deli meats. Again in a normal healthy adult, our immune systems fend it off. But for those of you ttc, maybe need to lay off the feta cheese for a bit....And I don't think my babies will be able to sleep without a purring kitty by their side after 9 months of my kitties doing the purring and sleeping on my belly!

I also have a cat and she is my baby. The concern with cats is cat scratch fever which you can get both from a scratch or cleaning the litter box. It's caused by the bacteria in cat feces. That's why my dh took over litter duty once we started ttc.

Don't give up your cat, just stay away from changing the litter box. You'll hear a lot of different things you should stay away from. Just like you're not supposed to color your hair, etc. My hair lady is pregnant with her 3rd child and she never stopped having her hair colored and everything is fine. Don't worry too much about some of the stuff you hear. Good luck!!

I really don't think toxoplasmosis could affect your ability to conceive, you just don't want to get it when you are pregnant, and where there is that time period where we don't know yet, it is a good precautionary measure to avoid cat feces while TTC--however, toxoplasmosis is RARE and most likely, if you've had cats, you are already immune to it. My ask-a-nurse said the only way I could get it (is very uncommon in my area of the country anyway), is if I held fresh cat feces with my bare hand and had a cut or something on my hand (I was thinking to myself, why would I EVER hold fresh cat feces in my bare hand? GROSS!!!) But in my opinion, it is better to be safe, so I would try to convince my DH to take care of it if he will, or you can just wear gloves and use a poop scoop (I have even wore a mask--just in case) :)